Osu!

Table of Contents

I. What's New At AikidoVideos.com?
II. O'Sensei's Quotes
III. Featured Article: Aikido Connections?
IV. Free Membership Contest

I. What's New At AikidoVideos.com?

Sorry for the extended absence. There’s a lot happening so, for starters…

We have reached a few milestones.

We now have over 3,000 subscribers to this newsletter and our members’ site www.AikidoVideos.com has over 2,000 members! Thank you all so much!

Get into the forums http://www.aikidovideos.com/site.php/msgb/main/ and make some noise!

After many setbacks and technical difficulties, we have started to upload “Masters’ Secrets; Irimi and the power of the centerline.” It is about 35 minutes of video from Tsuneo Ando Sensei on how to do and improve your Irimi (Entering technique). We’ve broken it down into 10 shorter videos so you can upload it faster. The first 5 parts have already been uploaded and the rest are on the way.

Due to popular demand, we are keeping the membership price at $10.00. It’s too cheap, I know but, as Ueshiba Sensei did say, “Aikido is for the masses.” You get the new Irimi video plus the black-belt course videos all for the same low price of $10.00 a year! Enjoy!

The VHS form of this video is also for sale here

http://www.aikido-videos.com/irimi-video.html

Finally, Congratulations are in order to Ando Sensei! One for achieving 8th dan and two for getting married! Way to go, sensei! And good luck to you! We wish you all the best!

II. O'Sensei's Quotes

Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) also known as O'Sensei (Great Teacher) was the founder of modern Aikido, which he called, "The Art of Peace." The following quotes have been taken from his works.

“The key to good technique is to keep your hands, feet, and hips straight and centered. If you are centered, you can move freely. The physical center is your belly; if your mind is set there as well, you are assured of victory in any endeavor.”

III. Featured Article

Aikido Connections? Part II

If you recall, we think we have found some interesting connections between Aikido, psychology, mythology, and physics in three different shapes.

The three shapes or symbols (the metaphors) are the line, the circle, and the triangle which, are actually all the same thing… just a line that does something different. It is part of Schrödinger's equation. Check it out on Wikipedia… it’s too much for me to explain here. Basically, everything is connected or just a part of everything else. I’m sure somebody out there will correct me on that! But, that is my understanding of it.

Today we are going to talk about the line. In psychology and mythology the line is symbolic of a person’s life in the western sense. There is a beginning (birth) and an ending (death). In between are all the different stages of life that make us all different.

In Aikido, the straight line is everywhere!

When standing in kamae, your body should be aligned from head to toe in a straight line vertically; otherwise known as Chushin ryoku. When moving from the position of attention into kamae, your right foot should move straight forward. The best way to practice these things and to check yourself is in front of a mirror while standing between two tatimi mats in the dojo. Slide your feet along the line between the tami mats and you will be in a straight line.

Try to find more examples of the line in your training and keep in mind your mortality. It should help you train more vigorously!

Tune in next time to find out more about what Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell have in common with Morihei Ueshiba and Aikido.

IV. Free Lifetime Membership Opportunity

We are looking for a few good people to become editors and or contributors to our forums. I simply just do not have enough time to monitor the forums and so they are under very strict control right now. I would like to open them up and make them available to freedom of expression.

Anyone interested in helping to monitor our forums will get a free lifetime membership to our site and access to all the videos. You would need to be able to give a few hours a week of your time. Also, a basic understanding of Aikido and the Aikido world would be nice.

Please contact us at www.Aikido-Videos.com/contact.html and put “Forums Monitor” in the subject title.

We get so much spam now that is becoming near impossible to sort through all the junk we get everyday.

Until next time...

Take care and keep training,
Pat McDonnell