Meditations on God

On Atemi in Aikido Pt. 1 (Modern Aikidoist Podcast with Tristan Chermack)
On October 7th, 2019, Tristan Chermack and Robert Van Valkenburgh discussed the concept of atemi (hitting body) in aikido on Tristan’s Modern Aikidoist podcast. Click on the image or the links below to listen to part 1 of 2 of that discussion.

Listen to Part 2 HERE

Listen on:
- iTunes
- YouTube
- Stitcher
- Podbean
About Tristan Chermack:

Tristan Chermack started studying aikido in 2004 and his background includes more than thirty years in various arts. He has an extremely strong weapons background with European sword, spear, polearm, and armored combat. He is also a certified advanced firearms instructor. His ongoing study includes historical European martial arts, savate, pugilism, wrestling, pankration, and he is always eager to learn from others.

Tristan founded Spirit Aikido in Eden Prairie, MN, in 2011, a martial arts center which offers a variety of martial arts to train including judo, Shorin Ryu karate, Kobudo, and Katori Shinto Ryu.

Tristan also founded the Facebook group – Aikido: the Martial Side which (at the time of this writing) has over 8,000 members. He also hosts the Modern Aikidoist Podcast, which is available on YouTube and many different podcast platforms.

Links to resources referenced by Robert Van Valkenburgh:
- Kogen Dojo: Robert Van Valkenburgh’s dojo in Severna Park, MD
- Interview with Choi Yong-Sul, by Joe Sheya
- A Conversation with Daito-Ryu’s Other Child, by Ellis Amdur
- Dueling with O-Sensei: Grappling with the Myth of the Warrior Sage, by Ellis Amdur
- KogenBudo: The Blog of Ellis Amdur
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Esoteric Power Training Within Japanese Martial Traditions, by Ellis Amdur
- Irimi, by Ellis Amdur
- Go No Sen: The Path to Defeat, by Stanley Pranin
- Chess and Collar Chokes, by Robert Van Valkenburgh
- Old School: Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions, by Ellis Amdur
- Taikyoku Mind & Body: The organization founded by Budd Yuhasz, Jevin Orcutt, and Robert Van Valkenburgh to explore Chinese Internal Strength principles through Japanese jujutsu, aikido, and kempo
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.

-Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
October 17, 2019

aikido, aikijujutsu, atemi, bjj, brazilian jiu-jitsu, daito-ryu aikijujutsu, ellis amdur, gracie jiu-jitsu, grappling, internal strength, judo, kogen dojo, o-sensei, relson gracie, striking, taikyoku budo, taikyoku mind and body, takeda sokaku, ueshiba morihei
Get To The Point (And The Point Is Fear)
Courage is the basis for creative expression, but there is no courage without fear.

If what we are doing is not challenging us, if it is not difficult, if we are not slightly uncomfortable, if our goals are not slightly out of our reach, we cannot say that we are being courageous. Courage requires some sort of danger. It requires risk. It requires fear.

This does not mean that we should constantly put ourselves in positions to be hurt or injured. Being reckless is not being courageous. What it does mean is that we must not sit still. We must not rest on our past accomplishments or accolades. We must constantly push ourselves beyond our capacity, beyond our limits, and beyond our current skill level. This is frightening.

It is frightening to try something that we may fail at. It is frightening to step away from the pack. It is frightening to step off the beaten path. It is frightening to face doubt, criticism, and cynicism, both from within ourselves and from others, to acknowledge it and to act in spite of it. It is frightening to be courageous. That is the point.

Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.

-Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
October 16, 2019

bravery, courage, creativity, criticism, difficulty, doubt, fear
Not All Attention Is Created Equal
Attention is not the same as connection.

Simply because we are getting attention does not mean we are making a difference. Likes, follows, comments, shares, etc. make keep us feeling important, but that does not make the thing we did to receive them important, or even worth having done in the first place. Our focus should not be on creating notifications, but on creating connection.

Connection is not measured in clicks. It is not measured in views. It is not measured in subscribers. In fact, connection is not measurable at all. It is relational.

If we are focused on doing work that matters to us and we do it with unwavering, uncompromising dedication, others who are like us will notice. They will begin to pay attention. If this attention turns into engagement, a connection will begin to form. This should be the result, not be the goal of our work, however.

As soon as we begin playing to the crowd, as soon as we begin doing things in order to attract attention, in order to drive engagement, we lose our ability to connect. If our work loses the unique quality that made it ours in the first place, if it loses our voice and our essence, it will lose its depth. It is in depth that connections are made and maintained.

Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.

-Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
October 15, 2019

attention, connection, follows, likes, shares, sharing, social media
Fear Is The Beginning Not The End
You must choose whether fear will be a weight around your neck or a platform beneath your feet.

Running away from that which scares us the most may take us to a certain point in our work, but facing it is what will take us to our greatest heights. We cannot have height in our creative work without depth. Depth comes from moving past our fears and insecurities. First, however, we must acknowledge them. We must admit them to ourselves, perhaps even to others, and then move forward with them, not away from them.

In the end, much of what we are looking for when we seek to express ourselves and accomplish something great is acceptance, support, and even love from others. This cannot be our primary motivation if we are going to do our best work, but it cannot be denied. If we do not acknowledge this, we will never truly be vulnerable enough to have true courage in what we do.

Hiding from our deepest needs for love, support, and acceptance also hides the deepest parts of ourselves from us. We cannot reach into the depths of our souls without first admitting and facing the fears and insecurities that we use to protect them. If we do not admit, at least to ourselves, that we need to be loved, accepted, and supported in order to truly feel fulfilled, we will be in constant state of hiding and we will never be able to express our true selves in our work.

Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.

-Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
October 14, 2019

bravery, courage, creativity, fear, insecurity, vulnerability
Stop And Listen To Yourself
How can you know what you want from life if you never stop to ask yourself?

Every morning, we wake up with an amazing opportunity. We wake up with the chance to start over. For a brief moment, we have a clean slate and nothing from the days, weeks, or months prior to this moment matter at all. This moment is fleeting, however, and every morning, we have to decide whether we embrace and honor it or whether we ignore it.

If we choose to ignore it, nothing will change. Our day will be just like the day before. We will check our phones to find out what others are saying about us. We will go through our emails to see what other people want or from us. We will get ready for work or school or whatever, and we will go out into the world to figure out what it needs from us today.

If, on the other hand, we choose to embrace, honor, and sit with this moment, this moment prior to any input, prior to any demands, and prior to any reminders of what others need, want, or say, everything can change. We will begin to see, separate from all of the noise and all of the distractions, that there is a voice deep inside of us that is trying to tell us something. It is trying to give us ideas. It is trying to give us vision. It is trying to give us direction.

At first, this voice will be very quiet. We will struggle to hear it. More often than not, it will escape us. Through practice, by giving it time, by giving it attention, and by giving it respect, it will become more clear. It will begin to shine through the darkness and reveal itself. If we find a way to channel this voice, we will find that we are far more insightful, creative, and powerful than we ever believed. There is far more to us than we have ever imagined.

Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.

-Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
October 13, 2019

creativity, faith, guidance, Inspiration, intuition, opportunity, waking up

On Atemi in Aikido Pt. 1 (Modern Aikidoist Podcast with Tristan Chermack)

Share this:

Get To The Point (And The Point Is Fear)

Share this:

Not All Attention Is Created Equal

Share this:

Fear Is The Beginning Not The End

Share this:

Stop And Listen To Yourself

Share this: