Annual True Aiki European Winter Training 2023

For the first time since the pandemic, the Seikokan Aikido Dojo led by Walter Oude Wesselink hosted the Annual True Aiki European Winter Training for 2023 in Zwolle, The Netherlands. We were pleased to once again enjoy a talented multinational turnout of martial artists. Participants included new practitioners, multi-decade aficionados of Aikido, Koryu, Daito Ryu, Chinese IMA, etc.

Chinese/Japanese cosmology was related to a pragmatic understanding and practice of body movement. The kind of force relationship specific to the definition of Yin/Yang was identified, as was how those forces relate to movement. The implications of that particular kind of force and movement relationship were highlighted as the means to produce Aiki (a yin/yang Ki relationship) within oneself via the necessarily appropriate direction one’s mindful intention.

We also studied physical examples of how when an Aiki body expressing forces in a yin/yang relationship comes into contact with an outside force, that force becomes integrated into the yin/yang force relationship. In other words, we observed that when one creates Aiki within themselves, the Aiki forces produce an “attractive force*” that influences, yet is non-resistant to, forces that it comes into contact with. We also studied how one’s intent, from the beginning to the end, must fully accord with the will necessary to bring the forces already presently influencing one’s body into an aiki relationship to produce this “attractive force.*”

In other words, one’s mind/will must first accord with the principle of the Yin/Yang relationship (Aiki) as a necessary condition to generate the conditions in the body (Aiki) that bring external forces coming into contact with that body into a Yin/Yang relationship (Aiki). This is Aikido. In conclusion, we touched upon how this process naturally produces forces and movement that naturally produce “techniques” of all varieties: throwing, pinning, striking, etc. (Not Aiki, but possible byproducts of Aiki.)

I would like to share a big THANK YOU to the Seikokan, Walter Oude Wesselink, and all the wonderful participants in this year’s Annual True Aiki Annual Winter Training. You made another incredibly enjoyable and educational experience! It only makes me look forward to seeing many of you again in July! (Yes, that was a tease! More information to come about the Summer Seminars in The Netherlands, Germany, and Spain. And it is only January, so . . . perhaps more! Ah, it’s good to be retired 😉

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