Sunday, August 24, 2014

#229 Gratitude - part 3, gratitude and entitlement

We are continuing our series on Gratitude. Today, our topics are:

  • Polarity of gratitude and entitlement
  • Define two pieces
  • Modeling somatic structure
  • Positives & negatives of each by themselves
  • Is there a better way than polarity?

A good sunday morning restart of our RCG Podcasts

Arman, Sergey and I spent this am recording 2 more recordings of the Gratitude series.

Soon coming to your itunes 🙂

Let us know what you think and we are open to suggestions on newer topics when we get done with the gratitude series

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Regeneration and Mastery - Martial Musings with Mahipal Lunia

Try to change your roots and you die, to flourish the roots are even more established to support the tree over time. Not honoring those roots is inviting your own peril. The roots are your base, your foundation art.

The leaves change with season and age, this is your personal expression of the foundation art. With time leaves/expression change, adapting to the new seasons/environment. This is a sign of growth and renewal. It serves a generative purpose. Even though the leaves change, they keep the core essence of the tree. The expressions and opinions change, but they retain the key principles of the core art.

As the seeds of the mother tree spread, new environments force local adaption of the leaves. Yet the essence and roots remain the same. Some go deeper, some spread wider. The leaves/expressions change with time and the environment as well. Yet the tree species remain the same. This is essential for regeneration. For nature to be in harmony. And this to me also embodies the pursuits on the path of mastery.

Mastery is not about flawless execution of a technique in the narrowly defined mechanical sense. It is not about perfection. That is too limiting. Infact it is death. 

To embrace Mastery, we have to take a process view and understand it as a journey. Its about staying on the journey day after day, year after year, decade after decade. One has to be willing to try, to fail, and keep trying yet again. This journey, always is the journey of an individual. 

To us here at Mountain View Aiki Kai the foundation art is KAR, the roots/principles are Aiki In Yo Ho. The leaves are our personal expressions, changing with the season(time) and environment(space). 

And my question to myself always is is “how are you moving along the path of regeneration? How do you plan to be Evergreen until the very end?” 

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Aikijujutsu Shugyo - Martial Arts on High Peaks & Forgotten Lands With Mahipal Lunia Sensei

This is the personal expression of Mahipal Lunia Sensei & an important teaching method of Mountain View Aiki Kai (MVAK) Dojos in the arts of Kaze Arashi Ryu 

Quaterly Shugyos (Astute Training usually in Nature) are an integral part of our syllabus and in learning the arts of Kaze Arashi Ryu at our dojo. This form of expression is in the spirit of the Samurai Warriors of the old days and Mahipal Lunia Sensei’s ideal of finding a life of balance,as best expressed in his litany for the dojo

“Living A Life that embraces
Civilization and the wild
Present and infinite
Warrior and Scholar
Strength and compassion
Tradition and Self Expression”

This is a video montage created from about a dozen (quarterly) shugyos the dojo has conducted since late 2009 for its serious students. It is meant to share the goal, ideal, and attitude (High Intensity, Tenacity, and the Ferocious Resolve) of this form of training. In our opinion this form of training is very unique to us in the martial arts community. It’s high adventure, deep discipline, a personal quest, search for beauty and meaning all rolled into one while using the body proper to experience the arts we study.

I would like to express my gratitude to my teachers who opened the doors of the art to me and guided me through. Srini Sastri Sensei (Menkyo Kaiden) for being my first teacher in the tradition, guiding me through the ranks as a wonderful Sensei, a cherished mentor, a reliable confidant, and above all, as family. Henri Robert Vilaire Sensei ( Menkyo Kaiden, Shinan) for being a martial arts genius and for generously teaching me what what is possible in the Martial Arts at the highest levels. To both my teachers, I have nothing but deep respect and gratitude!

I also want to thank all of the students of MVAK, esp. the advanced students for having the faith in me and my methods, and for constantly challenging me to newer levels of growth. 

For more information on Mountain View Aiki Kai go to

www.mountainviewaiki.com
www.facebook.com/mountainviewaikikai
Twitter/Instagram @aikiarts #aikiarts

www.TheRenaissancePath.com
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ww.RadicalChangeGroup.com