Dear teachers, dear students,
We are faced with an unusual situation. This epidemic cannot be taken lightly.
Regulations are sent to us from the authorities and it is up to us to comply with them without giving in to panic. Fear, unlike prudence, will protect us from nothing.
We have to close our dojos, stop our internships and training until further notice. However, this does not mean that our practice has stopped. As a budoka we must be aware of the gravity of the situation and take the necessary precautions, but we must also try to see it as an opportunity to question ourselves about the relationship we have with our path.
The way is above all a self-training system based on both self-study and self-discipline associated with personal body practice. No one, no master however competent he is, no one else can replace you in what constitutes a process of transformation of yourselves. You are, and I must say very fortunately, the only one capable of producing your change.
You have the tools to continue your journey. The aikiken suburi kihon is there to help you maintain good physical condition, as is the aikishintaiso kihon.
It can be practiced daily. If you are following an apast, you can always add these two elements to your prescription in place of your weekly courses.
The sequence of the five basic postures can be practiced for twenty minutes a day without any risk and the long kihon of choku tsuki in aikijo is a excellent way to set your energy into motion.
The higher your energy level, the stronger your immune system. This does not exempt you from taking the necessary precautions but keeps you in a state of internal and external mindfulness.
Don’t forget that depression is detrimental to your physical health, and take advantage of this situation to do what you may not be able to do usually. Appropriate reading, music, writing, and most of all, take the opportunity to make plans, plans for the future. Taking the time to think about yourself in the future is not so simple when the usual burdens of everyday life assail us. However, it is in these projects, these very dreams that the beginning of a renewal is to be found.
So, let us consider the caution, the mindfulness to which this virus forces us and at the same time let us be combative enough internally not to limit our vision to what it prevents. It is up to us as budoka to be lucid and to see in any situation the yin and the yang, the shadow and the light, and the hand (your consciousness) which is interposed between them and reveals them at the same time.
If you need advice or help to continue your practice alone while waiting for the reopening of the dojos, you can ask for it by writing to:
aaasecretariat@aikido.fr
O genki de ite kudasai.
Cognard Hanshi
