{"id":2712,"date":"2022-10-29T17:34:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-29T21:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/?p=2712"},"modified":"2022-10-29T17:34:47","modified_gmt":"2022-10-29T21:34:47","slug":"a-tool-for-your-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biran.birankai.org\/?p=2712","title":{"rendered":"A Tool For Your Path"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Archie Champion, Birankai Senior Council Member and Chief Instructor, Central Coast Aikikai<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People too\noften undervalue the benefit of martial arts practice and its ability to\ntransform one\u2019s life. To have good health, power and energy at any age is a\nblessing. Being healthy is a virtue that every individual should strive for to\nthe best of their ability. The muscles of the body are naturally designed a to\nbe challenged by bearing weight, and being lengthened and contracted. The bones\nare designed to bear weight, to continue to grow, to replenish themselves and to\nremain strong. It is the body owner\u2019s responsibility to know these things and\nto engage in practice designed to fulfill these functions that has been handed down\nfrom the ancestors. People suffer from many health issues that decrease quality\nof life and lead to premature death, which can be changed through Aikido\npractice. Having practiced Aikido almost every day for 44 years, I don’t\nconsider myself old or close to the end of the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We live in a postindustrial,\ndigital, AI culture, programmed to believe and operate as if our human consciousness\nis no longer capable of focusing for extended times to achieve true\ndevelopment. Especially in this day and age of technology, it is essential you\ncreate something with your hands. We no longer really develop and hone our physical\nskills; instead we simply express ourselves with filters and quickie videos.\nNowadays, if you want to learn something you watch YouTube, not a book or\nmanual in your hands. Yet it is through the body we experience the world, coming\nto sense the mystery of life, and a feeling there must be something beyond it.\nIt is through the body that we express our true Self. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our physical\nbody is the alchemical laboratory in which we can test what kinds of foods, how\nmuch physical training or rest, and what kind of mental attitude we need to\ncultivate an ” Aiki body”. A human being who develops an Aiki body\ncan circulate life force. Developing an Aiki body requires humility to learn\nfrom nature – the natural world, and your own nature\/body, working with the\nhands, the body, the physical. To work with the body is to engage creative\nspirit, becoming co-creator with nature. Similarly, our emotions are stored in\nthe body as energies we sometimes must work through physically, rather than\ntalking about them. Aikido movement helps you go into that space, where those\nemotions live and move this energy through the body. Bodywork helps you learn\nto release fear or anything else that is not you, and learn to trust your\nintuition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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