Where do I want to go with this stuff (Aikido)?
(Extracted from Aikido-L)

Date:    Fri, 17 May 2002 04:55:48 -0700
From:    Giles Chamberlin
Subject: In charge of the toy shop

I teach a small class.  It was a good week this week, half a dozen on
the mat besides myself.  Five of them have dan grades in one martial
art or another. So there's a few people, who know what they're up to,
letting me decide what to do for the next couple of hours.  This can
only be good.

But then sitting in the pub afterwards, the question arrived with a
pint: "So where do you want to take us with this stuff?".  With this
wonderful toy of half a dozen willing playmates, comes a
responsibility.  We could just carry on with the stuff we're doing at
the moment - after all, they come out to play now don't they?  But it
is a part of something greater.  A journey?  But I've ended up as
navigator on this particular trip.  I've set myself up as navigator:
"come to my class".

It was a good question, but it has rocked me a little.  Where do I
want to go with this stuff?  On a day to day basis, I pine if I don't
get the buzz, the satisfaction, of martial arts.  The movement, the
focus, the blending.  But that's lazy.  That's the buzz of what I do
now.  So where do I want to go with this stuff?

Giles

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Last updated on 13 Sep 2002