I know that each time I come to practice as soon as I line up in seiza and close my eyes that my separation from the affairs of the day start to go away as I go through the ritual of warming up.  There is a reason I call it a ritual in that from a purely western, physiological, point of view the warm-ups we perform do not prepare the body totally for the movements and energy systems we are about to use ( stay with me because I am not saying they are not functional).

The warm-ups that we practice usually follow a set pattern beginning with some bouncing exercises then moving into various range of motion exercises.  But what happens here is that I am almost instantly in the “aikido mind set” once the warm-up begins.  The body and the mind have moved on and are already prepared for what is to come. (operant conditioning perhaps).

I really noticed this when I visited another dojo and the warm-up was totally different and lasted only five minutes before we were off and going.  I was not doing aikido I was exercising.

At this stage in my Aikido  is moving away from a physical discipline to more of a mental ( I hate to say spiritual because of the religious overtones  so I should perhaps say the philosophical side).  I’ll leave it to the 18 to 50 year olds to beat each other up .

The warm-up to me is as essential to my practice as the techniques we work on each class as it takes me to an Aikido State of Mind.

Just more random thoughts on a Sunday morning…………….