Final day of training today

Yesterday was the end of the forms, and the finish for both.

Today we spent a lot of time on Rou Shou, getting the basics with one hand, then two. He showed us how to attack in Rou Shou using Heaven, Earth and Wind energies.

He spoke much again on the key aspects of softness of mind and body, awakening ones awareness and using fighting practices as a way to better understand the way ones body and mind functions. Although he always teaches fighting methods in a serious way, he is also adamant that there is a Chinese tradition of accessing one's morality and spirituality through martial arts practice. It's only one way, but it is the way that he prefers to teach at this time.

He spoke again of Ueshiba, and how often in class O-Sensei would begin to rant and rave in an archaic Japanese dialect that few people could understand. The topics he spoke of were esoteric and spiritual in nature, but within Aikido there were few people who were able to connect his spiritual work with his mastery of martial arts. Kumar felt that from his study of CMA that Aikido must have drawn something from Ba Gua, as the similarities are quite striking. He said that many in the Aikido community were mad at him for saying it, but he thinks there are many reasons to think it could be true.

At the end of the day we did a long meditation session, wiring in the movements of the Double Palm. We'd walk, then do the change holding it for a few seconds in each of the key points. Bit by bit we held it less and less, until we were just going through the form at top speed. We started walking normally then doubled the speed twice so we were at our limit in walking the circle, then doing the form over and over again. Opening and closing of the body was paired with drawing in the feeling of the Earth's energy, and then sending out own energy out to aid living beings in distress. Each move of the form has opening and closing actions that we paired with energetic sensations in the same way.

I had a good time training, a lot of good fighting applications and training sessions working on the forms of the Double and Smooth Palm Changes. There are plans afoot to continue the forms of the system so I hope many will get a chance to learn and work on these sets.