I taught Ki and Ki-Aikido at the U.S. National Chief instructors’ seminar in Maryland, USA from June 21 (Thursday) to June 24 (Sunday), 2007. This seminar is for instructors of our branches in U.S. It is held once per year and each year in a different location. This is the most important seminar in the U.S., therefore, I go there and teach annually. Seminar was held in Oregon last year, and in Las Vegas two years ago.
This year’s host was Maryland Ki Society. The seminar took place in the town of Silver Spring which is 30 minutes from Washington DC by car. Our seminar location was in a US governmental building. Therefore, security was tight. The seminar place was a little crowded because of many participants, however, it was really nice place.
The theme of the U.S. National seminar was “Keep one point”. I taught the difference between “keep one point” and “loose one point” thoroughly. I taught each participant() directly and let all participants experience the difference through Kokyu dosa, Kokyu nage, Nikyo, Sankyo, Koteoroshi, Shihonage and other techniques in the seminar.
The point to master “Keep one point” is we must realize that we loose one point whenever our attention is in our head or whenever we get nervous. When you can realize this, you will be able to calm your mind in one point.
To master this, first, you watch the other person’s posture and movement to know if the person keeps one point or not. In the beginning, some participants could not see the difference, however, as the seminar progressed, they started to understand the difference. At last, they were able to understand the difference between Keep one point and loose one point for themselves.
Of course, It is always important to receive teaching from instructor in this practice. However, what is more important is that participants are able to realize the difference between keep one point and lose one point by themselves. The seminar is four days only. If the participants just correct their bad points when I am with them, they may not be able to continue to do so after I return to Japan. They will be able to practice the correct way continuously once they understand the difference between keep one point and loose one point.
Everyone was very happy when they realized this difference for themselves. Therefore, everyone was extending plus Ki. During the seminar, the dojo was full of plus Ki. We all studied seriously, but we kept smiling. In this way a four day seminar went very quickly for me, and also for the participants.
After the seminar, I had the opportunity to visit the Japanese Embassy. This was arranged by our members in U.S. I met Mr. Kato, who is the Ambassador of Japan to the United States of America. I talked with him about Ki-Aikido and U.S. National Seminar. Mr. Kato is a person of character. He was wonderful to talk with and I truly enjoyed meeting him. I was deeply impressed to know that people such as Mr. Kato look after Japan’s interest abroad.
Next year, 2008, we will hold the World Ki-Aikido competition, which is held once in four years, in Japan. Therefore we will not have a U.S. National Seminar next year. We will hold the next U.S. National Seminar in Colorado, USA. the year after next (2009). The atmosphere of an overseas seminar is very different from a seminar in Japan. I hope many of the Japanese instructors will attend a U.S. seminar once.
Personally I could understand almost all of the English. Many U.S. instructors told me, “Your English gets the point across. It is wonderful.” You explain difficult things in simple words”. This is because of my training in my English school, “Aeon”. I really appreciate my English teacher and school.
I really appreciate from the heart members of Maryland Ki Society who were the hosts of the seminar, as well as all participants coming from U.S. and South America.
U.S. National Chief Instructor Seminar
