Twenty-five

Some believe unbendable arm is a trick, a ruse to fool the masses; still though, the arm doesn't bend, does it?

Unbendable arm is what hooked me on Aikido. As a life long resistance trainer, the fact that I could, without overt muscular resistance, keep my arm from bending while someone much bigger and stronger strained to bring my hand to my shoulder awakened in me the idea that Aikido held mysteries worth plumbing.

Unbendable arm is a Ki exercise. I learn, from performing this exercise, that strength isn't merely bulging muscles and that there is a profound difference between stiff and soft. Ki exercises provide me with a way to train myself to find a reliable state of being while being tested in various ways. There's no mystery here, just practice. Ongoing practice of Ki exercises sets up a feedback loop within me that continually corrects my efforts.

Ki development is attainable by anyone. There are no select few who possess arcane secrets that can be passed on to a further select few and so on. Maruyama Sensei told Mary and me that "Ueshiba did it, I do it and you can do it too." Anyone is capable of doing what he does, it's a matter of practice, practice and more practice.