One Hundred and Sixty-eight

It's not about the throw or control or imposing my will upon another. It's about discovering who I am and how I fit into the world. I see myself in the patterns my partner and I form as we work together to achieve a union of sorts that, sometimes, is profound in a way that transcends our individual natures and becomes... something else; if only briefly and not often enough. It's at those moments of intersection that I am totally aware of the Art that is Aikido; an Art that, from conflict, gives rise to deep and abiding beauty.