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Thursday, February 10, 2011

One Hundred and Eighty-three

Correct feeling can be viewed as an end state of sorts; an amalgamation of principles and practice. I like to think of correct feeling engendered by coordination of body/mind as correct feeling of primary degree. There are higher degrees of correct feeling. Correct feeling of secondary degree is coordinated body/mind/spirit. Correct feeling of tertiary degree is coordination of body/mind/spirit/universe.

Each degree of correct feeling is marked by an awakening. For me the awakening to coordination of body/mind didn't happen suddenly. It was a process, painfully slow at times, or so it seems now in retrospect, that unfolded over years of practice. At some point I was able to notice a marked difference in my Aikido, a sharply delineated change in how I felt on the mat and how my partners felt when practicing with me.

Currently I am in the process of awakening to coordination of body/mind/spirit. Having pretty much stumbled through the first level of correct feeling I was able to become aware of it only in hindsight. Now, thanks to that experience, I am aware of changes in myself much closer to real-time. And while the road ahead always seems to be leading me around a blind curve, I at least know I'm moving towards something; as David Bowman tells Dr. Haywood Floyd in 2010: Odyssey Two, "something wonderful".

So much to learn, and a whole life ahead of me to discover it.

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