December, 2003
Owning the Dojo
Previous Issues
By Marcella Mosher
Rose and I were getting the dojo ready for Jonathan Bannister Sensei's visit. Rose was vacuuming the mat. I was cleaning under the radiators, deciding what I would do next. Would it be clean the mirrors or dust the shomen? What about that pile of stuff on the end table near the couch? And what about that crazy bunch of unused sandals under the bench in the women's locker room? We were getting ready for company and I wanted everything to be neat, perfect. I wanted our dojo to look it's best, to shine. After all it is a beautiful space with a beautiful feel even when it's messy. As I stood up from cleaning under the radiators I saw the whole room at once. The view filled me with pride, the pride of being part of something good. It was then that I realized how much I felt that the dojo belonged to me.
It takes a village to own a dojo. This phrase, it takes
a village, is probably over used but I like it anyway. Take a look at
the Information Directory posted on our dojo bulletin board and you'll
see what I mean by it takes a village to own a dojo. There are aikidoka
who take care of all sorts of things that keep our dojo running: cleaning,
water hauling, copying, etc.
Personally, I find it very satisfying to take part in
the life of our dojo. I like the feeling that the dojo is "mine".
This feeling of ownership is why I mentor, prepare the monthly calendar
and occasionally help out with cleaning.
In George Leonard's book The Aikido Way, Leonard talks about "owning" the mat for his Shodan test. He practiced visualizing the mat as belonging to him as he stepped on it. Leonard welcomed his uke to his mat and welcomed the attacks they would provide. It was his mat and he was in control.
Secretly, I like to take Leonard's idea one-step further, to one step off the mat. Sometimes when I enter the dojo, I look around, survey my territory and think, "All of this is mine!" Not just the mat. After all, our dojo has a life off the mat as well as on.
This "off the mat" life is reflected by the
fact that we do many things in the dojo off the mat. We celebrate milestones
in the lives of fellow aikidoka: marriages, births, and rank advancements
to name a few. We bring our children to these celebrations and to play
in the dojo while we practice. We stay after class to watch videos and
occasionally we bring family or friends to watch us test.
The dojo belongs to all of us; it's ours to care for and to enjoy on and off the mat. Feel free to "own" it. The next time you enter the dojo, survey your territory and think, "All of this is mine!" It's a powerful feeling. I love doing it and I think you will, too.
Real
Fact #184
By Marcella Mosher
(Editor's note: Several people in the
dojo have been working on a way to better communicate with Steve Ridley—our
dojo member who recently had a severe stroke and is now almost completely
paralyzed. Here is a story from Marcella Mosher about that communication
system.)
I have a story to share with you about two
bottles of Snapple pink lemonade.
This story starts with a tomato sandwich dinner I had
back in early September with my 94-year-old friend Marion. As a matter
of fact the last time Steve asked me to teach his class I had to decline
because I was having dinner with Marion that night. I remember telling
Steve that Marion wanted to have tomato sandwiches for dinner and at 94
she could have whatever she wanted for dinner.
Marion lives on the East side of the city in the house
she and her late husband purchased in the 30's. Marion doesn't get out
often anymore. Her pleasures are simple and sometimes revolve around food.
Fresh vegetables like tomatoes and lettuce are one of Marion's favorite
things. Gregory and I had a good crop of both from our garden this year
and often shared them with Marion.
By now you're probably wondering where the two bottles
of Snapple come in? Well, for the tomato sandwich dinner I brought two
bottles of Snapple pink lemonade thinking Marion would like lemonade.
She always offers me coffee or lemonade when I visit. We never drank the
Snapple because Marion had a pitcher of lemonade already made. I left
the two bottles of Snapple at Marion's thinking she would enjoy them later.
A week later I returned to Marion's to do some grocery shopping and as I was about to leave she gave me the two bottles of Snapple back. I tried to get her to keep them but she insisted I take them home, so I did. When I got home I promptly drank one of the bottles of Snapple. The other bottle would sit in the refrigerator for another nine days. Which would be shortly after Steve was first admitted to the hospital.
The weekend after Steve was hospitalized I read the book
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a memoir written by Jean-Dominique
Bauby who also had Locked-in Syndrome. Bauby wrote the book using an alphabet
arranged in the order of frequency the letters are used. Here is Bauby's
explanation from The Diving Bell:
"It is a simple enough system. You read off the
alphabet (ESA version not ABC) until with a blink of my eye, I stop you
at the letter to be noted. The maneuver is repeated for the letters that
follow, so that fairly soon you have a whole word, and then fragments
of more or less intelligible sentences."
Immediately after finishing the book I opened that last
bottle of Snapple pink lemonade and this is what the underside of the
cap side:
Real Fact #184 - The most used letters in the English
language are E, T, A, O, I and N.
I have that bottle cap in my pocket now as I write this story. From the beginning, my prayers for Steve have been simply; show all of us the way. I want to help Steve to communicate with us. I think this is one of the ways.
Upcoming
Events
Beginner's Class, Wednesday, December 3 at 7 PM.
Weapons Class, Thursday December 4 at 8 PM.
Brown and Black Belt Class, Tuesday December 9 at 8 PM.
Mind/Body Training, Thursday December 11 at 8 PM.
Weapons Class, December 15 at 8 PM.
Holiday Party, Tuesday December 16 at 8 PM.
Advanced Class is Thursday December 18 at 8 PM.
Video Night, Monday December 22 at 8 PM.
No Classes December 24 & 25, December 31 & January 1, unless otherwise
posted in the dojo.
Winter Camp is March 12-14.
You will never be happy if you continue to search
for what happiness consists of.
You will never live if you are looking
for the meaning of life.
- Albert Camus