Malik Murray, a student of Aikido Kokikai in New York City, was recently shot and killed during the robbery of a restaurant. Here is what his friend, Frank Mancini, had to say about Malik:

I can't bring myself to write about Malik in the past tense, so please excuse the liberty I am taking writing in the present. For those of you who did not know him that well I wanted to share a little bit with you, that if you had the opportunity, you surely would have discovered on your own.

Malik is a good decent man, learned, open and full of surprises both on and off the mat. He is a devoted and loving father and man of god. He is a native New Yorker, a musician, a scholar of martial arts, of Islam as well as other religious traditions with beliefs very different from those of his faith. I am lucky to know him and spend time with him both on and off the mat now over 8 years. He is a dedicated martial artist and I learned from our exchanges, which rarely involved actual martial arts techniques, but more than likely included martial arts trivia. When we were not talking about Sonny Chiba, we conversed about his faith and how it affected his life on a practical level. Malik observed Moslem traditions, he fasted, he made the pilgrimage to Mecca and more importantly he shared his knowledge without excuse or defensiveness about his choice to convert to Islam when he was a younger man. He is the techie gadget king and you could see him coming not just for his robes, but also the flashing blue lights and beeps and whistles coming from the many devices and gizmos he carried, some fresh from the factory in Japan because he could not wait for them to hit the US market.

But what I know of him, what he showed and shared with me always was not just his knowledge or strong opinions but his willingness to listen, to engage, to learn and grow. He is a life long learner, whether it is his faith and religion, music (he was an accomplished musician, African drums) law research, martial arts practice, theory, legends and folklore, languages, pop music (he is a great dancer)... the list goes on. Malik is a work in progress and an example of learning, flowing... through Aikido I saw him grow, expand and even get stuck from time to time and then grow again... its part of the process we discover together... His friendship is a gift from Aikido as I don't think I would have had the opportunity to meet him otherwise. He is a decent human being and an eccentric in his own right when it came to some things and he never failed at surpris-ing me with something that I would have ever have guessed about him, that is without the benefit of clairvoyance. (He was a child actor... One movie under his belt...)

I see him talking energetically at the back of the van going to winter camp revealing little known facts about his trips to Senegal with doctoral students then driving and getting us home safe and sound on the return. I see him sitting down to eat at one our Tuesdays at the Columbia Cottage and getting his whole meal to go because his wife and son were waiting... I see him leading the electric slide at the winter camp party then fervently denying that he dances... I see him showing and telling about his newest bokken and jo acquisition made of some of the hardest heaviest cherry wood in its fancy case... I see him picking up his wool hat off the mat after Gary sensei's kotegaish loosened it from its perch atop his head... I see him assembling his robes in the men's room after a good practice... I see him tying his hakama for the first time at Kokikai (he wore it at other times when he practiced at other friendly dojos :)

He is a friend and I feel his absence deeply and am grieving his sudden departure from us and not being able to say goodbye. My heart grieves for his son and his wife, who like us must now be consoled in remembering and honoring his life, his presence and the lasting effect of how he lived and forgiving the senseless way in which he was taken.

I am missing my friend and pray that he is in a better place, maybe even playing his drums and doing the electric slide, watching over us as we practice and grow. Peace to us, his son and family and to him, may he now rest.

We love you Malik,

Frank Mancini

A link has been set up for those who would like to contribute to an educational trust fund for Malik's 8-year-old son. If you would like to make a contribution, please visit http://www.seventhstorm.com/aikido/

I have a pet peeve, a disappointed expectation. I expect that if people do something long and often enough they gain some self mastery. This brings me to the "mindless" shopper. Generally people are cautious and aware while driving cars, however they lose this awareness while pushing shopping carts. I worry about my safety and that of my fellow innocent shoppers. It's a clear indicator of their lack of awareness. After years and years of pushing the same carts down the same aisles through the same stores it would seem as though they should be perfectly aware now. They should be able to perceive oncoming traffic before approaching an intersection. But no, their minds are lost in a sea of Doritos, donuts and distractions.

Everyday I spend 5 to 10 minutes while standing under a hot morning shower, shaving, driving in the seemingly endless bumper to bumper ride to and from work and before I go to sleep, contemplating the cures of the world. Unfortunately due to a mix of poor focus, short-term memory loss and ease of distraction my curative solutions are lost to this phenomenon known as mindless contemplation.

Just 5 minutes of mindless contemplation a day while shaving, showering, driving or lying in bed equals 24 hours a year, an entire day. Imagine 10 to15 minutes per day, pretty soon it adds up to real time. Life is too long to waste it mindlessly.

All too often I rush through shaving and cut myself, forget to fix the curtain before showering and leak water onto the floor or bump a curb while parking. How can this happen? I've been shaving, showering and driving for over 30 years, over 10,000 times each. Why aren't I perfect by now?

If fully aware, mindful, present and with the proper attention to detail we would never cut ourselves, leak water onto the floor or bump cars.

How can we practice mindfulness, on and off the mat? Do one thing at a time completely, with intent and the goal to improve and grow, to be a better person, that's known by the Japanese warrior class as Budo. Maintain 100% intention, 100% of the time. Be aware, be present, be mindful.

How long have you practiced Ki exercises, forward rolls or Shomenuchi Ikkyo? How close are you to self mastery? How could you improve?

When was the last time that you heard something during a movie, a song, a dream, a speech, a class that touched you, that made you think or feel? What happened to that "something"? Did you keep it, often at the cost of losing everything else? Write it down! Retain it somehow. While still in a mindful moment, teetering on the proverbial fence of mindful and mindless, write it down, retain it before slipping off onto the other side where the grass is not greener it's lost. Don't lose the "something". Take it, keep it, use it to learn and grow. If you don't lose it you'll use it.

The discovery model is about learning and improving, not about perfection. You are already a perfect you now, but not yet the perfect future you. Ask yourself: "How could I improve?" What could we do to improve our driving, shaving or showering? Then do it. Do not waste time or the exercise, master it, use the time and the opportunity wisely.

I tell my teenage son that "if it's important enough to do, it's important enough to do it well, to do it better than last time". I know that I continue to practice Aikido because I can improve. What is important to you?

We contemplate while waiting in line, gardening, brushing teeth and shoveling snow. There's an endless list of "mindable" opportunities. We remain Mindful if we attend and retain, or Mindless if we don't. We lose our mindfullness because of our failure to retain and use. If we are distracted, lose attention, we lose our mindfulness. Our failure to act, results in a failure to fully learn, improve and grow fully. Stay awake, alert, aware and keep improving. Become the better, the perfect you.

Keep your head up and eyes open.

Paul Gardner

PS. This essay was composed while showering, consumed in a mindful moment. I rushed to my pen and paper, the rest is editing and history.

On October the 26th, 2006 Judy Sensei was teaching a class. Class was pretty normal until the last technique of the night; which, in fact, was not a technique. Judy pointed out that a big problem that many aikidoka have is being able to enter into an attacker's space while being relaxed. Common symptoms of Non-Relaxed-Nage'itus, or NRN, include: closing eyes and not breathing while entering into uke's space.

As it turned out, many of the people in the dojo that night were suffering from NRN, me included. Though she didn't come out and say it, I think that it was apparent that Judy Sensei had once had to endure this chronic and debilitating disorder herself. The class was about to descend into despair but as luck would have, we were already at a support group for NRN. One of the exercises to overcoming this problem is to practice entering into to an uke's space while breathing and keeping your eyes open. Nage does not do any throwing at this point because NRN is an insidious disorder. NRN exists because aikidoka want to jump straight to the throw; the period between "minding your own business" and "time to throw" is where NPN strikes. For several minutes the class tried this procedure. Uke would attack with a yokemen and nage would move out of the way. Nage avoided being hit by turning in the same direction as uke with eyes open and continued breathing. I felt the same at the end of class, which didn't bother me; I thought that I would need a couple of treatments before I would feel different. Though, the next day I found out how effective the events of the night had been.

On October the 27th, 2006 there was a Halloween party at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT); this was the last Friday before Halloween. In attendance to this party were the lovely and talented Ms. Anna Ka and myself. I believe that Anna came as a fairy and I came as Bad-Costume man; the costume consists of the cloths I normally wear with a piece of paper in the shape of Superman's insignia with the letters "BC" on it, instead of an "S".

This party was held at the Student Development Center; a building that is connected to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). Being so close to NTID many of the organizers were Deaf and had turned NTID into a haunted house. Anna and I took the tour of the haunted house. After getting into the haunted house we were set upon by a pack of werewolves. As it turns out these werewolves were fairly friendly; I think that they just wanted to scare us. The werewolves wanted to get very close to us; one would step in to get very close to me and then do the same to the next person. It was not until the second or third time a werewolf entered into my space, and I entered back, that I realized that I was do the exercise from the night before; there movement was very similar to the entrance to a yokemen strike, just without the hand. I moved without thinking about it, I moved like I had no reason to be tense, like I was not even under attack. These werewolves were very lucky that I didn't practice a throw on the 26th because I was doing exactly what I did the night before and I did not know that I was doing it.

Haunted houses and werewolves are very stressful things and likely to make anyone tense; not just those that suffer from NRN. This story should illustrate that there is hope for people that suffer from the horrible and disfiguring effects of NRN. With treatments so simple and profoundly effective, as the one I received, no one needs to suffer the ravages of Non-Relaxed-Nage'itus.

Summer Camp Test Prep - Check out the new dojo calendar for dates and times, even if you are not testing please come and uke for those who are.

Summer Camp - Thurs. July 19-Sun. July 22, Villa Nova, PA in the air conditioned Jake Nevin Field House, watch bulletin board for more details.

Maruyama Sensei in Rochester - Sat. July 28 - Sun. July 29, more details to follow.

A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind.
~ O Sensei