Listen from Nothing

In the traditional action movie paradigm, the gifted young martial arts student trains religiously for many years until they are worthy enough. Only then does the revered Master bestow the great secret upon the student that they leverage to vanquish their invincible evil opponent. I grew up watching those classic martial arts movies. Complete, utter nonsense. That bullshit just happens in the movies. Still, very entertaining. Just saying.

I’ve trained in Aikido for nearly 35 years. I’m Godan (5^th degree black belt). No, I didn’t start out like orphan Kwai Chang Caine from the ABC TV series Kung Fu, who entered the Shaolin Monastery in Hunan, China to train in the Way of the Tao and kung fu.

After returning from summer vacation before starting 7^th grade, Mom made me take Aikido. I had no recourse. Mom was Mom. She didn’t want me learning some martial art with punching and kicking, which was too offensive-minded for her sensibilities. So, she chose Aikido for me. In retrospect, Mom was very wise. She religiously drove me to Aikido practice 3 times a week. Mom wanted me to be able to protect myself. At the time, I was the short fat nerd, who wasn’t good at any sports. Although I didn’t always know it at the time, Mom had my back. She always did.

Although I was forced into taking Aikido, I discovered my affinity for it. I was actually good at Aikido. WTF? Moriyama Sensei inspired me to practice hard, to do my best. I also had fun. I quickly excelled in rank.

When I got into Iolani School, a very prestigious college prep school, I quit Aikido, thinking that I needed to focus all my attention on school. After all, my parents had paid a lot of money at that time for me to attend. I would forsake my dreams of ever becoming a black belt. I would also forsake my dreams of becoming like my Hero Bruce Lee.

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Eventually, I graduated from Iolani. I went on to get my Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering. I moved to Los Angeles for my career in Satellite Systems Engineering. One day, my friend Charles from the YMCA asked me if I wanted to check out an Aikido class in West Los Angeles. Having practiced Aikido as a kid for 3 years, I still had mad love for it. So, I said, “Yeah, sure.”

As it turned out the Aikido class was an Aikido Seminar with a visiting Sensei from Japan. That’s how I met the late Mizukami Sensei, the Chief Instructor at the Dojo. That began our 25-year journey until Sensei passed away several years ago. Sensei taught me Aikido. He taught me what it is to be a good man. He generated the space to invent the greater-than versions of myself. Sensei was a Father to me. Nothing but mad love and respect to Sensei.

The late Mizukami Sensei was absolutely Old School. When he instructed or told me what to do, I always said, “Hai (Yes).” I said so, even when I had no fucking clue what he wanted. Sensei did that intentionally. He wanted me to struggle, do my best. Then he would patiently show me how to do the proper technique.

In Aikido with Mizukami Sensei, I was okay as I was for the first time in my life. I didn’t have to be someone else. I didn’t have to get somewhere. I didn’t have to be perfect. I could just be me. Free to succeed. Free to fail. Grow from both.

Sensei said, “Just train.” I just trained in Sensei’s generated space. I didn’t have that freedom growing up at home with my Dad. Heaven was where I stood with Mizukami Sensei by my side. I had nothing to prove. Just train. Put in the work. Just listen.

The foundation of Mastery in Aikido, in martial arts, in perhaps any discipline, is listening. As my listening expanded, I expanded. Over the years, I watched and listened to Sensei demonstrate Aikido techniques literally hundreds of thousands of times. What I listened to as a white belt was way less than what I listened to as Yondan (4^th black belt). Just saying.

I began to master the Art of Listening, of listening from nothing, from mushin (the empty mind). I profoundly got the Aikido technique, when I brought nothing from my past, from what I thought I knew to what Sensei taught. I listened from nothing. Thus, I could create from nothing. Make the Aikido technique my very own.

Mizukami Sensei Aikido 101: Make it work. Make the technique work for me, not for others. Wait it out. Take a glancing blow if I have to. It’s one time. In the bigger picture, I make myself work, too. Sensei said that he could care less how I trained in the Dojo. What mattered most to him, was that I was a good person outside the Dojo, out in the world. Amen.

Throughout my years in Aikido training, I discovered: There are no great secrets. They are right in my face, the entire time. I just had to train myself to listen for them. Everything I needed was right in front of me. As Ishibashi reminds: Everything I need is inside of me, too. In that bigger picture, I live from the inside out, and from the outside in. Where the twain shall meet, I evolve as the better man, the greater person.

Often, we might keep searching for the profound tips, the great secrets that reveal the awesome life, where we get everything we want. Instead of searching for those secrets, listen for them, and look within. Train in the Art of Listening. What I’ve been searching for all along is right in front of me. I just needed to listen, not from the past, not from what I think that I know. I listen from nothing, from humility. I get over myself, too. Make it work. Just train. Just saying.