Aikido is much about change—dealing with it effectively, creating it, being it. It’s inevitable, and so our training should contain focus on appropriate perspective so that our actions are authentic and effective. This means challenging the perspective that has taken us to where we are today for better and for worse.

Not everyone will be flexible in their body. It’s a quality that for most people will come and go, and be met with real limitations. Everyone, though, can be loose. It’s just a matter of the inherent spaciousness of Big Mind including the body as it already is. It seems that when I’m in that Space my body ceases to be a container for all the shit I hold on to. In the context of your training, use your time on the mat to let go. The rewards are endless.

The purpose of technique is to give us context for practicing aikido principle in a way that sheds light on our development. Technique is our vehicle for exploring the spirit in physical form, and an instrument for cultivating harmony. It is never the end game.

It’s not that we stop laughing because we’re getting older. It’s that we’re getting older because we stop laughing. I saw something like that on a bumper sticker this morning when I was driving my boys to school. I believe the expression of joy is part of quality aikido training. I don’t mean that we should laugh our way through class—just that we should make space for it when it is appropriate. Smile and radiate your way through training. I promise there will be no loss of integrity if it’s genuine. If it’s there to hide something, though, well then maybe have a look at that. Remember, it’s not endullment. It’s enlightenment. There’s always room to “lighten” up just a bit more.

There’s no limit to how much you can relax, so long as it’s supported by integrity. The faster you realize this and train these aspects to complement one another, the sooner you’ll become a spontaneously creative and effective expression of Aikido.