Yusai
Yusai refers to prayer. O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba was known to practice daily rituals and prayers as a part of his spiritual practice and routine. It is sometimes said that prayer is talking to God and meditation is when one listens. The two practices complement and support each other. Many advanced practitioners of aikido, before starting practice and training, bow and offer a prayer to their spiritual godhead asking for guidance and protection. After a training session, another prayer is offered in gratitude to all that was offered, learned, and received.
Misogi: Purification
Misogi usually refers to austere or ritual training practices used for spiritual and physical development. Misogi is a traditional Shinto practice to purify the body and spirit.
The most common image of misogi is standing meditation under an ice-cold waterfall. Other practices include breathing during movement such as the aikido turifune-no-gyo (rowing) exercise, hand shaking, chanting long prayers, kiai (spirit shout), seated meditation using mudra (hand postures) and visualizations, and specific dietetic restrictions, such as fasting. Eventually, with consistent and persistent training, the student practices misogi in more common everyday activities. Regular dojo activities and responsibilities, such as sweating, cleaning, and training can serve the purpose of misogi, a purifying ritual.
Throughout all these activities, there is a focus and emphasis on consciously controlling the breathing. Breathing is essential to life and to the purification of life. Breathing connects the physical and emotional states. Beginning students of aikido will tend to hold their breath as a stress reaction when practicing. Eventually, students will naturally synchronize their breathing with their movement and their training partner's. Breathing creates the connection and joining of the two into one. This process is spiritual and purifying.
Common to the misogi practice is the ability to keep the mind calm and clear, as in mushin, while the body is undergoing severe, often repetitive, experiences. Taking a very cold shower while keeping the mind calm is a common, very private, form of misogi. O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba was often known to pour cold water over himself to start the day. Another commonly available form of misogi is the use of saunas to provide extreme heat conditions and an opportunity for the mind to be disciplined and to overcome the body's reaction to discomfort.
O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba believed that the practice of aikido itself was misogi since aikido purified and united all beings in nature and provided a bridge between heaven and Earth. The kami gave O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba aiki to protect and perfect humanity. Practitioners use misogi as a way to connect with the divine. Misogi is budo, martial arts constantly polishing the spirit of the warrior through rigorous daily practice.
SPIRITUAL TRAINING
In addition to the profound and abstract psychological, philosophical, and spiritual meaning of these spiritual truths, aikido also contains many practical martial applications. Many of the characteristics used to describe peak performances, such as the "flow" and the "zone" states of athletic performance, are similar or identical to those words used to describe a mystical or spiritual experience. One can find and produce these methods and experiences, both athletically and spiritually, through aikido training. In the chapters on training philosophy and training the mind, more specific ideas will be presented and discussed on how to find and produce these methods and experiences. What is required is the honest and genuine intent and intensity in training the body while maintaining a calm and peaceful state of mind.
It is not necessary to acknowledge, endorse, or embrace any of the spiritual concepts and philosophies of aikido in order to gain a high level of technical proficiency and the benefits of training. However, many believe that you will only be limiting yourself from achieving the spiritual benefits of aikido, which are a natural extension of the training.
True budo cannot be described in words or letters; the gods will not allow you to make such explanations. Techniques of the Sword cannot be encompassed by words or letters. Do not rely on such things — move on towards enlightenment. (UESHIBA, M. 1991, P. 28)
The Shinto and Omoto spiritual philosophies that influenced O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba's thoughts and practice, believed in the spiritual presence in nature. The Shinto practice of having many spirits or gods suggests that all of nature has inherent and innate spirituality. The interfaith practice of harmoniously aligning with others suggests that the same spirit lives in all things natural. Though most of us are acutely aware of distinctions and differences, it is the natural sameness of spirituality that connects us. This is not a byproduct of training or the result training to make it so, but the actual natural state of the universe. O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba loved the countryside and farming as a means to commune with nature and receive inspiration directly for kami, or spirit. Spirituality, seen as natural and existing in all nature, is not about religious affiliation or denominations but about personal character and having mindful clarity beyond the learned ego identity and duality.
Many aspects of advanced aikido training and discipline can be considered spiritual. These practices have very little martial application but make for a better person and a contributing member of society.
The formal respect given to all and the code of conduct and honor based on natural inherent worth is spiritual. Many of the bowing rituals of aikido are based on Shinto spiritual practices. Bowing formally acknowledges the spirituality in all.
The selfless participation as a training partner offers and sacrifices your time and your body to be of service to another. Placing the interest and advancement of others above one's own personal desires, and even potential safety, demonstrates compassion and spiritual values. It is this attitude of selfless self-sacrifice that makes the training and discipline. If the same participation were practiced purely out of formality with the anticipation of what one will get in return or with resentment, the practice would not be considered spiritual. Learn to practice and give to others freely.
There is the expression of compassion toward and protection of your training partner. The techniques of aikido, especially when applied with honest intensity and intent by an advanced practitioner, can cause great pain and damage. Compassion, restraint, and mercy can only be developed and demonstrated in the presence of potential harm. Overcoming one's own internal drive for power and control over others through violence and aggression leads one to develop a mind, heart, and body based on peace and spirituality.
Facing internal mental fears creates mindful clarity. While it is not always necessary to know the truth, it is necessary to see through illusions if one wants to develop and progress spiritually. Love is spiritual. Some would say that hate is the opposite of love. Hate is produced by fear. Others would say that apathy is the opposite of love. Apathy is also produced by fear. The opposite of love is fear. You must choose a life based on love or a life based on fear. Seeing through and overcoming the internal repetitive negative fantasies that create fear make it possible to face conflict and attack with compassion and love.
There is a deep sense of humility based on personal experience of knowing there is so much more than the individual learned ego identity. Knowing how much one does not know opens one to more learning. True humility is based on acceptance that one has something to be humble about, and accepting that any skills or abilities developed do not make someone any better than anyone else does. Humility is based on the acceptance of the imperfections of being human. The imperfect construct is the learned ego identity and the mental constructs used to define the perceptions of reality. In the midst of severe training (shugyo and misogi) one responds instinctively without the internal reference and analysis of the learned ego identity. There is no longer an "I" that is detecting, assessing, deciding, and responding.
To have a spiritual experience in aikido training, one needs only to train with honest and genuine intent and intensity. Instructors in aikido or spiritual practices can only point the way. They cannot make it happen. One cannot make a spiritual experience happen either. With honest intensity and intent, one must let the spiritual experience happen on its own, at its own time, and in a way that is personally idiosyncratic. The spiritual experience,