Olga Curado - A Magical Journey

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the authors words about her experiences, visions and Aikido.

It is a very precious text. A living, breathing experience. The richest of content, with great depth, containing methods and knowledge for life.

There is complementarity between the various methods, the sum being even greater than the parts, even when they seem contradictory.

NOT RELIGIOUS, BUT RELIGIOUS A PATH, DO.

I do not practise Aikido, but I can see how it can help practitioners.

The author manages to apply the profound nature of Aikido directly to life events, as a way of dealing with what life constantly throws at us. It enriches the path of the Buddhist practitioner. It offers direct challenges for the release of karmic regions at all levels. It offers an axis to cultivate a centredness that stands up to challenges.

Buddha invoked Mara to reach enlightenment, the practices of Aikido directly present the challenges of the six kingdoms and the six bardos and instructions about how to maintain the lucid mind as a reference point during all this. Enlightenment is not achieved via isolation, but by facing challenges at every level.

Presenting her work in three parts and twenty chapters, the author follows a chronological order, from her initial visionary experiences to her recognition of the depths of Aikidos vision. She candidly reveals her life as a living laboratory of the lucidity of Aikido at work.

She reveals her fragilities, the search for the master in life, the immeasurable support of universal wisdom that protects our lineage, the convergence of unexpected situations, her intense training, the subtle and blatant challenges posed by her gender, examples of accidents, illnesses and cures, magical convergences, joys and disappointments, and her growing maturity. The book culminates with her meeting her master, Motomichi Anno Sensei, and her training in the Funada Dojo in Mie, Kumano, Japan, her recognition of the profound nature of what Aikido achieves, and the blessing she receives from her master to create her own Dojo at the CEBB Caminho do Meio, the AME NO IWAYA DOJO Celestial Cave Dojo.

A magical journey led by the gods of Aikido and their surprising powers. A magical vision and at the same time straightforward practical advice for dealing with life, energy, intense activity inseparable from fear, fearlessness, certainty without rigidity or a yoga guru.

Aikido is a path. A way of life whose apprenticeship begins on the tatami mat in the form of waza and katas a collection of techniques and blows. On the tatami mat, we invariably compare ourselves to each other (...). Aikido provides resources for us to confront another kind of battle. (...) a tool for removing barriers between people, helping them understand that we are all part of Kami (the divine force of the universe, nature).

Aikido (...) is the art of peace. Ai means harmony, ki , energy, and do , path. (...) It does not promote competition or harming ones partner. (...) It is the art of communication and peaceful engagement, of exchange.

Women, in a traditionally masculine space, like that of martial arts - although in Aikido the presence of women is theoretically celebrated - are treated like second-class citizens. (...) Centuries of differentiating on the basis of gender can manifest themselves almost unconsciously, yet this does not diminish the scope for oppression. (...) It is important to note that even in the sacred spaces of self-development and of the quest for the divine there are political dimensions (...). Overcoming these abysses with art (...) and at the same time taking control of ones own being with integrity is a huge challenge (...) but it is not acceptable to give up on this undertaking.

The path, Anno Sensei constantly repeats, to be achieved demands a Suano heart simple, honest, pure, clear, transparent. Being open for understanding and receiving new things. This is satori revelation, a state of awareness, for the acceptance of the mystery.

Aikido has secret powers. Gods have secret powers. Secrets are revealed only to those who are initiated into the mysteries and allow the gods to lead them on the journey.

At the heart of the Sensei Olga Curado the journey continues, not the journey of a single person. It is the magical and mysterious journey in time beyond time, in space beyond space without a beginning or an ending.