Day 6 of writing every day
The modern Japanese budo known as Aikido has spread around the world since Japan’s rapid recovery after world war 2. I wouldn’t say that it has been transmitted perfectly and accurately with the problems language and cultural barriers present. That coupled with the rapidity of its spread could be said to have contributed to unique local practices and methodology that stray far from what the founder did.
Some might even claim that they’re doing what the founder did when it’s clearly not in the eyes of those who put in the effort to go through the existing historical and instructional materials, and learn from those with more direct relationships to teachers whose lineage in the art is much more directly passed down.
Whatever your stance is on the matter or if you’ve never heard of Aikido, to me being able to practice it is something I’ve come to find essential to my life.
The reason I despise the 11-8 shift I’ve been assigned to is because the hours are just crap and you can’t do anything unless you’re a member of some 24 hour facility that lets you come and go whenever, but even then you’re likely to just be doing something on your own and not be able to take a class in person.
Can you imagine many teachers of any activity wanting to make their lessons start past 8 PM and continue teaching into midnight? I believe the answer is undoubtedly a big NO. If they had to supply lessons that late, they’d just use technology to record their lessons for viewing at the students convenience. Most places don’t even operate past 8 PM if they’re not serving food and drinks.
So 11-8 while still being an 8 hour day technically, the quality of life being offered compared to 9-6 or 10-7 is drastically lower, meaning there should be additional compensation for the worker.
My dojo has class from 7 PM to 9 PM because my teacher wanted to be considerate of working adults who might stay a little late for work. Students are free to come late and leave early in principle, no one is forced to stay all 2 hours if they don’t have the energy or their schedule doesn’t allow it.
When work runs to 8 pm I can still make it to practice, but with barely 30 minutes left, maybe even less as I need to change out of regular clothes into my dogi. That’s barely enough time to practice techniques and principles, and unless I’m being stupid and using my body inefficiently, I’d barely have done enough physical activity to break a sweat by the end of class.
If I can’t even get in at least 1 hour for a class, which is the standard minimal length of practice in most Aikido dojos, then I wouldn’t even have time to just be in the moment and get my mind off work, which I’ll keep going back to the next day unless it’s the weekend. I’m not even working late because work is busy, it’s just because my employer decided that that’s the schedule for the project they’ll have their workers adjust to for the job with no additional compensation for us.
The reason I decided I needed to take Monday and Tuesday off is mostly because I haven’t been able to get as much Aikido in over the past few weeks. No Aikido No Life. I’m not unwilling to work 8 hours a day for a living, but take away Aikido and for me it’s like I’m not even living my own life.
I know there are others out there who have things much worse and I wish the best for them and that things will improve for them. But I have my own dreams and goals as well and I’m not about to give them up either.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 