Dmitry Kalashnikov

I am (re)reading a book on Aikido called “KI In Daily Life” by Koichi Tohei.  Aikido has a very deep personal meaning to me and it has definitely shaped the way I go through life and interact with others.

This is a great book on some of the basic principles, such as mind and body coordination, strong will, and power of “positive thinking” (this phrase doesn’t translate well).

Here are some interesting quotes from this book: “The brain is always working while you are alive, you cannot eliminate the waves of the mind. It is impossible not to think anything. The waves of the brain, however, can be calmed down by half infinitely.

When the waves are calmed down infinitely toward zero, it is called concentration. “Think nothing” means concentration or calmness. It is a state of mind like a clear water surface which reflects, clearly and without error, everything and every phenomenon of the world.

In this complicated modern age, it must be valuable to learn how to acquire calmness of the mind which can distinguish right from wrong clearly.” -Koichi Tohei

Found this video as I was looking through my old pictures. In 2005 I was coaching Melissa Main for US Junior Nationals. Melissa places 2nd! Made it into US Junior National team and went on to compete in China in World’s Cup a month later!!!

This is the womens finals route … I decided to play on it and see how many holds I can :)

Melissa won and gave me her Prana hat:

Its pretty sweet, very *very* limited edition :) It was made for the 2005 US National Climbing team to compete in Beijing, China (World Cup).