Reflections on rehabilitation
by Sensei Fran Turner

"There is no big payoff in Contact or aikido; you do it for reasons of love and madness."

Since my knee surgery in mid-May, I feel as though I've been revisiting some areas of my life. The first area that I came back to, albeit briefly, was dance. I had studied dance for seven years before I discovered aikido, or aikido found me. Earlier this year I was asked to teach at the First Festival of Interactive Physics, a festival focussing on Contact Improv organized by Pam Johnson and Karen Resnick Kaeja. Contact Improv is a dance form that uses principles similar to aikido but in a dancerly, not martial, way. Use of gravity is an important element, as are kinesthetic awareness and maintaining contact with another person or an object. I felt privileged to be teaching with a faculty of experienced and skilled contacters. Perhaps the most powerful aspect about it was to be in the company of a dedicated group of practitioners who, like aikidoists, avidly pursue an art they love. There is no big payoff in Contact or aikido; you do it for reasons of love and madness. In retrospect it was foolish to have committed to teaching even an introductory session so soon after my surgery—I limped around gingerly with my big brace—but I managed with the help of Laura and Oleg.

Another area of my past that has come up in this period is my Czech heritage. My mother and grandparents came to southwestern Ontario in the early 1920's. I love the Czech food my mother prepared, especially her flaky pastries that I have no idea how to make. I speak Czech like a three-year old. I sometimes wonder how this farm girl with a Slavic blood in her veins came to develop a connection with things Japanese: Zen Buddhism, Shiatsu and aikido, but that is another story.

Every individual, every action makes a difference in the world. That is also something we are learning as we practice aikido.

I was recently captivated by the movie, Kolya, about a little Russian boy cared for by a cynical and Russian-hating Czech musician just before what is called the Velvet Revolution. Then I attended a play at the Fringe Festival called The Unveiling, directed by Jennifer Doyle and written by Vaclav Havel who pokes fun at materialism. I find it fascinating that Havel, formerly a playwright, is President of the Czech Republic. A book of his speeches, entitled The Art of the Impossible, shows what an exceptional human being and politician he is. He states that politics is the art of the impossible," that is, the art of improving ourselves and the world." This is close to a definition of aikido, too. I had heard on a news broadcast that some months ago Havel was undergoing treatment for an illness. He chose to attend a clinic like any other of his constituents, rather than receive the preferential treatment that could be awarded someone in his position. Personal responsibility comes up again and again in his talks; every individual, every action makes a difference in the world. That is also something we are learning as we practice aikido.

In a few weeks, three months after my surgery, I will finally get on the mat. This break from my teaching schedule has given me an opportunity to reflect on connections with my past. Nothing is fenced off from anything else.


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