My friend sent me couple pieces on aikido.  Just thought I share them with you:

Ukemi is like a conversation 

if you grab but then walk away, you are not talking

If your center is not connected, it’s like you are actually thinking about something else

if as uke you roll too soon, it’s as if you have made an assumption as to what nage’ is going to say or what thier feeling or opinion is

if you plant and lock down tight, it’s as if you are purposefully blocking them out or ignoring them

if you push hard or fight what they are trying to do, it’s as if you are yelling at them

if you grab like a handshake, reaching for center, aware and sensitive,

skillful ukemi is like a heartfelt conversation.

Aikido is full of paradox.

It is very subtle and sublime.

Extension versus strength

Being grounded while being mobile

having great posture without being stiff

The river flows naturally, blending with the landscape before it,

changing its shape while maintaining its form.

The large boulder, solid and impenetrable,

does not  succeed in stopping the river.

The body of water does not cling to the rock, grab it or hold it.

Perhaps it just pushes just slightly into the boulder as the river simply passes by.

In fact the boulder is slowly eroded by the water on it’s way to the ocean.

Ultimately it is not the land that shapes the water but the water that shapes the land.

We endeavor in aikido to emulate this quality in our mind, body and spirit.

Allow oneself to be the river.

My personal hope is that through manifesting aikido in my life

I can slowly erode the hardness, the anger and the clinging despair of the boulders in my life

and the boulder i know that i can be.