Aikido of Orleans

THIS IS A MUST-READ!!! From Yale Epidemiologist, Jonathan Smith: "As an infectious disease epidemiologist, at this point I feel morally obligated to provide som...e information on what we are seeing from a transmission dynamic perspective and how they apply to the social distancing measures. Like any good scientist I have noticed two things that are either not being articulated or not present in the literature of social media. I have also relied on my much smarter infectious disease epidemiologist friends for peer review of this post; any edits are from that peer review. Specifically, I want to make two aspects of these measures very clear and unambiguous. First, we are in the beginning of this epidemic’s trajectory. That means even with these distancing measures we will see cases and deaths continue to rise globally, nationally, and in our own communities in the coming weeks. This may lead some people to think that the social distancing measures are not working. They are. They may feel futile. They aren’t. You will feel discouraged. You should. This is normal in chaos. But this is normal epidemic trajectory. Stay calm. This enemy that we are facing is very good at what it does; we are not failing. We need everyone to hold the line as the epidemic inevitably gets worse. This is not my opinion; this is the unforgiving math of epidemics for which I and my colleagues have dedicated our lives to understanding with great nuance, and this disease is no exception. I want to help the community brace for this impact. Stay strong and with solidarity knowing with absolute certainty that what you are doing is saving lives, even as people begin getting sick and dying. You may feel like giving in. Don’t. Second, although social distancing measures have been (at least temporarily) well-received, there is an obvious-but-overlooked phenomenon when considering groups (i.e. families) in transmission dynamics. While social distancing decreases contact with members of society, it typically increases your contacts with family members / very close friends. This small and obvious fact has surprisingly profound implications on disease transmission dynamics. Study after study demonstrates that even if there is only a little bit of connection between groups (i.e. social dinners, playdates/playgrounds, etc.), the epidemic isn’t much different than if there was no measure in place. The same underlying fundamentals of disease transmission apply, and the result is that the community is left with all of the social and economic disruption but very little public health benefit. You should perceive your entire family to function as a single individual unit; if one person puts themselves at risk, everyone in the unit is at risk. Seemingly small social chains get large and complex with alarming geometric speed. If your son visits his girlfriend, and you later sneak over for coffee with a neighbor, your neighbor is now connected to the infected office worker that your son’s girlfriend’s mother shook hands with. This sounds silly, it’s not. This is not a joke or a hypothetical. We as epidemiologists see it borne out in the data time and time again and no one listens. Conversely, any break in that chain breaks disease transmission along that whole chain. In contrast to hand-washing and other personal measures, social distancing measures are not about individuals, they are about societies working in unison. These measures also take a long time to see the results. It is hard (even for me) to conceptualize how on a population level, ‘one quick little get together’ can undermine the entire framework of a public health intervention, but it does. I promise you it does. I promise. I promise. I promise. You can’t cheat it. People are already itching to cheat on the social distancing precautions just a little- a playdate, a haircut, or picking up a needless item at the store, etc. From a transmission dynamics standpoint, this very quickly recreates a highly connected social network that undermines all of the work the community has done so far. Until we get a viable vaccine this unprecedented outbreak will not be overcome in one grand, sweeping gesture, rather only by the collection of individual choices our community makes in the coming months. This virus is unforgiving to choices outside the rules. My goal in writing this is to prevent communities from getting ‘sucker-punched’ by what the epidemiological community knows will happen in the coming weeks. It will be easy to be drawn to the idea that what we are doing isn’t working and become paralyzed by fear, or to just‘cheat’ a little bit in the coming weeks. By knowing what to expect, and knowing the importance of maintaining these measures , my hope is to encourage continued community spirit, strategizing, and action to persevere in this time of uncertainty." By Jonathan Smith, a lecturer in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases and Global Health at Yale University School of Public Health. His research focuses on infectious disease transmission dynamics.

Kick Practice / Pratique des coups de pied Merci Mathieu Laforme

KAORU'S BIRTHDAY MESSAGE Dear Students, Thank you for your kind wishes for my birthday.... Please receive this writing from Mochizuki Sensei which we first saw when entering the Yôseikan Dôjô in Shizuoka, as a reminder of leaving all our concerns and distractions at the entrance with our shoes. Focusing on our practice cleansed our minds to the point that when we left and picked up our shoes, distractions were gone and worries appeared from a manageable angle. Reflecting on that truly helped us to show up for the next practice, whatever happened during our day. That was the signal to change what we can change and accept what we cannot change. in other words get into solution mode before being trapped into victim mode. I have been recovering well from the surgery, the chemotherapy and the radiation therapy, thanks to self-discipline and support from all. Augé Sensei and I would also like to thank those of you who anonymously brought food and supplies. We are fine regarding those. I know that this is a difficult time for many of us. But this is also a time for reflection and putting our energy into what has true value and makes life worth living. We are looking forward to seeing you soon at the Dôjô. From my heart to you, be mindful and meet all matters with Ki-ai! (Instant Unified Mental and Physical Energy), Kaoru Sugiyama (via Secretary Patrick)

WHAT IS IT THAT WE TRULY WISH FOR OURSELVES? "THIS SPEEDING ABOUTTHIS RIDICULOUS HURRY AND FORCEFULNESSshows up everywhere. We're constantly rushing after the... thing, the result, the whatever-it-is that we thought we wanted. We convinced ourselves that it would make us happy. But having all of these things isn't doing it for usit's supposed to, but it doesn't. We don't eat well, and we too often use food in order to feel happy, but instead we end up with obesity and indigestion. Everywhere we look, advertisements persuade us that the most important thing in life is to buy a certain type of car, yacht, or house, but even if we can do so, we don't end up happy. And then we wonder why and feel cheated. All of this illustrates that we aren't here. That's close to what we say when someone is insanewe say that they're "not all there." For answers, we then go to a psychoanalyst, a priest, a support group, all of which persuade us in a different direction, but it always feels as if something's missing. Nothing is missing. There's nothing missing at allunless, of course, you're absolutely starving or freezing, which most of us aren't. When we are adequately fed and sheltered, there isn't anything missing. It's all there, only nobody is there to see it. Everybody is wandering off after something else in the distance. One of the reasons that we find such difficulty being present to materiality is that we are afflicted with the strange notion that the material present is a hoax. Among other things, we have been told to not lay up treasure on the earth, where it will be corrupted by moths and rust, but to lay up treasure for ourselves in heaven. Actually, the treasure of heaven is now. We think that the real world is disintegrating and crumbling and therefore is bad, but the real reason we denigrate the world is because it is unseizable. It is always changing, we can't grasp it, and there's nothing to hold on to. But that's what makes it spiritual. When you lean on the world, it collapses. So don't lean on itlive in it. Don't try to hold on to it. When you embrace someone, you don't squeeze the breath out of them and strangle them. You can't sense the worldyou can't feel the worldif you grab hold of it. Use a light touch. Let it flow through your fingers. It's always slipping, so let it slip. And the more it runs, the more it stays, and the more it stays, the more it runsthat's the way it is. If you don't hold on to it, it's always here; if you do hold on to it, it's always running away. But if you use a light touch, you can discover the most shocking thingthe physical world right here and now, this absolutely concrete moment, is paradise. It's everything that you could ever have imagined the beatific vision to be". Alan Watts Alan Watts This is an adapted excerpt from the posthumous work by Alan Watts, Just So: Money, Materialism, and the Ineffable, Intelligent Universe. Sounds True | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

We had our first ever Hitorigeiko (solo training) tele-clinic with Patrick Augé Sensei today. It was great! Now to apply what we learned...