We were in middle of studying how to defend ourselves from multiple attackers in an Aikido class for senior students in Japan.

Five young college students rushed at me once again, and once again I struggled to cope with them.

"OK, take a break." Tamura sensei said. "In order for five attackers to actually hit you they have to first reach you. Your job is NOT to run away from them. You need to create a spacing that leads them to all try and grab or hit you at same time. Think of attackers as needing to pass through a gate. If they all try and rush through gate at same time they will block each others efforts. Move less, do less, and be calm. Give them a clear target that they all reach at same time."

I had heard similar remarks in past, but accomplishing this in heat of moment requires a moving calmness that takes a while to get hang of. You know in your head what you are supposed to do, but once your heart starts beating faster and your opponents are bearing down on you, you find it really hard to believe in what you are being told.

"Think of it this way." sensei said. He pulled out a cloth that he used to wipe away his sweat and said, "Here, take this away from me."

One of first things I noticed about my newly purchased parrot, was that he couldn't fly. Chico's wings had been clipped and he was stuck here on earth just like us humans.

Once weather turned nice I took Chico and sat him on a branch of a tree in my backyard, hoping to make him happier. At first he seemed confused. He walked back and forth on branch looking like an agitated father pacing back and forth in maternity waiting room. I was surprised to see that he didn't flap his wings in an attempt to fly. Somehow he knew he was incapable. I always wondered how he knew such a thing.

One day, while sitting on his branch, Chico got way more agitated then he had been when I first took him outside months ago. He was pacing back and forth and talking up a storm. Then all of a sudden, he stopped pacing, let out a spine tingling scream, and started madly flapping his wings for first time ever. About three seconds later, he lifted off from branch like space shuttle at Cape Canaveral! I was amazed and shocked. Little did I know his feathers had been growing back in, and just like a sly convict, Chico had been biding his time until moment was ripe for escape!