PizDoff
1/18/2005 1:06pm,
Watch out now!
Mauian first woman with 50 years in ki-aikido
By LEE IMADA, News Editor
HALIIMAILE – In the world of ki-aikido, Olive Silva is a trailblazer, the only woman in the world who for 50 years has been a disciple of the martial art.
The 82-year-old godan, or fifth-degree black belt, is a treasure, one of only three living ki-aikido disciples with five decades under their belts.
The Haliimaile resident recently was honored for the distinction with a letter of appreciation from ki-aikido’s top officers in Japan and a ceramic plate from Master Koichi Tohei, the founder of the martial art.
“Let your ki flow like a stream and never let it stop,” says the translation of the calligraphy on the plate. “Getting stuck on something, whether good or bad, is never good. The past does not return. Only human beings cling to the past. The universe never ceases.”
The honoree describes “ki” as “universal energy.” She has used her special knack for “extending ki” to others to relieve aches and pains and even save lives.
While a staffer for the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind on Oahu, she was called to the deck of a pool where a boy was pulled from the water.
“The boy was already purple, the eyes looking at me,” said Silva in an interview Tuesday.
She said she gave the boy “aikido resuscitation . . . pressing the ki” into the boy.
Edit: Right.......
He began to breathe again and survived.
Silva described this extension of ki as putting “your energy flow into the person’s body, to put the universal energy into the person.” It’s a natural coordination of mind and body, she says.
Silva describing the extension of ki seemed much like the elderly Obi-Wan explaining the “force” to young Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars.” Yet, when Silva embarked on the ki-aikido way in 1954 as a 30-something mother with children, she was likely not as philosophical about life and the energy of the universe.
In fact, she described herself as a “toughy.”
“Everybody call me when they go to fight,” she said. “I was a tough guy.”
Silva was also athletic, as was her dad, a star in the Chinese baseball leagues on Oahu, and her brothers. In fact, she played slow-pitch softball and basketball into her 50s.
“I just like playing and doing it, competing and beating the next person” * all in the context of good sportsmanship, she said. Without sportsmanship, “they start fighting,” Silva added.
The athletic “toughy” was curious about aikido and interested in self-defense when she attended her first class at the Haliimaile Gym. There were no mats, like the ones at Maui Ki-Aikido dojo in Wailuku, but their instructors noted that there are no mats in real life when a roll might be required.
Once she started, Silva was hooked.
“I liked the coordination,” she said. “We learn to coordinate one’s mind and one’s body.”
There were three or four other women in the class when they started, but it was male-dominated and mostly adults.
“They were a lot of men folks.” Silva said. “I had to be strong.”
There were comments like “what is this woman doing over here” but she just kept working.
“I just continued and don’t say much, just show that I can do it just as well as you can,” Silva said.
Three years later, she became a black belt, working and training under Shinichi Suzuki, an 8th-degree black belt and the highest ranking ki-aikido disciple outside of Japan.
The other women in her class eventually dropped out of aikido.
“You have to sacrifice a lot of your time,” she said noting that some of the women got married and started families.
The Honolulu-born Silva already had started her family with the late Paul Silva. Some of her six children tried aikido but none has taken it up, though one daughter took up karate, she said.
While being a mother and aikido black belt and instructor for the program in Haliimaile, Silva has extended her ki to young and old in the community. Edit: Right. Is ki breast milk or something? She was a physical education instructor at St. Joseph’s and Makawao schools, housemother for the Lahainaluna High School borders, coordinator of a special motivation class for girls at Baldwin High, director of the county Summer Fun program, staff member at the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind, and trainer for Lahainaluna and Pop Warner football teams.
In 1973, Silva was named Volunteer of the Year by the Maui County Office of the Red Cross for her work in helping elderly on Maui obtain Food Stamps. As part of Project Fund, Silva handled more than 400 cases, traveled an estimated 1,800 miles and volunteered more than 600 hours over nearly five months,according to a Maui News report that year.
Through the years, she has been challenged a few times, mostly in dealing with teen-agers. Ki-aikido instructors teach their students to avoid conflicts and to even walk away from potentially volatile situations.
But sometimes there is no choice.
She once put down a boy who challenged her at the school for the deaf and blind and then proceeded to let him chase her around the building before the school administration arrived.
“I tried to evade him, and I didn’t want to do anything more than when I put him down,” Silva said, adding that the boy later absolved her from responsibility and took the blame for the incident.
These days, Silva travels to the dojo several times a week and helps out. She meditates for 40 minutes to an hour every morning. Injuries to her back and knee have slowed her a bit, but it’s not apparent in her step.
Silva broke her back trying to lift someone off a wheelchair. She heard the crack, too. Edit: I like weight training.
“I’m OK,” she said, noting that she had surgery to repair her spine. “I went back to aikido. I don’t pity myself. You have to learn from that and don’t let that happen again. That’s where the awareness comes in.”
It’s that awareness that she says makes her a more accomplished aikido practitioner than when she was younger. Silva has learned that the secret to aikido is not in physical strength but in movements and extending ki.
“Don’t underestimate me,” she says. “I can still compete with them in the dojo. Many of them are physical, even black belts.” Edit: Just don't try to lift them.
“Now, it is not physical,” she said about her current approach to aikido. “It is serene and caring and how to extend ki without being physical. Another person can counter your strength. There is always someone stronger.” Edit: But what if the other person has more ki than you!?!?!? Can you just punch them?
Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.
Great dedication!
Mauian first woman with 50 years in ki-aikido
By LEE IMADA, News Editor
HALIIMAILE – In the world of ki-aikido, Olive Silva is a trailblazer, the only woman in the world who for 50 years has been a disciple of the martial art.
The 82-year-old godan, or fifth-degree black belt, is a treasure, one of only three living ki-aikido disciples with five decades under their belts.
The Haliimaile resident recently was honored for the distinction with a letter of appreciation from ki-aikido’s top officers in Japan and a ceramic plate from Master Koichi Tohei, the founder of the martial art.
“Let your ki flow like a stream and never let it stop,” says the translation of the calligraphy on the plate. “Getting stuck on something, whether good or bad, is never good. The past does not return. Only human beings cling to the past. The universe never ceases.”
The honoree describes “ki” as “universal energy.” She has used her special knack for “extending ki” to others to relieve aches and pains and even save lives.
While a staffer for the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind on Oahu, she was called to the deck of a pool where a boy was pulled from the water.
“The boy was already purple, the eyes looking at me,” said Silva in an interview Tuesday.
She said she gave the boy “aikido resuscitation . . . pressing the ki” into the boy.
Edit: Right.......
He began to breathe again and survived.
Silva described this extension of ki as putting “your energy flow into the person’s body, to put the universal energy into the person.” It’s a natural coordination of mind and body, she says.
Silva describing the extension of ki seemed much like the elderly Obi-Wan explaining the “force” to young Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars.” Yet, when Silva embarked on the ki-aikido way in 1954 as a 30-something mother with children, she was likely not as philosophical about life and the energy of the universe.
In fact, she described herself as a “toughy.”
“Everybody call me when they go to fight,” she said. “I was a tough guy.”
Silva was also athletic, as was her dad, a star in the Chinese baseball leagues on Oahu, and her brothers. In fact, she played slow-pitch softball and basketball into her 50s.
“I just like playing and doing it, competing and beating the next person” * all in the context of good sportsmanship, she said. Without sportsmanship, “they start fighting,” Silva added.
The athletic “toughy” was curious about aikido and interested in self-defense when she attended her first class at the Haliimaile Gym. There were no mats, like the ones at Maui Ki-Aikido dojo in Wailuku, but their instructors noted that there are no mats in real life when a roll might be required.
Once she started, Silva was hooked.
“I liked the coordination,” she said. “We learn to coordinate one’s mind and one’s body.”
There were three or four other women in the class when they started, but it was male-dominated and mostly adults.
“They were a lot of men folks.” Silva said. “I had to be strong.”
There were comments like “what is this woman doing over here” but she just kept working.
“I just continued and don’t say much, just show that I can do it just as well as you can,” Silva said.
Three years later, she became a black belt, working and training under Shinichi Suzuki, an 8th-degree black belt and the highest ranking ki-aikido disciple outside of Japan.
The other women in her class eventually dropped out of aikido.
“You have to sacrifice a lot of your time,” she said noting that some of the women got married and started families.
The Honolulu-born Silva already had started her family with the late Paul Silva. Some of her six children tried aikido but none has taken it up, though one daughter took up karate, she said.
While being a mother and aikido black belt and instructor for the program in Haliimaile, Silva has extended her ki to young and old in the community. Edit: Right. Is ki breast milk or something? She was a physical education instructor at St. Joseph’s and Makawao schools, housemother for the Lahainaluna High School borders, coordinator of a special motivation class for girls at Baldwin High, director of the county Summer Fun program, staff member at the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind, and trainer for Lahainaluna and Pop Warner football teams.
In 1973, Silva was named Volunteer of the Year by the Maui County Office of the Red Cross for her work in helping elderly on Maui obtain Food Stamps. As part of Project Fund, Silva handled more than 400 cases, traveled an estimated 1,800 miles and volunteered more than 600 hours over nearly five months,according to a Maui News report that year.
Through the years, she has been challenged a few times, mostly in dealing with teen-agers. Ki-aikido instructors teach their students to avoid conflicts and to even walk away from potentially volatile situations.
But sometimes there is no choice.
She once put down a boy who challenged her at the school for the deaf and blind and then proceeded to let him chase her around the building before the school administration arrived.
“I tried to evade him, and I didn’t want to do anything more than when I put him down,” Silva said, adding that the boy later absolved her from responsibility and took the blame for the incident.
These days, Silva travels to the dojo several times a week and helps out. She meditates for 40 minutes to an hour every morning. Injuries to her back and knee have slowed her a bit, but it’s not apparent in her step.
Silva broke her back trying to lift someone off a wheelchair. She heard the crack, too. Edit: I like weight training.
“I’m OK,” she said, noting that she had surgery to repair her spine. “I went back to aikido. I don’t pity myself. You have to learn from that and don’t let that happen again. That’s where the awareness comes in.”
It’s that awareness that she says makes her a more accomplished aikido practitioner than when she was younger. Silva has learned that the secret to aikido is not in physical strength but in movements and extending ki.
“Don’t underestimate me,” she says. “I can still compete with them in the dojo. Many of them are physical, even black belts.” Edit: Just don't try to lift them.
“Now, it is not physical,” she said about her current approach to aikido. “It is serene and caring and how to extend ki without being physical. Another person can counter your strength. There is always someone stronger.” Edit: But what if the other person has more ki than you!?!?!? Can you just punch them?
Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.
Great dedication!