Why aikido works

The subtlety in Aikido helps deal with size disparities… IF it ever comes to that. Be a lert today. At least in my experience, superior awareness avoids almost all situations. Daito ryu techniques from which they are derived tend to be. Very interesting post, I have been practicing Aikido since I truly believe that Aikido is a great vehicle to teach life skills of co-operation and kindness through working as tori and uke. I was very happy to read this article and to see how the aikido message rings true, even to someone relatively new to the art.

We have a mission, and it is to offer hope. Thanks for your comment! I love the paraphrased Shakespeare! I came to the understanding a long time ago, that the task is to change oneself, as the job of changing everybody in the world is to big for the one person. Aikido gives us the tools to develop our selves as human beings, and be the best example, to others, you can be.

Aiki is not the only path, or the easiest, but I find it fun. Beautiful point of view Patrick. As a practitioner of Gao Baguazhang, Hebei Xingyiquan and Taijiquan the focus is looking inward to yourself to correct any errors.

Dissolving blockages, Dropping the qi through relaxation Sung and correcting self ignorance gives peace of mind and the feeling of freedom leaves no opening for attack. Their freedom is their responsibility. This is very insightful — thank you for your comment. Wonderfully thoughtful article Christina, you reminded me of the hope and possibility that struck me when I entered my first aikido dojo 45 years ago this month.

You illuminate us with Shoshin — your brilliant beginners mind. Reconciliation — we must learn it and exercise its power if this world is to survive. You remind us that aiki practice puts this spirit in our bones and marrow.

Thank you. Very nice reading and perspective. When your mind and your acts become one with nature, then nature will protect you. Fear no enemy… Do not think to prevail over your adversary: think rather of prevailing over self. This is true self-defence and the chief purpose of training in aikido. Aikido teachers need to think about this.

They need to look at their practice and teaching. Is it holistic? Does it have integrity? Does it have some grounding in reality? Is it transformative?

Transformative means that which gives a person experience of their innate resourceful state, their natural power, their ability to handle life easily and effectively. Too many people nowadays have self-doubt. They are anxious, depressed, sad, guilty—they are overwhelmed by their emotions.

They are confused, not knowing who they are, what they want, where they are going. They feel weak and vulnerable. We increasingly have a culture that glorifies victimhood. Transformation means finding your centre. It is not about changing who you are.

It is about changing your experience of yourself—and of life. It is about taking your place in the Universe. It is about finding a place of peace and non-contention. My experience, and the experience of countless other aikidokas, is that aikido, practised with an open mind and an open heart, is a practice that not only builds our body, but also builds understanding and wisdom. If we can grasp this, aikido can once again become a relevant, revolutionary, socially-useful art that its founder envisioned it to be.

Aikido does not rely on weapons or brute force to succeed: instead we put ourselves in tune with the universe, maintain peace in our own realms, nurture life, and prevent death and destruction. The true meaning of the term samurai is one who serves and adheres to the power of love. You nailed it Mr Lopez. You are the worrior. Your article will encourage other fellow travellers. Would really like to meet you one day.

Where are you based? Thank you for your thoughtful article. I hope to travel to "down under" one of these days and visit your dojo. Hey Gerald Great article. Really enjoyed it. Good to hear you are teaching again. Quentin and I never stopped and still love it as much as ever. All the best Piers Cooke. Hi Piers, how wonderful to hear from you!

I hope you and Quentin are well. Thank you for your kind words. I really hope to catch up some time this year, maybe at Summer Seminar. Very best wishes, Gerald. Very nice piece.. And i really do not care about those attention seekers Aikido i a beautiful martial art form Finding and strenghten you center and thereby your ki energy.

If you manage to find it, you can do everything. Thank you, I took up aikido at 50yrs old and was lucky enough to be one of three students of a 7th can instructor who followed these principals. He retired and I've had to change schools where there is no talk of these things.

I am fortunate that my old sensei teaches me tai chi now so not all is lost. It was nice to be reminded of these goals and the journey I wish to make. Made orange belt this week, onwards we go. Thanks for a great article. Very enjoyable. Next time I am in Auckland I would like to see if I can visit your dojo. Nice to see I know a couple of your other respondents, what a lovely community.

Great text sensei! I practice Ki Aikido in Brazil and I am happy to know how practitioners on the other side of the world have the same feelings! This is one of the better descriptions of aikido practice as I have experienced it for 25 years. It is not about speed, strength or power, but about understanding, compassion, empathy and integrity.

Correct position and movement will lead to a negation of the attacker's power and leave them with nothing to attack; proper movement will lead them without them feeling it, and the ending is decided by a fork in the path -- how the attacker reacts and where the practitioner wants to take it, and with what degree of power and purpose. So those keyboard warriors could simply be ignored if not the number of active aikidokas is decreasing. I agree with every word you wrote, but if I would read them to a beginner, will he or she will find some sense in the first weeks, months Unfortunatly we have to find other ways to explain the usefullness of Aikido, until beginners come to a deeper understanding.

I work every day with mentally ill and potentially highly agressive people but was never injured nor damaged patients myself. For example once a man, completly out of his mind in that moment, ran against me with his fists already up. Because when the knives and swords come out, they do have a system that focuses on 3 critical factors.

In contrast, almost all other forms of Martial Arts don't really deal with these situations realistically. So yet again, it doesn't take a genius to see that Aikido has the edge here. I won't lie. I am not a fan of the current Martial Arts scene. There are a lot of idiots amongst it. People I wouldn't buy a drink for let alone trust them with my body as their training partner. And a lot of those idiots seem to congregate among a few Martial Arts mentioning no names.

And again that is why Aikido attracts a lot of really lovely people. They want to learn self-defence and Martial Arts with likeminded people. It's not all about who is the best fighter; Aikido is part of life. It forms the practice of the mind and body to attain better health, both mentally and physically.

And at the same time, if you are attacked while walking home, you are likely to increase your chances of survival. I only went to one Aikido lesson and quit I hated having my wrists bent; it hurts like hell and I knew in that one session that Aikido, right there and then wasn't for me. I might return to it in the future but I have been fortunate enough to be taught by several police defensive tactics instructors who did know Aikido.

And they were able to put on standing arm locks and wrist locks at a speed I could only dream of. In our MMA mad world, this might seem odd, but really, have you ever tried to fight in a crowded bar? Trust me, going for a double leg takedown is not smart. And this is whereas Martial Artists we need to get out of this 'if it's not MMA, it doesn't work' mindset. Now, even though I hated the discomfort of the Aikido class, I was actually very impressed by the instructors and their level of detail, knowledge and ability.

Sure, most were older than me by at least 20 years. But when I saw them use the Bokken a wooden sword I knew they had skills that I didn't have that would be useful My experience with Aikido and some of its practitioners has always lead to a very healthy respect for the art.

Aikido presents a way of dealing with attackers that many will say 'won't work'. But I have personally worked in the Police with Aikido specialists that could rip my arm off if they liked. I don't do Aikido, but if I did do Aikido and added my explosiveness and speed, I am sure I would scare the crap out of anyone with my Aikido skills.

But that is because, after 20 plus years of Martial Arts training, even now with a bad back and too much weight on me, I would no doubt be able to make Aikido look like the best thing since sliced bread. It's not trying to convince the world it is the best thing ever. For many people, it provides fun, a way to meet new people, exercise, mental health improvements, focus, a past time and of course it gives self-defence skills. And for that reason, I have no issues in recommending Aikido for self-defence and life improvement.

You're not going to winning any UFC championships by studying Aikido, but you might well avoid a knife plunged into your chest.

You would have to show me. I retract my punches. And yes, we will email you about self-defence Aikido: The Definitive Guide and why you should try it. Share 0. Tweet 0. But is Aikido any good?

Let's dive in: What is Aikido? She, of course, didn't ease up, because I had never thought to tell her she should. I managed to get about half way into a break fall when I hit the ground, which just so happened to position the shoulder of the arm being twisted directly under the rest of my body. My entire weight came down on it, very hard. It ended up that I couldn't use that arm effectively for 2 to 3 weeks afterwards.

I can only assume something similar would occur in real life, if you were to execute the technique at full speed, with the clear intention of ending the fight right there. Had it been for real, I'm pretty sure I would've chosen that moment for a strategic retreat.

If she let me go, that is For many years I taught self defense not a martial art in a university and also to police and police trainees. One day one of those trainees came to me in a very agitated state. The evening before he had met a good friend's wife while Christmas shopping at a big suburban mall. The lady was quite close to the end of a pregnancy so accompany her back to her car and carry her packages to mitigate against any slipping in snow.

As they neared her car a pretty large man stepped out from behind a van and grabbed the lady, flashed a knife and demanded their wallets, watches, etc. My student realized that the man was neither releasing the woman nor making any attempt to pick up the loot.

His "radar" went off just as the mugger initiated a stab to his chest. The world slowed down my friend claimed and he remembered many of the alternatives we had practiced. He opted to attempt a disarming technique he had learned most similar to what Aikidoka would consider a shionage. As he turned into the thrust and reversed his body placement he realized that there was a second mugger standing a few yards behind him. My student "modified" his technique to bring the back of his attacker's elbow over his shoulder where it was totally disjointed.

The second attacker was discouraged and left. I relate all of this to point out the purpose of my students agitation - he was remorseful that he had so badly damaged his attacker and wanted my opinion as to the appropriateness of his response. What I told him I honestly believed at the time - and still do. And the 'probably' is my point in this posting.

I know techniques that in that situation would have likely brought the knife into the attackers throat or body - I think I would have used them. I would NOT have, however, broken the guys arm - which caused him to lose consciousness, I might add - and THEN gone back and stabbed him with his own knife.

I would have understood the teacher in the hypothetical example using a technique that was likely to be lethal though sometimes they aren't and killing the one attacker - or even ALL the attackers - DURING combat.

To return to a disabled opponent and fatally dispatch them is - to me - unethical - I am certain it is illegal - but perhaps more importantly - to me - is that it totally lacks honor. It is a cowardly deed - not an act of justice. I honestly don't think I could justify taking a life under those specific terms. Thanks for bearing with me on this one.

I have pondered this example for many years since it was so dramatic for me and for my friend. One of the odd jobs I worked at while becoming a teacher was a nighttime gas station attendant.

One night a large man with gang memorabilia all about him drove his Harley into the service area as if to take it over, parked in front of the pumps, strode inside, grabbed a can of wax, returned to his machine, which now blocked anyone from getting gas, and began to polish the already gleaming metal.

I heard the manager and assistant manager begin to fume to each other, each remark inciting a more fiery response. I began to worry about the almost certain conflict between thses three big men. I went out to the biker. To him I said with sincere appreciation, "That's a beautiful bike What year is it?

Did you rebuild it yourself? I told him the manager was upset and could he please pay for the wax and polish his bike over there. The manager came over and looked at me accusingly. You must know something. When I was in high school a fellow attacked me in a theater one night with a knife.

A powerful kiai and quickly raised hand on my part caused him to stop the arm swing halfway through. He was so embarrassed he simply walked away much to my surprise and happiness. Told to me by the student who witnesss it: Maruyama Sensei and a senior student were leaving the downtown Philly dojo in a "rough" neighborhood an hour after class was over. A man, apparently drunk, approached them from a doorway and demanded money.

The senior student told the man to go away Maruyama Sensei's English was not that great then. The man threw a punch at the senior student. The senior student reports that Maruyama Sensei flashed in between them, took the man's arm into kote gaeshi, then put his foot out to cushion the man's head from hitting the sidewalk. After checking that the man was unharmed, the two of them went on their way.

Yes,I have a story about the last. A former student of mine, after six months of twice a week training, was getting a pizza. In the shop a young man made a pass ar her. She rejected his offer to go with him in his car. She returned to her car, put the pizza on the roof, and began to put her keys in the lock. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the young man coming up behind her, and turned in time to see him try to grab her neck?

She got her hands under his elbows and pushed him backwards hard enough for him to fall on his rear end. She recovered the pizza, got in the car and, after considering whether she wanted to run him over, decided no, and drove home. Maruyama Sensei later said that the only reason the story is a good one is bevcause she remembered to get the pizza off the roof of the car.

All of our students learn how to prevent someone from taking too hard a fall, even to the extent of saving uke from uke's own falling mistakes.

I kind of like the idea of joining in Aikido as applied to level of stress on uke. Even in the dojo, the intensity of keiko differs depending upon the uke's commitment in attack. The more committed the attack, the faster and harder the technique application. This results not from the intent of the nage but from the joining between uke and nage. The resulting forces themselves create the strength of technique.

If nage does not join with uke well, then the waza could end up being to weak for the attack and a good flowing technique cannot be achieved. Uke will probably be left standing there wondering what nage will try to do next, or uke will have run right past or through nage.

On the other side, if nage pushes the technique, forcing it to work, then uke either gets hurt or does a kaeshi waza or ends up going limp. In the street, the same joining concept applies. If the person starts pushing and shoving, not much is required other than a yonkyo or sankyo. A person attacks strongly with a bottle, a koshinage would work quite well since it joins and flows with the attack.

Any resulting injuries to the attacker are simply the result of the force of their attack. A person pulls a gun, shoot them first. I doubt if any of us are at the level that we can dodge the bullets like O Sensei join not only the attacking person but the attacking bullets as well! We can only respond at the level that we are capable of. Anyways, I find Aikido much more useful for daily living rather than in its martial aspects. Tenkan and Irimi movements are very useful for dodging cars on Hong Kong streets and sidewalks cars have right-of-way here.

Furikaburi is great for opening large swinging doors and you need to know how to extend your whole body to push you way through the Mass Transit Railway MTR crowds. Hanmi is very useful for standing in the MTR when you can't hold on to anything. Iriminage is excellent for carrying home cases of beer from the store. And koshinage for carrying a tired child works too.

The concepts of joining and leading work well in the classroom as well as in departmental and faculty politics. The etiquette of budo is just proper for business in and around Hong Kong.

Aikido doesn't stop when you leave the dojo. It is probably more important outside. I must admit, most of the business deals I am now involved in arose out of my Aikido contacts.