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Knowing the basics of Aikido

Aikido is one of the oldest form of martial arts. Founded by Morihei Ueshiba, aikido came about through the studies of many different kinds of traditional martial arts. In fact, is often perceived as a form of exercise or a dance because of some of its forms. It is also viewed by some quarters as some form of martial mesmerism.

Aikido is even confused with Daito Ryu Aikijutsu, it is different in its essence. Still, its founder attributed his creation of aikido to the way, his master Sokaku Takeda, grandmaster of Daito Ryu, opened his eyes to the nature of Budo.

What is aikido?

Despite its many perceived forms, aikido is a Budo or martial arts. It is the refinement of the techniques that are being taught in traditional martial arts and is combined with a philosophy that calls on for the power of the spirit. In its essence, it is a blending of the body and the mind.

Its philosophy is basically derived from the belief that deceptions and trickery or brute force will not make us defeat our opponents. Instead, concentration that involves the spirit will be enough to strengthen us.

Aikido is also used as a way to discover our true paths so that we can develop our individuality. It also teaches its practitioners to unify their body and their mind so that they will become in harmony with the "universe" and with nature. Their power and their strength will come from this balance and harmony.   

The word "universe" in aikido is not some obscure concept that one cannot achieve. It is actually quite concrete and is even within the grasp of the person. In aikido, "universe" can be achieved through actual experiences and everyday life.

Aikido's movements and techniques are circular. When a circle is created in aikido, the person is said to be protected from a collision from an opposing force. A firm center, however, is needed to create this circle. An example of a firm circle is a spinning top that turns at fast speed. Without a firm center, the speed of movement will only create imbalance. The stillness of the spinning top while in speeding motion is what is called sumikiri in Aikido language. This is achieved only by what Aikido founder calls "total clarity of mind and body." However, this is not so easily achieved. It takes a long time of study and practice in order to find this intense concentration and centeredness.

Training is important in aikido as well as concentration because while it may be easy to create a centered being when inside a martial arts gym, the same cannot be said of situations and circumstances outside. It will not be easy to keep one's composure when faced with extraordinary circumstances. This is actually one of the goals of Aikido training. It aims to teach its practitioners to maintain their composure and their centeredness even in panic situations such as danger and calamities.        

One method taught in aikido is to breathe with what is called the seika tanden point. This is the part of the body that can be found two inches below the navel. Controlled breathing is one key to being one with the universe and to center oneself with nature. When a person learns to do this, he or she will feel extraordinary calmness that they can use in the practice of aikido.

About the Author

Going to start Aikido?

Last week i went to an aikido club and had a go at it. Great fun yay and ive decided to start doing it. It wasnt an on-the-spot decision mind you, ive been contemplating it for a few months.
Ive read stuff on the internet on aikido but id like some personal accounts on it..
whats it like? whats it composed of? etc

Theres no way to really explain it with words in a way that would match actually doing it... You have to use metaphor (remember your first kiss. was it red hot?), analogy (red is to color as hot is to temperature) and allegory. Have you ever tried to explain to a blind person what the color red looks like? I don't think impossible, but very difficult no doubt - neither party could really be sure the idea got through intact.

That said, first of all, its very subtle. The differences between a skilled aikidoka and a beginning aikidoka might be hard to notice through observation. It happens too fast, there are too many different things going on at the same time and a great deal of what's happening to make a technique work isn't on the surface at all - its inside the body.

For instance, Nikkyo, a basic wrist lock: Its very difficult to tell if its actually applied correctly of not by just watching. However, once you feel it being done to you or after a while training, what it feels like when you do it yourself, it makes alot more sense.

This is very different than Karate where its pretty obvious by comparison if a technique (kick or punch) worked or not.

Sometimes Sensei makes it look so easy, you think "no problem"... then you try it and discover what you thought you saw might not have been what Sensei was actually doing... or at least might not have been the important part of what Sensei was doing.

After a while, you have enough of a base that you start to learn what to actually look for when Sensei is demonstrating something. You learn to see the important stuff or at least know you might not have and how to try and create what Sensei did using feeling as opposed to just your eyes.

You start to understand that Ki isn't some mystical super-power... Its just energy everyone has. What's remarkable is the ability to control it at will rather than the question of whether it exists or not. Then it doesn't seem that the ability to control Ki is all that remarkable either - what's remarkable is that so few people know how to do it - it seems remarkable that animals and babies do it naturally and without thought yet, educated, intelligent adults (including yourself) having 'learned' that the solution to resistance is to push harder even though it rarely works, struggle so much.

Then, you start to develop your own ability to start controlling your own energy and with that your opponent's as well. At first, your own and the opponent's physical kinetic energy, then physical potential, then psychological... yep - the more aware you are of what's happening, the more its possible to influence it. You may think that you know how to relax your body and that it is in fact relaxed... Then you start to learn and feel how tense you really are physically.

That's also when you start to notice that a physical fight isn't all that different than a verbal argument... you start noticing that the same basic ideas hold true in both places like what happens when you back someone in a corner - they get defensive, tense, sometimes combative and/or irrational regardless if its a literal corner, an emotional corner, a financial corner whatever. You start to notice how you were even more tense mentally and emotionally than you thought you were and you start applying the physical lessons to your mind - you get into fewer arguments, you worry less, you don't get road rage like you once did... you find that you are more interested in 'keeping your center' and find that as a result, you are generally more assertive yet non-threatening.

As far as what its composed of... literally, the training is made up of joint locks, throws and pins primarily with heavy emphasis in them on the disruption of the opponent's both physical and mental balance but there is also weapons training (sword and jo mostly), weapon disbarments, multiple simultaneous attacks and striking as a means to an end rather than the end in and of itself. Just as important as that, the other half of Aikido - Ukemi - the art of receiving the technique. This is not to say falling for your partner or giving it to your partner. It means receiving the technique in a way that keeps you safe and allows for reversal whether taken or not and knowing when to take the roll and when to take the advantage away and reverse the technique.

Good ukemi is more difficult that good waza in my opinion and its in many ways more valuable. Ukemi keeps you from cracking your head when you slip on the ice. Good ukemi leads to more advanced practice. Good ukemi gets the more advanced students interested in training with you - afterall, its really difficult to truly understand what's important about a given throw if you don't have good enough Ukemi for your partners to REALLY throw you.

If you want to learn something valuable in Aikido, and in daily life, Ukemi is a great tool to harness.

In the end though, the physical stuff is really just a training tool used to teach the really interesting and important stuff. The techniques are just metaphors for the real training that can be applied to everything from a street fight to a board room debate.

Its not about 'winning' - its about resolution. These two terms might be the same thing or very different things depending on one's perspective but that perspective will likely shift from the former toward the later over time in training... no matter what art you study.

Tags: aikido, body, buddhism, games, health, mind, philosophy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006 at 9:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.