Practicing Aikido

Aikido is a martial art and should be practiced as such, but this does not mean that we encourage or condone fighting or aggressive behavior either in the dojo or outside. Instead, aikido should spread a feeling of peace and harmony, defusing the possibilities of violence from a position of confidence.

The "attacks" that are taught are used for the purpose of learning the defense against those attacks rather than for the purpose of injuring an opponent. The techniques are designed to harmonize with the natural movements of the body. Half of the techniques involve joint locks which enable the "attacker" to be moved to a pinning position where they can be held without injury. The other half of the techniques involve throwing the partner. Much practice time is spent learning how to fall safely.

Because of the harmonizing quality of the movements, spectators of Aikido often comment on the dance-like, graceful quality of the movements. While there is a choreographed quality to daily practice, at the higher levels partners practice with one another with no pre-conceived notion of what the attack or the defense will be. Because the students have trained for years in harmonizing and blending with their partner, they move at ease with one another and so the spontaneous movements appear like a natural dance. Because of the nature of the movements, we have seen students continue practicing well into their 80s!

In practicing aikido, striving and resisting is discouraged, especially at first, as this develops poor technique. Instead, students should work together to develop and polish techniques. As students get to the point where they have good techniques, then some resistance is beneficial, though at that point nage can also change the technique as necessary. However, the competition should always be in the spirit of working to improve technique, not merely to see who can win.

Aikido is the way of nonresistance and is therefore undefeatable from the start. Fast and slow are of no consequence. Merely by having the intention to fight with one who embodies the universal law, they have fixed their mind on violating the harmony of nature itself. The person with evil or malicious feeling jyaki is defeated before he makes the first move. The contest has already been decided. This being so, in what way can we rid ourselves of this jyaki and become pure of spirit and mind? We must unify our mind and feeling with the mercy and compassion of the universal spirit. Withing love ai, there is no competition, no enemy, no antagonism toward anyone else or anything. Those whose feeling does not coincide with this mentality can in no way come into harmony the laws of nature. (Morihei Ueshiba From The Spiritual Foundations of Aikido by William Gleason 1995.)