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We all know what Aikido means, right...."The Way of Spiritual Harmony....." But, for me, just recently the meaning has changed.
After re-reading The Spirit of Aikido for the 7th time, I realized that in his book, Kissomaru Ueshiba defines Aikido as, "The Way to Harmonize the Spirit."
That's very different to what I always thought it meant. And of course after doing Aikido for over 29 years, teaching for over 19, I've kind of developed my own interpretation and meaning of Aikido.
OK, I finally finished editing my new vlog. It took way to long because I was so busy working on other peoples YouTube channels.
I wrote an article about 3 months ago on the three things you can do to improve your Aikido, and shot a video. I think tips like these are great, especially for beginners and sometimes they'll even help out the seasoned Aikido practitioners. Someone like me, that's been doing martial arts for 44 years, I sometimes forget to stick to the basics, like staying in shape! And of course, as you get older, for some reason it gets harder to do those things you should be doing, like practicing Aikido!
My name is Erik Calderon and I've been doing martial arts from the age of 5. When I was 20, I got this incredible itch to move to Japan and study martial arts full time.
In 1989 I went traveling to Mexico with my Dad. One night, he had some business to attend to, and I was left in the hotel to kill the time. I turned on the tv and a movie called, "Nico," was airing.
It was interesting, and I enjoyed watching it. I especially like the martial art that was highlighted in the film, Aikido. I knew nothing about Aikido, but from what I saw, it looked like fun.
When I got back to Boston, I looked up a few Aikido schools and started taking Aikido classes at Shobu Aikido of Boston under William Gleason.
I read every book I could find on Aikido and learned about it's history, it's culture and its philosophy.
Learning about the history of Aikido and Japan and how it influenced the development and ultimately the meaning of Aikido is very important to make note of. During the war, and Japan's loss, the martial arts as a whole changed in
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While I was training under Kato Sensei, he taught that each Kyo has a significant meaning: Ikyo - Physical Strength, Nikyo - Technique, Sankyo - Flow, Yonkyo - Focus, Gokyo - Disarm.
In light of that teaching, I've been creating my vlogs to highlight that teaching. I just finished my vlog on Nikyo, which is about technique. And yes, the title is click bait, and if you are wondering, there really is no secret technique, but the obvious, deliberate practice, and hours, weeks, months, years, decades...of deliberate practice.
Watch my vlog, comment, share, like and subscribe to my channel!
So, you think you need natural ability or talent to get good at Aikido.....think again! Geoff Colvin wrote a book called, "Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else."
It's a great read and very inspiring, well, to a certain degree...don't think it's easy to become great. There are two main ingredients to becoming great and two things that are going to help you get there.
Watch my vlog to learn more about what you need to become a world class Aikidoka!
In Japan I learned about Ai-Uchi or mutual destruction; that means that your initial movement needs to be moving in a way that you are actually going straight into an attack, irimi. I've been studying this for that past several weeks and created a vlog about it. Please watch, share, like, comment and subscribe to my channel!
While in Japan, I learned a lot about the philosophy of Aikido. I learned some of the meanings behind the techniques, for example, Ikkyo. Ikkyo translate into first principle, but what does that mean?
The first principle, or foundation, to learning aikido is physical. That means that you need to exercise, you need to watch what you eat and drink, you need to take care of your body. As we age, we grow in strength, as long as we're sticking to a good routine and good habits!
Breathing is a very important part of Aikido. Kokyu, or breathing is in every technique, we even have two specific techniques named Kokyu-ho and Kokyu-Nage.
Check out my vlog on breathing and how it relates to Aikido and life! Click on the thumbnail below:
I've been doing martial arts since I was 5 years old, on and off until I was 20, when I really dived in head first and started training every day. I've been to countless schools and studied under many different styles and instructors. Watch my YouTube vlog on the three things you need to know in order to find the right school / instructor: