Using Aikido Principles in Physical Activities

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[Keiser Soze]

I like to think i use aikido to some extent everyday. from opening swing doors to pushing a super market trolley. I often stand on posture when standing on a bus to aid balance and it works great! The most fun application of aikido comes when i'm getting to sleep. I run through a ninindori in my head, perfecting techniques i practiced that week at training. Try it, its great, and the best thing is that i never seem to get hit, or tired. :)

[PhilMyKi]

I like to think i use aikido to some extent everyday. from opening swing doors ...

I find the danger with this is I keep breaking the doors :D or the nose of my boss who is standing the other side! :eek:

[dps]

This past summer I was helping my nine year old daughter roller skate by pushing her from behind. She fell down in front of me and I did a forward breakfall without thinking, I did not land on top of her and hurt her, I did not break any of my bones or bump my head. Other than a numb hand for a few minutes from slapping the roller rink floor and some sore muscles the nest morning I was ok. This was suprising to me because it had been fifteen years since I last practiced Aikido and did a breakfall.

[Dirk Hanss]

This past summer I was helping my nine year old daughter roller skate by pushing her from behind. She fell down in front of me and I did a forward breakfall without thinking, I did not land on top of her and hurt her, I did not break any of my bones or bump my head. Other than a numb hand for a few minutes from slapping the roller rink floor and some sore muscles the nest morning I was ok. This was suprising to me because it had been fifteen years since I last practiced Aikido and did a breakfall.
Yes, David
good ukemi is fortunately for the majority of us the most needed technique in applied aikido :D
I used it in bicycle accidents, on roller skates, when missing a stair step, on black ice, etc. Very few of them looked like satisfying aikido rolls. but at least I reaccted instintively and got off with very little or no injuries.

Stay well

Dirk

[dps]

I used it in bicycle accidents, on roller skates, when missing a stair step, on black ice, etc. Very few of them looked like satisfying aikido rolls. but at least I reaccted instintively and got off with very little or no injuries.

Stay well

Dirk
Because you are a good uke and lets the nage throw you so you can practice your ukemi.

[RossT]

It wasn't until I started practising aikido that i realised the extent to which I being drawn into 'non-physical' aikido style attacks (being pushed, or pulled, or compromised in some way or another) in my everyday life. This also threw up the rather worrying recognition that I do a fair bit of pushing and pulling myself! like when we are on the matt, it seems that this recognition in itself, and the range of options that become available as a consequence of realising, is where the aikido takes place. Thankfully, I've never had to consider confronting physical attacks in my regular day to day living, but that these other pressures are just as relevant to our practice and our day to day lives.

[Lan Powers]

Everyday physical labor...lifting, etc is soooo much better when you have your center into what you do.
Obvious I know, but my most common application of Aikido.
Lan

[RossT]

yeah, I also noticed that physical activities are like an extension of what we do in the dojo. I play football (soccer) and Cricket (probably shares similar principles to baseball), and in both of these sports there is something about being relaxed and timing the ball that results in more satisfying and effective technique. I guess it's the same in the various other sports that I don't know about/have never played too. I actually developed my own brief theory, which will be incredibly boring for anyone who doesn't enjoy cricket, so I wont go into too much deatil, but basically almost everytime the batsman gets out (strkes out?) he's been off balanced by the bowler (pitcher.) In other words, in games like this, one player is trying to attack and destabilise the other in order to make them vunerable, the other is trying to redirect that threat effectively...the ball becomes the manifestatation of one player's intention, or ki. I hope that this serves as proof that cricket is not a boring game played by old men!!

[Mark Freeman]

I hope that this serves as proof that cricket is not a boring game played by old men!!

Nice try Ross, but I think some of us are going to take a little more convincing :p

regards,
Mark

[dps]

I hope that this serves as proof that cricket is not a boring game played by old men!!
Does it matter who plays? :D

[RossT]

[QUOTE=Mark Freeman]Nice try Ross, but I think some of us are going to take a little more convincing :p

Mark, as summer is on its way you should take your boken down to your local club for a bit of batting practice. I swear you'll have a good time and may be score a few runs. You may have to adapt your technique a little, as a shomen cut is not usually effective against a good bowler...unless it is to his head!

David (unfortunately I don't know how to do more than one qoute) cricket should ideally be played by old, overweight men but there are no restrictions in the laws of the game to prevent anyone else giving it a go. Suwari waza can be practiced on the boundary with a picnic, or on the field of play during quieter periods of the game (fairly regular).

[markwalsh]

I've heard of aikido principles being used to aid the following sports at professional level:

Basketball
Baseball
Golf

Any others?

In terms of occupations theres police and military obviously and I believe Tohain Sensei has trained nurses.

[Rocky Izumi]

[QUOTE=Mark Freeman]David (unfortunately I don't know how to do more than one qoute) cricket should ideally be played by old, overweight men but there are no restrictions in the laws of the game to prevent anyone else giving it a go.

All right, you all are required to be here in Barbados next year for the Cricket World Cup 2007 finals! Then stay over for the Aikido. We will teach you about cricket with a Nikkyo pin!

Rock :cool:

[Mark Freeman]

I've heard of aikido principles being used to aid the following sports at professional level:

Basketball
Baseball
Golf

Any others?

In terms of occupations theres police and military obviously and I believe Tohain Sensei has trained nurses.

My teacher did some work with a rugby team in Wales

[markwalsh]

Addition - Skiing (Tom Crumm)

Correction - "Tohei Sensei" bad typing - apologies.

[MikeLogan]

Actually I've wondered if the physical aspects of aikido would begin to be a detriment to some aspects of track&field. I was of the sprinting/hurdling bunch. Though I imagine for events such as highjump, pole vault, throwing events aikido could offer beneficial insight.
What I question is something like the hundred meter dash, which requires speed of motion (potentially benefitted by aikido), but it also requires strength of motion, which in a sprint generally means all out muscle. It's not that I think aikido reduces muscle, but it results in working with less of it. For all I know training in aikido may just allow for higher muscle efficiency. The mindset will certainly help, and the posture, response time (though I've always been quick out of the gates.)

Now I have to get back on a track to find out.

[K Stewart]

Mark Walsh wrote: I've heard of aikido principles being used to aid the following sports at professional level:

Basketball
Baseball
Golf

Any others?

My other passion (started Aikido four months ago and God willing will be doing it until my last day on this earth) is horses and riding. The trainer I've been fortunate to ride with for a decade -- Mark Rashid -- is a shodan.

The way of horsemanship that Mark teaches us is based on Aikido -- the use of breath, centering, intent, blending, redirecting energy (can't very well stop a 1,000 lb horse with muscle!), harmony, and so on.

His latest book is called "Horsemanship Through Life," is on how Aikido found him and his journey since starting practice. Really great read -- not a dry horse training book but told through honest and engaging stories -- and clear look at how horsemanship/life/Aikido are all intertwined...if we let them be.

So horses and Aikido = a wonderful match!

[MaryKaye]

I have heard that Suzuki sensei of Ki Society spent some time teaching sumo wrestlers, including working on ukemi--and if those guys can take ukemi safely, there's definitely hope for the rest of us.

I know an aikido teacher whose kids are horse fanatics, and he certainly draws aikido/horsemanship parallels when working with them. I also got to see my husband take a very nice mae ukemi off a horse once, when the saddle wasn't secured properly. Not even a bruise, though it scared the trail guide half to death!

One of my current teachers is a tennis pro, and definitely sees connections between aikido, tennis, and swordsmanship.

One of our kid students is a competition gymnast. She has some difficulties with differences between gymnastics tumbling and aikido rolls, but definitely benefits from the balance training. (Whether the gymnastics helps her aikido is less clear to me. Her ukemi are lovely, though sometimes too gymnastics-like, but her technique tends to be timid. She is one of the few kids who need to be reminded to be more forceful rather than less. It might be temperment, though.)

Mary Kaye

[markwalsh]

Mary/K Stewart

Couple of connections:

Tennis - Jamie Zimron Sensei of San Deigo is currently putting something together I believe.

Horses - Arianna Strozz Heckler of Strozzi Institute near Petaluma CA runs aiki influenced courses on leadership and horses.

Ever the helpful go between.
Mark

[MikeLogan]

It is coming full circle, the hakama came from the use of horses, and now it returns. (and I wondered why I was wanting to go for a ride more and more lately)

neat stuff.

[RossT]

[QUOTE=Hiroaki Izumi
All right, you all are required to be here in Barbados next year for the Cricket World Cup 2007 finals! Then stay over for the Aikido. We will teach you about cricket with a Nikkyo pin!

Sounds great. I actually bowl a bit of wrist spin myself! I imagined that Caribbean aikicricket would be heavy on atemi, or throat ball as i think it's called in those parts.

Does anyone think that the esscence of sport, is one and the same as aikido? I am thinking of the ability of some sports players to make the games they play appear simple and effortless, usually by not doing things that would obstruct that end, rather than by actually doing more.

[Mark Freeman]

[QUOTE=Hiroaki Izumi


Does anyone think that the esscence of sport, is one and the same as aikido? I am thinking of the ability of some sports players to make the games they play appear simple and effortless, usually by not doing things that would obstruct that end, rather than by actually doing more.

Not just sport, art, business and just about any human endeavour. Mastery is usually hard won over a long time, learning to 'not do' is more difficult than 'doing'.

regards,

Mark

[RossT]

Mark, your mention of the world outside of sport also strikes a chord with me. [/QUOTE] Not just sport, art, business and just about any human endeavour [is aikido].
I've recently been inspired by the simplicity of my current aikido teacher's teachings. Because of this he always leaves me with the impression that what he demonstrates is achievable, and that his years of experience have enabled him to make complex ideas clear. As a result, I have recently been trying to replicate this experience for my own students (learning English as a second language) and am finding it very satisfying. I've become especially interested in the idea that a conversation is another reflection of aikido. Here we have a situation where there is an 'attack' (what, where, when etc) and a response, often followed by a subsequent 'attack' (is it..? Do you..?) which may continue until there is an appropriate resolution. What has fascinated me most so far, is the difficulty students often find in generating the secondary type of (follow up) questions, preferring instead to disconnect from the conversation and begin again with a new question. This typically makes for rather 'jerky' conversation. Ironically, I have now started to pay more attention to my teacher's advice to me in the dojo that I should 'keep the attack.'

[dps]

What has fascinated me most so far, is the difficulty students often find in generating the secondary type of (follow up) questions, preferring instead to disconnect from the conversation and begin again with a new question. This typically makes for rather 'jerky' conversation. '

Verbval randori is as hard to learn as randori in Aikido practice.

David

[Michael O'Brien]

I've heard of aikido principles being used to aid the following sports at professional level:

Basketball
Baseball
Golf

Any others?

In terms of occupations theres police and military obviously and I believe Tohain Sensei has trained nurses.
This is the 3rd year my Sensei has worked with the Titans during their mini-camps. Mostly with the offensive/defensive linemen and linebackers on things such as how to shed blockers, etc.

After class a few times this year he has shown me some of the drills he is working them and it is interesting stuff.

[markwalsh]

Ross, David,

Lats night I was observing a conversation involving several extremely intelligent University of Chicago students and became aware that they werent listen to each other at all. I posed the question, "How do you guys listen?". The room became quit for a long time and everyone looked confused before verbally attacking me in various ways. It was kind of fun though so I'm not complaining :-)

The "keeping the attack" idea I really liked and am going to go ponder. Thanks

[shadowedge]

Sensei always taught me about the awareness an aikidoka should have not only mentally but through physical means. And this "presence of mind" is reflected in our body movements.

For example, I jog with 2 housemates every other night, theres a significant difference in our paces, but my trainning in Aikido taught me to control my breathing and to be conservative with my Ki. Thats why around our 7th lap they lose steam while I steadily keep my pace.

Also last sunday, I went to a mall where there was this sale, so it was flodded with people. There was plenty of shoving, and bumping, it took a lot of that awareness and movement control just so I could leisurely maneuver my way through the mall.

Love and peace!

[statisticool]

Also last sunday, I went to a mall where there was this sale, so it was flodded with people. There was plenty of shoving, and bumping, it took a lot of that awareness and movement control just so I could leisurely maneuver my way through the mall.


oooh I gotta try that one. :)