Guillaume Erard
01-17-2013, 11:00 PM
http://www.guillaumeerard.com/images/stories/aikido/articles/gouttard/gouttard-shihonage.jpg (http://www.guillaumeerard.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108:the-nescessity-of-pain-for-progression-in-aikido&catid=10:articles&Itemid=110)This sensation that we call pain in Aikido is something that has always been a source of intellectual interest to me. Indeed, why are putting ourselves through that suffering? Why do we spend hours falling, rolling, getting our wrists twisted in all directions, and receiving shocks from a partner who is supposedly a "friend"? We assume that pain is necessary to progress in the Way. This pain is our limit, it is what allows us to know and to understand. Without it we are nothing. The real difficulty is not if we should sustain it but how far can we go in the acceptance of pain. More importantly perhaps, is to assess when does it become just plain stupidity?
(Original blog post may be found here (http://www.guillaumeerard.com/aikido/articles/the-nescessity-of-pain-for-progression-in-aikido).)