AikiWeb: The Source for Aikido Information AikiWeb's principal purpose is to serve the Internet community as a repository and dissemination point for aikido information.
Hello and thank you for visiting AikiWeb, the
world's most active online Aikido community! This site is home to
over 22,000 aikido practitioners from around the world and covers a
wide range of aikido topics including techniques, philosophy, history,
humor, beginner issues, the marketplace, and more.
If you wish to join in the discussions or use the other advanced
features available, you will need to register first. Registration is
absolutely free and takes only a few minutes to complete so sign up today!
Ukes will rest or wander if not led. Nage will lead where uke's energy is headed.
Following and leading become one as the energy and intention becomes the focus. What seems to be matters not and what is prevails.
Why would uke lean....why not if they have a place to rest? Move the resting place and uke will lose balance.
Letting, not forcing with open palms and soft finger tips...no grabbing, pushing or pulling only guiding.
When uke comes around to see where nage went she will move in the energy trough if it is made available. First the void must be defined by nage's dramatic, dynamic movement. Uke is encouraged to follow by enthusiastic soft letting.
When nage moves with intention and invitation uke can't help but follow. It is like offering roast beef to a Dalmatian...uke is willing and eagerly follows on the sweep of defined energy in the described channel.
Aikido requires faith. Nage must believe in his ability as he defines the channel with this vibrant movement, strewing energy as he leads the way. Then nage follows uke as nage continues to lead. Nage must lead with no thought as to if uke will follow, and uke must trust that nage will lead.
It sounds crazy until you have felt it. To feel aikido one must take a leap of faith and move as nage with conviction and move as uke with abandon.
That abandon that uke develops is a sincere attack every time. Each uke deserves the best attack uke can give each time and then the best attention given to
...More
Class on Thursday night was small, just 4 of us…all black belts. When it was my turn to teach something I saw during Ron's part of class made me think about extemporaneous movement which is how we teach together, building off an idea that the first person offers. We don't plan ahead. We just go with who shows up and with whatever state of health each person is in.
During freestyle I never think of what technique I am going to do. I know it's not like that for everyone but it is how I stay open and move with what is. I think it is the purist form of aikido…letting uke show you what way they want to go and guide them using their own energy.
So starting with a 2 hands on 2 hands grab I asked nage to do anything but not to decide on something -- just to do what seemed the easiest thing at the moment. After a few times through we all got more comfortable….then I asked us all to kote geishe from a standing 2 hands on 2 hands grab. I asked nage to not decide when to throw but to throw when the opportunity presented itself. It sounds really easy and yet from standing it was difficult. Nages did some strange things like: forgetting to do tenkan and backing up with small steps or grabbing with the hands instead of letting the hands lead. We kept at it and it got more comfortable but still was challenging.
Then Ron asked if we could do another round with uke grabbing nage the same way but with uke and nage both in motion. What a difference that made for all of us. The motion k
...More
Aikido attacks are like real attacks. How, you ask? We are working at simulating the realness of an actual attack. We give energy and follow. When an attack happens in life it is unexpected and spontaneous. The person being attacked feels uncomfortable and may deny and minimize. In aikido we can just be with what is happening. We can even celebrate the attack because uke is gifting us with energy.
We have been talking in class about attacking by directing our energy towards nage's center. We don't push or pull. We give a live attack with intention and energy and then we follow as nage leads. Uke lets go of any agenda and simulates the spontaneity of the energy a real attack would have. In class today uke grabbed nage's wrist in different ways and nage then told uke what the attack felt like so uke could have an idea of what was happening right away from their nage.
We continued with this idea as uke grabbed nage's wrist with intention and energy towards nage's center. No pushing, no pulling or lifting or pushing down -- just good honest grabbing energy. Nage could do any throw by responding to ukes energy. This training makes uke have to slow down as they go find their nage and continue their attack. When uke attacks in this genuine way nage has energy to work with.
Sometimes people will poo poo this idea saying: this attack is not real enough. As if a hard grab that just holds on to nage's wrist is realistic. Why would anybody just grab and hold? If an attacker d
...More
In aikido and I am speaking of the aikido I train in and am not comparing it to or denigrating any other style; it really is not about fighting.
What I mean by fighting is that it is not a sport or a contest. For me, aikido is self-defense. It is about what I have to do to protect myself. This to me means in daily life and self-defense situations.
Aikido is conciliatory and restorative. My training helps me protect myself from others and from myself. It reduces life to the simplest form where I have to feel what is and do what I can. I can blame and I can whine…and I get to see how ineffective both of those responses are. I can come back to center and accept and do what I can. I can move or change myself. I cannot change another. Another may be moved when I move or change.
My focus must be on moving me and not them. This truth is so good for me on the mat and out in the world. I am empowered when I keep the focus on me and what I can do instead of wandering off my path to meddle in other people's business.
An example on the mat is having uke grab nage's wrists and hold. If nage tries to move uke, uke will resist. If nage moves herself, extending energy and maintaining connection, uke will move with nage. A way to do this is to roll the shoulders up as we retreat. Uke will follow nage almost in amazement because of the conduit for energy to travel through that nage creates.
In life people will follow the same way if you lead with intention and positive ener
...More
Class today -- small but good. We talked about expansion and contraction and the decision to self defend and how that manifests in our lives.
And then after class we talked about how we are the experts in our own self defense and that nobody but the person involved knows what the right thing to do is a in a tense situation. As we pay attention to the now we are able to see and hear and perceive all the signs, signals and conditions and make the best possible choice in that moment.
People may say afterwards "oh you shoulda done this or that" but they don't know because they weren't there. Let's celebrate our self-defense choices and continue to train with our friends ever expanding the circle of love and peace that our training affords.
Class was poignant: during one exercise we had a tiny mat we had to keep our feet on and keep our hands just above. We had to work with what energy uke gave us. Anytime we reached out past the mat we got buzzed by observers. I got pushed over and shook up. I lost balance and came back. I self-corrected instead of trusting my helpers. I did my best and it was messy.
The next part of class we held a very large ball in both hands I suggested we use the ball as a symbol of a large orb of vitality. I wanted nage to really let their energy out and greet uke with fun and movement.
Then we did freestyle. We did 2 throws; small and constricted and 2 throws; large and free moving. I wanted nage to explore how both ways of throwing can change how we move. New habits provide fresh options. In freestyle we develop skills to take what comes and blend with it. The more relaxed and open we are the safer we become on the mat and in the world.
I got overwhelmed with an uke. I overreacted to a humorous comment from Ron. I blended and expressed my energy. The class was hard and large. It was small and constricted. But mostly it was shared. We did it together.
Again we faced who we are in the moment and accepted our ukes as they were. Feelings arose and we still moved. We still took good care of our ukes.
We stay again and again; getting a little stronger, a little braver, a little more trusting; a little more relaxed with each class.
Always traveling on the path, never
...More
Should other people do what we want them to do? Why should they? Expectations are resentments waiting to happen.
Should past performance indicate how a person should act and feel in the future? Are we responsible for our own behavior?
Aikido gives us a chance to physically explore those ideas. Ukes are gonna uke. An uke is who they are on any given day. If I "expect" an uke to be a certain way I have stepped out of my center and into the mind. By paying close attention to my uke I can guide the technique and come to a resolution. There is no room for "should haves" or "could haves" in the now.
Uke will do their best at each particular moment as regular people in the world do their best with the circumstances of the day. Me expecting others to behave in a certain way is as futile as me expecting uke to be different.
By accepting what happens I can deal in each moment, gather information for future choices and move on
.
Ukes can be stiff and sore, cranky and unwilling. They can fall too early and resist illogically. Each uke gives us another chance to meet ourselves. People can be mean, unreasonable and demanding…providing us again with the chance to meet ourselves and develop into strong, versatile humans with compassion for others even as we learn to defend ourselves.
We can cast off what we know and become who we are meant to be.
Everyone should train in aikido. All this energy wasted on (fill in the blank here with fitness fad of the day) does not make one aware of their surroundings. It does not teach you how it feels to be grabbed and it does not offer you any solutions to conflict.
How does Zumba make you safer and how does golf add to your tool kit in a conflict situation? Okay, golf makes you familiar with a handy weapon…but have you ever thought about using it a self-defense option?
Now I am not saying that golf, yoga or dance training is bad…not at all. What I am saying is the world is not safe and we could all use aikido training.
One young woman trained with us for several months before she went off to travel in Europe for a semester. She was never going to be a lifelong aikidoka but her training helped her. She was on a train in Amsterdam alone at night with just one other person, a strange man. That man approached her; as he leaned into to grab her with a lecherous comment she put her foot in his stomach and pushed…he staggered back and she scooted out of that car into the next where there were other people. Safe.
Could she have done this without aikido training…maybe but would she have given herself permission to follow the little voice in her head?
I know we can't visit every kind of conflict that happens to humans…but we can train in an art that allows us the opportunity to feel what it feels like to grabbed, pushed and be really uncomfortable.
We can support each o
...More
I started playing basketball and baseball really early. I had 5 older brothers….it was our culture….we ran, we hid, we threw balls and caught them or got hit in the face. One of the first things I remember my father telling me was "keep your eye on the ball" as he pitched a baseball. I would shoot at the hoop on my brother Dickie's 6 foot 4 shoulders when I was just a peanut. Movement is my spiritual practice. If I am walking or riding my bike or playing mitt's and sticks with Ron, you know I am happy.
So aikido was a natural for me. Not that I knew it when I started. I just thought Ron was a fine looking fella, to quote my mother.
For the 1st year I stumbled about not having a clue. Not one clue. I did not understand the whole concept of being uke. Why would anyone want to fall down? I could not roll…not at all. It was very scary and pitiful. I used to hide at the end of the line but the guys would push me up and encourage me even though every roll and every fall hurt like hell. I cried after class a lot.
Once after a particularly terrifying class I vowed never to come back. Ron saw me scurrying out and he called me over to explain it was only noise when the guys yelled as they attacked me. He said noise can't hurt you and the guys would never hurt me anyway. I didn't totally believe him but I really appreciated him taking the time to explain that to me. When I was a kid my father would yell at me and then hit me. I never knew there was a separation. I really
...More
I am missing aikido today. I do have a dojo right at my house so I can walk downstairs and do ki exercises, weapons work, stretching and rolls anytime I want.
But…and this is the big reason I love aikido…I love the exchange of energy, the camaraderie with others and connections we share. I love how it feels when I am attacked and I turn and connect again and the throw happens. I love receiving the fall and the occasional cauliflower ear (not really). I love the shared understanding of deep learning. I love the way we get to learn how to get comfortable being uncomfortable together. I loved our shared jokes and chuckles at ourselves.
I love our dojo. I am more than ready for classes to resume on Thursday, September, 1st at 6:30 PM. Be there. Aloha.