George S. Ledyard

 

I know that folks don't want to hear this but I am going to say it anyway...

1) the teaching methodology or lack thereof in Aikido is a huge problem. The way most folks learn Aikido, they will never figure out much if anything about "aiki".

2) there are people around, within and without the Aikido community who do teach in a fashion which will lead the serious practitioner towards an ability to actually use "aiki" rather than simple muscle power in their practice.

3) None of the ones I know advocate training in a "fully resistive" training environment. The folks who believe that kata training is dead and lifeless don't understand kata training. If it is dead, lifeless, done by rote it isn't proper kata training. Traditionally, the senior person always took the losing role in paired forms. Why? Because it was his job to ASSIST his junior partner in developing his understanding of the movements and principles at work in the kata. It was his job to control the interaction in a way that his partner was forced to access the proper skills. It was not his job to shut him down or to fight with him. Kata training is cooperative for a reason. Generations of warriors learned to fight just this way. The great martial artists of history learned just this way. It is our job in Aikido to make sure our practice is doing just this. Since we have not inherited the tradition of the senior person taking the ukemi and thereby leading his junior towards understanding, there has been a tendency to misunderstand the kata training in our own art. We need to do a better job teaching this.

4) Toby Threadgill Sensei recently said, on one of these threads, that one should train for 6 years or so before one tries to work technique against folks trying actively to counter you or resist. I know people who think they should train in their Aikido in a "fully resistive" fashion and after 25 years they are only good at resisting. They can't actually do anything because they have spent all their time stopping their partners and visa versa. These folks are VERY strong and have absolutely no understanding of "aiki".

Ushiro Kenji Sensei goes on at length in his book about the fact that the emphasis on sport competition has lead martial artists to focus on technique which will allow them to win in the short run. They ignore the deeper truths revealed only through kata practice.

I think it is incredibly arrogant for our current generation to assume that knowledge that has been handed down in various arts for hundreds of years is now suddenly outdated and irrelevant and that we know better.

6) Aikido is the study of connection. The term "aiki" is best thought of as "joining". It is the combination of the physical and mental in a way that allows on to move an opponent's mind so that he moves himself. This requires complete relaxation both physical and mental. It requires letting go of our attachments so that we can step right into the path of a sword cut without fear.

If you wish to reprogram the body and the mind to fundamentally trust that relaxing and accepting an attack is the response that can make one safe you must provide a safe environment in which to do so. Traditional paired kata training provided a structure within which the practitioners could take things right to the edge in relative safety. Additionally, each kata, whether solo or paired, was designed to develop an understanding of specific principles. These might be physical, energetic, breathing, whatever in solo practice. They might involve application of "aiki" principles, control of ma-ai, controlling the partner's perception, etc in partner practice.

But one thing is certain, as far as I am concerned... you will not learn these very sophisticated skills training in a competitive manner. Aiki is about developing physical and mental sensitivity. It requires that you shut up the internal dialogue so you can listen to the partner / opponent. If you are tense you are feeling you not the other. That's true both in the body and in the mind.

Our fearful natures cause us to focus on issues of victory and defeat. What if I am attacked in my home, in my car, at work? What if my attacker knows CMA, MMA, BBJ, my God, he could potentially know almost anything? What do I do? I better study all those arts too so I know how to beat them... If this is what your training is based on, you won't ever get to a decent level of skill in your Aikido.

Folks keep saying that Aikido works because they have used a technique to defend themselves successfully. Others keep saying it doesn't work because their technique failed. Neither one of these camps addresses the fundamental "reson detre" for Aikido. Aikido can be said to "work" if the practice develops your deeper understanding of connection. It fails if it doesn't do so.

If your practice develops your understanding of how the Mind and Body are unified and that on a fundamental level your are simply not separate from those around you, regardless of whether they see themselves as your friend or enemy, then the art "works".

If your training merely results in your ability to throw or lock an opponent who doesn't wish you to do so, then the art hasn't "worked", not in the way that the Founder intended anyway.

An ability to defend oneself on some level is a by-product of proper training; it is not the point of the training. When you have developed some understanding of the principles of aiki on a deeper level, if you want to test your skills with other martial artists, go ahead. But if you have a confrontational, competitive, aggressive attitude in your training at the start you won't get past a mere physical, strength oriented level. You will never get to the "goodies" so to speak.

If you want to use a boxer for your training, ok. "Sparring" is completely wrong thinking. We don't "spar" in Aikido. Dealing with a boxer is essentially a test of your understanding of irimi. But treat it that way. Have your boxer friend come at you with a jab. Then a jab cross. Then any other combination he wishes. At the point at which he can only throw one blow before you have neutralized his next strike you have started to understand irimi. I wouldn't even think about attempting a technique until I could consistently do the "entry". When you get to the point at which he can't even throw the first strike, you REALLY understand irimi. As an exercise that would enhance your practice, that makes sense. But it would still be a mistake until you have practiced long enough that you can do it with the right mind set. You can't be fearful or tense. You can't be worried about being hit. You can't be defensive in your mindset. If you are. The exercise will merely imprint the wrong things in your body and in your mind, over and over. 20,000 repetitions of something wrong will never result in sudden comprehension of what is right. It just imprints the wrong thing on a really deep level.

When the Gracies first hit the big-time with the UFC, it was a positive thing for the martial arts. It woke people up to the fact that grappling skills had dropped out of many arts entirely and helped people see how their training was missing certain elements. But the BJJ of the Gracies and the Machados were still arts geared towards personal development and health. I would consider them to be "DO" arts. But look at what that has unleashed. The very folks who shook up the traditional world have now been discarded and are seen as old-fashioned themselves. Now we have a bunch of folks who the investigative reports tell us take steroids, are addicted to pain killers, whose careers are over and done with in just a few years because they have destroyed their bodies. They are modern day gladiators sacrificing themselves for our entertainment in return for money. And our young men's fascination with this spectacle has lead to a decline in participation in the traditional martial arts. Folks who might have spent their youths pursuing arts which would have eventually taught them some thing of great depth, which might have made their lives better in countless ways off the mat are now simply getting good at fighting. Aikido is absolutely not about fighting. If you want to fight, go do an art that is about fighting. Don't try to make Aikido into something it never was and shouldn't be.