Poll: Which aspect of aikido training is most important for you?

AikiWeb Poll for the week of April 24, 2005:

Which aspect of aikido training is most important for you?

• I don't do aikido
• Physical
• Spiritual
• Mental
  

Here are the current results.

Where's the "They are all equally important." option?

I voted Mental, but I really think the most important one is a balance between the three.

I voted mental.

Mainly because that's what I find drives the physical. As for spiritual...I don't really understand what that means, in spite of all the threads on the subject.

cheers,

--Michael

Aikido is a physical discipline which we use to unite our physical, mental and spiritual capabilities. Without the physical training, you are not really practicing Aikido.

I think "connection" is mainly why I practice Aikido, but I don't know what that comes under.

Jeanne

Sheesh...this was the most unfair question in a long time! I even contemplated "I don't do aikido" since none of the other responses is correct. O-Sensei emphasized integration of all three ( and other forces as well ) so not one aspect is ever appropriately dominant. True budo is that "essence is shared".

I chose mental. All three aspects are developed at once, but in ratios perhaps. Right now I'd say my gain is 60% mental, 20-30% physical, and only 20-10% spiritual. I have confidence in my body, it will do what I ask, but I don't know how to ask it.

I'm about 180 lbs of track star, I used to run the 110 meter high-hurdles (10 of them, 1 meter high) in 15.3 seconds. One might say I can move forward. But, ask me to actively meet an attack by an uke half my weight, and I reflexively step back and offline. It might be a valid option in a real situation, but it's against the point of the current excercise, see what I mean?

So I am trying to train my brain. I'm also aware of, and look forward to, the benefit training provides for in the other two categories listed.

michael.

I chose physical because, while I consider aikido my spiritual practice, and I think about it a lot on and off the mat, it is in-the-body, in movement, in corporeal training, that whatever happens, happens.

without the mental, the physical is twitching fibers with no direction.



as a former competitive ahtlete, my bia is to the mental, it was a huge part of a winning game: visualization, determination, persistance, confidence, etc.

anyone watch "The Contender" last night ? A smaller, less powerful boxer used his mental game to outsmart and defeat a larger, more powerful boxer in the ring. One interesting episode in an otherwise trashy show.

Craig Hocker wrote: without the mental, the physical is twitching fibers with no direction.

Without the physical you might as well be at home reading a book or posting to the Internet.....

Seriously, most people spend a great deal of time in the mental realm. When we think about a situation, we are reflecting on it, removing ourselves from it, creating a separation between us and it. The physical realm is the experiential. It is the here and now. It is within the realm of the experiential that we can unite the mental, physical, spiritual aspects of ourselves with things that we mentally see as separate.
The physical aspect of Aikido is crucial to understanding all of that nonsense babble that your Sensei spouts (if or whenever he/she spouts it). Just reading Terry Dobson's "Aikido in Everyday Life", you might gain some insight, but for those that practice Aikido, they "understand" what he's talking about.
Without the physical practice, "you can't hear Jimmy".

This is kind of a "chicken and the egg" thing, eh? Just not so easy to answer.

<sigh>

For physical I'll go to a gym, swimming pool, jogging path etc

For spiritual I'll go to temple, church, mosque, synagogue etc

For mental I'll see a psychiatrist, seek counselor ,read self help book, etc.

For all the above benefits; I study Aikido.

Just for the record, I abstained my vote.

Boon.

Hi folks,

Please understand that this poll is not meant to ask, "Which of the three aspects is the only aspect that you care about in aikido?" Of course, none of the three can be taken independently of the others. In addition, I'm not asking which of the three aspects is said to be the most important by the founder, your instructor, or anyone else -- rather, it's asking for your thoughts on the matter..

In any case, I do think that it would be a rare person to think that they place the same weight on all three aspects currently. I sure don't...

-- Jun

PS: And, yes, I've said in the past that some of these polls are more designed to make people think than to get definite answers out of everyone...

I'll say physical since that's what I miss most if I don't go training.

The mental/spiritual aspect follows the physical practice in any case.

Most of Jun's polls are very difficult for me to answer...

The part that's the most important to me is the part where I'm breathing in and then out.

It really depends on the day. I'll have periods where I focus on one or the other. I don't get up in the morning and think "ok, I'm going to focus on the mental aspects of training now". Usually something will grab my attention or pop into my head unbidden and that will be the focus for a little while until something else takes its place.

Bronson

Like Boon, I had to abstain on this one.

All are equally important to me, as the goal of Aikido (for me) is to integrate all three aspects into a powerful unity.

United I stand, divided I fall.

Ruth

Like three legs of that stool we use for the kuzushi balance illustration, all three are equally important. Bit, if I had to pick for the sake of a poll, I really do enjoy the physical training.

since my nervous system evelopes my whole body, for me the physical training is one aspect of my mental training.
I don't think you can really parse it out.

I like Boon's take as I appreciate the tests/benefits that Aikido provides in all 3 areas... the mind, body, spirit connection.

However, I chose physical. Without _physically_ going to the dojo & practicing with my friends I'm afraid that the other benefits of Aikido would likely get overlooked in my otherwise preoccupied days.

To me, Aikido without the physical is called getting along with your neighbors ; )

Peace,
eD

I agree with those of you who say that the three aspects go together.
by the way,..do you remember what happend 35 years ago from today?...

I agree that they are all important but I have no hesitations in choosing "physical". To me the mental and spiritual aspects of the art come from the physical practice: the aerobic challenge, the attempt to physically copy what my sensei demonstrates, and my ongoing effort to move smoothly and powerfully. The mental and spiritual depth in aikido keeps me engaged, but if Aikido was purely a mental and/or spiritual art I would have no interest.
Gaia

I voted "physical" because I'm still new to it even though I did it back in the '80s, so that's where I'm focusing my attention. But I agree with anybody who thinks this is a tough question.

Where's the "They are all equally important." option?

I agree that all are equal.