training without training?

Brian Northrup wrote: Is it possible to live and train in the spirit of AIKIDO, without actually physically train in Aikido?

No.

But..

...there is the follow-on question: What constitutes physical training?

I was not able to be on the mat regularly for nearly twenty years. I would train when I could, but that really meant a few months every five years or so.

But I didn't stop training. I would practice some of the exercises I had learned when I could train regularly. I invented exercises to train my body to move in the ways that I had been taught. I made a point of being conscious of my ki and how I was manifesting it at all times.

When I was able to get back to regular training it was my hope that all of that effort had kept me from getting too rusty. I'd have been happy to find that I hadn't backslid too much.

Imagine my surprise to find out that I had actually improved quite a bit in my Aikido over those years. There were huge holes in my training (some of which I still feel the need to fill in), but I was overall much better than I would have expected.

I've come to believe that the physical training is an integral part of the overall training, but that there is more than one way to physically train. I think it's even possible to train without realizing you're training.

Having said all this, the progress I've made in the last six years since then outstrips those twenty by a considerable margin. Being on the mat is really the best way for most of us.

When you think about it, though, one CAN lose weight by dieting WITHOUT exercise, and one can also lose weight by exercising without dieting. If only ONE aspect of one's Aikido is enhanced at any one time, it's still progress, although admittedly not as much as if you're banging on all cylinders at once, IMHO.

Ok, so you're saying your koshinage will get physically better, even if only a little, by simply *thinking* about it and not actually doing it at all?

This is a really interesting discussion / debate, esp since I'm just starting my first major time out from the mat (due to broken collarbone) since starting 8 months ago.

Thus far I would probably answer no...and then to say I hope there are things i CAN practice to at least stay limber until I can get back to the mat.

Michael Riehle wrote: When I was able to get back to regular training it was my hope that all of that effort had kept me from getting too rusty. I'd have been happy to find that I hadn't backslid too much. Imagine my surprise to find out that I had actually improved quite a bit in my Aikido over those years. There were huge holes in my training (some of which I still feel the need to fill in), but I was overall much better than I would have expected.

When I was a kid I rode horses competitively. I got pretty good by the time I was 15, placing at A-rated shows and stuff like that. I thought I was pretty great.

When I was 20 & hadn't ridden in over 5 years, I worked at a plant nursery alongside one of the riding instructors a friend had trained with. I always looked down on their group because they never held their horses' heads in tightly, rather very relaxed and down, and it looked unprofessional and sloppy to my teenaged self.

Turns out they didn't ever restrain their horses heads because it was bad for their necks, and they didn't whack their horses with crops whenever they 'misbehaved' the way I was taught. This teacher's approach in short was not massively control-oriented, but more connection-oriented. I realized right then that having never been on a horse in 5 years I would be a better rider right then and there. Maybe not ready for some big competition hopping over 4' fences, but much more compassionate, kind, connected, and responsive. Much more teachable.