Riai Aikido Association

Aikido for our Future

Our future based on our learning and growth in Aikido

Howard Morrison, one of New Zealand's best known entertainers sings a very good rendition of the Hymn - How great thou art.

I don't know why, but when I heard the Hymn not so long ago, I thought how appropriate that title would be for Aikido, with the addition of just a couple of words.

So I begin with this Roban with "How great thou art our art". It is with that theme in mind, that I will endeavour to explain why I think Aikido is good for our future.

The longer I practice Aikido, the more I find my self wanting. What I mean is that you always come away from practice with the idea that you've only just started. It's like getting used to a new house and then someone showing you another room in it you didn't know existed. I don't feel that I'm not achieving anything either. Every time we step on the mat and train with another Aikidoka we accomplish more ground breaking personal growth than we could get by undertaking most tailored or structured courses today.

I recently completed training on conflict resolution and I was surprised that many principles of Aikido could be applied to what was taught. In approaching any conflict we must recognise that it exists, not hard to do when someone is actually holding you or preparing to strike you. Looking for the win/win situation is always on the Aikidokas mind, in wanting to protect not only themselves but also their partner. Not always an easy thing to remember, if being attacked by more than one person.

We are taught to enter (Irimi) into the conflict whereby we can accept it and learn to feel what it is. By us opening up and allowing ourselves to see the other person's point of view, we are in a better position to control and convert that energy into something else.

In Aikido training, we don't have the stress one normally associates with conflict, because we are not using our fight or flight mechanism to handle the conflict. We train ourselves to control the situation and therefore give ourselves more options for dealing with and resolving the conflict. We are constantly challenging our physical and mental abilities and of those around us.

Today, more and more people are looking for and developing mind/body coordination activities for fitness and mental health. In fact left and right brain integration is almost becoming the byword to maintaining ones edge in business, sport and relationships.

In Aikido training we build incrementally and we don't always see the benefits ourselves. It's only when one looks back that you begin to see progress, or through the eyes of others. Because Aikido utilises many learning methods, like visual, kinaesthetic and verbal techniques, they help to reinforce our learning to a greater degree. We also get the opportunity to feel our way through some techniques and we begin to realise that we are more than just the sum of our parts. Somewhere along the journey we find we are actually part of the sum.

In one sense a journey into Aikido is like opening the door to a Pandora's Box. There is certainly enough breadth of techniques to learn, given time and effort, but the real secret to Aikido is its depth. We find our true selves hidden away, we confront and deal with our fears and most importantly we meet and enjoy the company of some very special people whose goal it is to help you grow into yourself.

Our training can transform our life as we learn to accept ourselves and understand the principle of balance in all things. We learn we have the power to affect change by maintaining our inner posture as opposed to posturing.

I can't think of another art or learning system that encompasses so many positive learning experiences each time we come together to train. Learning to trust our partners and being sensitive to their energy teaches us to connect. By connecting we start to communicate and develop a relationship. In Aikido this can sometimes occur over the short space of 3 seconds, but nevertheless the lesson has been learned.

So off the mat, we may begin to use some of these skills albeit subconsciously in our daily lives. By growing and becoming better communicators and partners we become healthier individuals and by default better members of the wider community. What better future could there be with an art that can help create a well adjusted human being?

However, one can only read so much about a topic or subject. Sooner or later one must actually do something if we are to truly experience anything. The main point here is that we must actually get involved physically and mentally to achieve these mind body integration results. And like any other sport or training we might participate in, the key to mastery is practice.

I have only scratched the surface of but a few of the many facets of Aikido. I hope that given the brief glimpse into some of Aikido's other aspects, that you also think Aikido learning and growth has a powerful part to play in our future. Perhaps that future will see a greater interest in or even the "discovery" of Aikido once its benefits are known and who knows, one day it could even be part of our mainstream school syllabus.