Aikido will help reveal the real you

From day one of my training, I knew I had found a path to redefine and rediscover my true self!! Maybe not consciously at first, but something I felt at that class affected me in a way that no other activity had. Even though it was full of confusion and awkwardness, this was intertwined with a sense of calmness and joy! – Crikey! From then on I haven’t wanted to miss a class – every one giving me a further taste of that joy and expansion. I realize now that not only was that expansion due to a physical opening from the confidence and increased sense of my physical self, but also from an ever-increasing depth to my personality, energy and feeling. While evolving through the Aikido experience our increased expertise, knowledge and flow affects all other aspects of our lives and we will grow and change because we are expanding as human beings which cannot help but affect us in a positive way. The following paragraphs are just a few thoughts about how different aspects of Aikido will help us to transform from whatever stage of ‘I’ we are at into more present, emotionally involved and aware people. Some will be unconscious changes that are a natural side effect of training and others will be changes that we can make because of our desire to be the best we can be.

Training with a partner is vital to our Aikido training and growth not only for the practice of technique but also to improve our sense and knowledge of our own body and how it moves and, more importantly, where it is reluctant to move. This reluctance is usually the result of fear. Everyone has fears in some form or another that shape not only their movement but also how they react to certain situations. They are the result of past experiences or conjured scenarios but, whatever the reason, our bodies appear to have a mind of their own and it seems as if we have to mentally connect in to ask it to let go of these old habits that may not be relevant to right now. Working with different people, we can’t help but react to what they say, how they feel to work with, how you feel about them personally and whether you should be learning from them if they have been training longer. I know myself that many thoughts run through my head before I even start a technique and these thoughts often relate to whom I am training with. Their size, age, gender, fluidity, attitude to me and length in the game are all things which could cause me to react in various ways. One of my Sensei uses his size and experience to test us on occasion which, although it creates learning can also cause a mental block about doing the technique well enough to overcome him. But really, it doesn’t matter who it is we are training with that causes such blocks, our belief in ourselves and our movement should be such that we know that everything we are doing is just perfect for where we are in our learning. Another aspect to this is that we should not be too tough on our selves and allow our progress to move at its own pace accepting who we are, where we are and when we are. What we need to remember is that we can learn from everyone and that it is our reaction especially that we need to be aware of because the feeling it provokes provides us with an invaluable tool with which to learn about ourselves and therefore, if we are ready and willing, to change.

A further tool in changing through listening to our bodies is by being aware of, and taking note of, our injuries. I believe in the healing nature of Aikido in that all injuries sustained during practice are for our own learning about ourselves and what we need to improve and change in our thinking, beliefs and actions. A simple example of this is that during Aikido training I have dislocated my shoulder a couple of times over the last 4 years which I have realised can be avoided in future by positioning my body differently. One of the guidelines of Aikido movement is keeping my elbow in front of my hips and therefore energetically connected to them, which would prevent my arm from being pushed back behind my shoulder to the point where it dislocates. This is easy enough in static technique work but once that randori gets heated, these guidelines can quickly be forgotten and it is very easy to get sloppy in our movement once things get a bit hectic. This brings me to another theory in avoiding damage. Don’t get caught up in the problems and stresses of the attack which weigh heavily on my shoulders creating resistance but instead move with their energy allowing my body to remain relaxed.

Once we are ready to listen to our bodies and our emotional responses we have taken the first step to learning how we can let go of hindrances that halt our progress. The next part, however, the letting go of our hindrances or learning edges is easier said than done, but the beauty of Aikido is that many different facets to the art all contribute to our personal development at many levels. The way we move, the way we approach a conflict situation and resolve it, our relationships with people and our sense of personal power are all positively affected by Aikido training. I have found that one of the biggest hurdles in training in Aikido is letting go of having to win and therefore getting stuck in ‘doing the technique’ rather than allowing myself to feel my partner’s energy and blending with it. Once this can be achieved it changes not only the quality of our movement and how it feels to us, which will be a positive change, but also how that movement improves the resultant technique on our partner.

Many of these changes in our movement begin with an improvement in the relationship of our movement to our centre i.e. the movement should start from your centre and the ‘power’ of all movement is connected to the movement of your centre. Our hara is literally our stomach area but in the martial arts it is believed also to be the centre of our bodies storehouse of energy and our hara line connects our soul above to our physical body and down into the earth. So along with developing a more powerful and connected Aikido, the strengthening of your hara has the bonus side effect of providing you with a deeper connection with your soul via the hara line and it follows that eventually, bit by bit, this connection will uncover the purpose of your soul allowing more and more of your life to be in line with that purpose until your life feels fulfilled and happy.

These are some of the many aspects of Aikido training and the Aikido philosophy that lead to positive changes in our lives on and off the mat. For me the ultimate is, as O Sensei says, to feel at one with the universal energy and to feel the love in everything and everyone, but as long as you are working towards this and the intention and belief is there that this will be the case for you, then we are practicing Aikido and it follows that you will improve and this feeling will be there more and more helping us to open up, break through the old beliefs and help reveal the real you.