Aikido Lessons

Lessons in Aikido the “Gentle Martial Art”   

Aikido has been referred to as the “gentle martial art” for its non-violent approach to self-defense, the name Aikido has been translated as “the Way of Harmonious Spirit” or “the Way of Unifying with Life’s energy”.

When Morihei Ueshiba first developed and taught lessons in Aikido he envisioned it as a way for people to first defend themselves and second not to harm their attacker in the process. Born in  Japan, Ueshiba created Aikido as a blend of his own martial art skills with his personal philosophies and religious beliefs.

Aikido martial art takes their basis from the ancient Japanese martial art of Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu which was revived by Takeda Sokaku. After training under his tutelage, Ueshiba decided to combine this martial art with others that he had studied over the years and created a martial art that was more in line with his own philosophies. By 1937 he set out on his own teaching what he then called Aiki Budō, it was not until 1947 that it became officially known as Aikido and was recognized by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai. 

Aikido lessons can now be found in many parts of the world, as more people are looking for a less physical form of self defense. Aikido itself is not merely another form of martial art it is in fact a complex combination of both physical and mental training, designed to help the mind and body work together in perfect harmony. Aikido lessons start out with general physical training and body conditioning before teaching specific techniques. The most predominant movements in Aikido are throws and falls so perhaps the most important lesson in Aikido is learning how to fall correctly and safely. 

All lessons in Aikido start off with stretching and warm up exercises to loosen up the muscles and relax the body. Since the emphasis in Aikido is more on extension type movements, the techniques in Aikido emphasize the use of whole body movements and balance, much of the training will involve movements similar to those seen in yoga or even Pilates. After the person has learned the basics of how to fall correctly they will begin to move on to the first phase of learning to use Aikido for defense. 

Although Aikido was created to teach people how to defend themselves, they must be able to learn to attack in order to understand how to effectively defend themselves. Students are taught various attacking movements that are of a grabbing or striking nature, as they then learn how to defend themselves against these attacks. The role of the attack is merely used as a training aid and not intended to teach the student how to attack or be the aggressor in any situation. Many of the striking attacks resemble the moves that might have once been taught for use in armed combat. 

Some of the Aikido techniques used in attacks may include punches and thrusts such as those that might be used by an attacker who has a knife or sword. Once you have reached a more advanced level you may also be taught kicks, these however are generally reserved for those who have achieved a black belt in Aikido as the involve falls that can be especially dangerous.  

During the first lessons in Aikido, beginners will learn how to defend themselves form a variety of grabs since this is the most common form of attack that people will have to defend themselves from. These moves are also considered to be the easiest to learn and they make an excellent starting point. Many of the throws used in defense of the grab attack bear a strong resemblance to those used in karate or judo but the emphasis is on defending oneself whilst doing no physical harm to your opponent. 

Once a person has mastered the basic techniques of the attack including the grab and strike along with the throws and pins of defense they can then move on to learning more of the freestyle techniques used by the masters. This might include the ability to defend against multiple attackers, or depending on the dojo that you are training in, might be learning how to use the various weapons associated with Aikido such as the sword.  

In order to be successful and attain a black belt in Aikido a practitioner “must be willing to receive 99% of an opponent’s attack and stare death in the face” to be able to perform the techniques he has been taught without the slightest hesitation.