English Version

as published in the 2008 RA News

by Claire Huston 
 

I started aikido because I wanted to be able to defend myself without having to beat an attacker to a bloody  pulp. It’s just not my style, not to mention that it’s very illegal. In aikido, students learn how to defend themselves against any attack, including attacks involving a variety of weapons, as well as multiple  attackers. In class, we practice something called randori where  classmates converge and attack a lone defender in rapid succession and you learn, how to deal with all of them. You learn how to apply joint  locks, pressure points and how to use your opponent’s energy against  them. As a woman, I have a fundamental strength disadvantage against  most male attackers. But Aikido is not about strength. Rather, it is  about technique. This makes it possible for me to throw or otherwise  control men twice my size with relative ease. I must confess to a certain unholy glee at tossing around big sweaty men without even getting out  of breath.
 

Now, having gained a small measure of  competence with the basic techniques, my sensei (teacher) approached  a few of us about participating in an aikido winter camp called kangeiko (literally training in the cold). “It’ll be fun, Claire,” he said. “Your techniques will improve, Claire. Just be at the dojo at 4:30 for a two-hour class every day for a week.” 4:30 am.  4:30 am?!?!?  Meaning I have to get up at 3:00 a.m? “It’ll  be invigorating,” he said. Right!.
 

Jumping and rolling, avoiding punches, kicks, wooden swords, multiple attackers - remember that randori thing I mentioned earlier? - and getting thrown around is somehow a lot  harder before the sun comes up, but then, I guess that’s the point.  The camp is about self-discovery, pushing your limits and finding out that you can do more than you ever thought possible. It’s a grueling and exhausting experience (did I mention the part about getting up at  3:00 a.m?) but after throwing around black-belts and the aforementioned big sweaty men for a couple of hours, and admittedly getting thrown about by them, all the problems facing me in the day ahead suddenly didn’t seem quite so challenging. After all, what could be any harder  than what I had just experienced? It was a really odd feeling driving  home after morning practice, seeing the moon still high in the sky, then later, after my regular evening practice, driving home with the moon still visible. Talk about deja -vu - haven’t I done this already today?
 

I expected it to be a difficult and challenging  week, and it was, but it was also exhilarating.  Oh, I’ll admit to a few uncharitable thoughts when my alarm went off in the morning: “It’ll be fun, Claire.” “It’ll be invigorating.” I’ll give you invigorating!  Nevertheless, each morning, I dragged  my shivering butt to the dojo, silently cursing, pushing my body to  work when it just wanted to curl-up and go to sleep.  And to my amazement, every day, once practice started, I found myself laughing  and having (dare I say it?) fun.
 

I learned a lot from the camp: Conservation  of energy is critical. We only have a finite amount of energy and at  4:00 a.m., it’s not in abundance. If you rely on a lot of strength,  you’ll run out of steam in a jiffy. If you use up all your energy  at the front end of the class, the remainder is bound to be torture.  I also learned that just because something is simple, it doesn’t make it easy. Aikido is not about speed. It’s about timing, and while size does matter, technique matters more. I discovered just how much I have  left to learn, but I also found out that I can learn it.  And my techniques did improve. Just don’t tell sensei I said so. 
 

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