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as published in the 2005 RA News
by Eric Alexander
My initial impression upon visiting an aikido dojo for the first time was of a welcoming yet serious place of study. Students clearly enjoyed their practice and the cooperation and respect they showed one another spoke volumes. I was impressed and signed up for classes on the spot. I soon discovered that the dojo is a place in which questions are most often answered with more questions and students are led through a process of self-discovery. In my own study, this idea of maintaining an open mind remains an ongoing struggle. While the underlying concepts of aikido are relatively easy to grasp, actualizing them is quite another matter.
Aikido is a non-competitive, effective, ethical system of self-defence — one that is often taught to police officers and other law enforcement personnel — but it’s also a lot more. It is a pathway toward better health through physical and mental conditioning — one where student and teacher join forces, helping one another along the road to self-improvement. While this may sound esoteric, it isn’t. It is a practical, mutually beneficial way of people meeting their individual training needs and expectations, while contributing to the group’s overall welfare. In other words, if I improve, I’m a bigger challenge to my training partners. They in turn must work harder to keep pace which raises the performance bar for everyone. In this way, we all win.
While training solo is possible, much of the RA Aikido curriculum requires practising with others. This necessitates learning to reduce the risk of injury while practising with a range of partners of differing ability, age, strength, height, and weight, without compromising effectiveness. Confidence in one another to promote safe, cooperative, and vigorous practice benefits everyone. Rome wasn’t built in a day. There is no substitute for time spent on the mats where we learn by doing, and there are no short-cuts. While diligence breeds proficiency, it is fuelled by patience. Regular class attendance helps.
Aikido training can be a useful opportunity to get to know our hidden capabilities. The dojo is a virtual laboratory and each time we step on to the mats, we’re invited to experiment. For example, we may learn how best to conduct ourselves under stress, or how to better manage muscle pain, fatigue, or discomfort, or how and when to push ourselves beyond our established physical and mental limits.
While dojo practice implies learning by doing, we cannot do without first observing. Observation is an art in and of itself. Watching and listening mindfully to what is going on around us paves the way to quicker, more efficient learning, and promotes safe dojo practices. In time we come to see things that were previously invisible to us - a sure mark of progress in our training.
We can all benefit from learning to question wisely. While we all wish to be knowledgeable, too many questions at once can sometimes short-circuit the learning process. We owe it to ourselves to take the time to make our own exploration through training before seeking answers from others. A sponge can’t soak up water instantaneously. Patience allows for sufficient “soak time” for new information. A lesson learned through self-discovery is a lesson never to be forgotten.
Finally, the human body, like any high performance machine, requires routine basic maintenance. Proper rest, sound nutrition and hydration, along with attending promptly to the aches and pains that come with physical exercise will carry us a long way toward training well into our advanced years. We ought to listen to our body. It never lies. We need to learn when to defer practice in order that our body may heal itself from injury. Even Olympic athletes take time away from their training for this purpose. A minor physical inconvenience today may risk festering into a major ailment tomorrow if left unattended.
Why not join us? Better yet, bring a friend along and try out a class or two on us. You be the judge. It just might be the best move you ever made for yourself!
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