Learn Aikido

Martial Arts Aikido?

2009-07-16T22:14:00.004+01:00

Martial arts aikido three words which mean so much.
Recently I’ve seen and heard these words used together in the topic of whether or not Aikido is just that(a martial art),any more.
Maybe we’ve become complacent and feel that our art is the best and that we live off O sensei’s reputation, is it my imagination or have our teachers become overweight and unfit? Or has it become the nature of our modern aikido that brings it higher practitioners to this condition, or could they have just become lazy without realising it?
In any of the video’s that I have ever watched I’ve not once seen O sensei slouched, overweight or in anyway resembling laziness’ even in his eighties his spirit was unshaken, solid and steadfast as always. Should we not then, come down off our pedestals and remember that O sensei founded Aikido as a martial art “aikido” to be learnt and practiced vigorously and with joy, to help promote good health not just in body but mind and spirit as well and as a self defence.
It is not enough to just turn up, we must learn aikido as a martial art aikido as a budo treat every practice as fit you are facing life and death, that it is real only then will you know that your aikido will be true. Fight the urge to become complacent, lazy or deluded practise as if it’s your last and above all love what you do. Breathe it use your breath gain your strength and power from it and flow with the universe within you.
Always practice the art of peace in a vibrant and joyful manner (O sensei’s words)

Jo Kata 31 movement with Morihiro Satio Sensei

2009-05-02T13:52:00.005+01:00

If you're interested in jo technique (short staff) then this is a must watch video.

Here Saito sensei demonstrates the 31 move jo kata that O Sensei taught, this is a great video to help you learn this kata. As the video progresses he shows what each part of the kata is used as certain attacks are implemented.
Don’t just watch the jo study how Saito moves how he positions himself, see the ki in his technique as his opponent is thrown and try to implement this in your own practise as you learn Aikido.

Try and imagine that you are being attacked as you perform this kata and see in you can sense when and what moves are most useful and effective when training either on your own or with a partner. This is when you’ll get the most out of it when you learn aikido.

Essence of Aikido

2009-03-25T20:32:00.004Z

When watching this video I felt both amazed and doubtful, it looked like in parts that O sensei's uke's were just falling over for him. But when watched again you can see that some hit the tatami with considerable force, even when it looks like O sensei just rests his hand on their head.
It must have been wonderful to experience it, to know how true aikido could be. We all strive in our practice to get this connection and hope that we can somehow come near to what O sensei wanted for us, when we learn Aikido.
But do we put to much emphasis on the physical, are we too attached to our material things, worrying what we have to lose! to become free enough both physically and mentally to even catch a glimps of what O Sensei was trying to show us.
There are some very good teachers out there, all who have taken a part of O sensei with them for he touched many lifes with his uniqueness and wonder. Lets prey and hope that his words and thoughts can spread as closely as he had intended.

Always practice the art of peace in a vibrant and joyful manner

Respect for One and Others

2009-02-18T18:27:00.003Z

One of the most important aspects of aikido is repect, that for yourself and of others. Without this we cannot practice this amazing martial art safely.

We need to remember that the techniques that we learn in aikido are and can be very dangerous and without any repect for each other we will end up damaging and loosing our fellow students.

Every time we practice aikido we should preform the techniques to the very best of our abilities and not slip into the habbit of practising for the sake of practice, as this diminishes aikido and its tradition. Thus reducing your own respect as well as that with whom you learn aikido with.

'O' Sensei's words written in the art of peace by John Stevens :- As soon as you concern yourself with the "Good" and "Bad" of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with and criticizing others weaken and defeat you.

If you can repect where you are," in your studies of this art."

Then we should be able to repect where and at what stage everyone else is at. Not only in Aikido but in all aspects of life.

To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the art of Peace. These are some more of the amazing words of 'O' Sensei

Aikido and combat

2009-01-17T17:07:00.005Z

As I learn aikido there is a thought that sometimes raises from deep within my mind,(does this really work), we are taught in Aikido not to fight, we train and practice to hone our minds, spirits and bodies to be prepared so we can take care of ourselves. But because we don't fight each other we have nothing that proves aikido works and that can leave a doubt within. We are constantly reminded that aikido is and art and the highest level / principle is to resolve a situation without conflict. This in its self is a hard thing to understand and do, we live in a world today where everyone seems angry, has no time for one and other and are so ate up with material things that they can't see what they are doing.
This video shows an outcome of an incident on a train in Japan involving Terry Dobson Sensei some years back. I found it very enlightening and comforting to come across it. We learn aikido not only to learn how to defend ourselves but to help us live a better life, it takes time and is a continual journey if you want to fight you don't have to learn lots of techniques. Aikido helps you see trouble coming and how to avoid it, this is not cowardice, be prepared to use your techniques only when there is no other way.

Always practice the art of peace in a vibrant and joyful manner

Learn Aikido

New Article on Aikido

2008-12-30T17:10:00.003Z

Just a quick post as its Christmas time, are we all full and fed up of drink and chocolate and thinking of how we,re going to cope on our first major practice back. Even if we don't practice over christmas we still learn aikido and take our aikido with us and what better time to think and ponder what aikido is, than Christmas. This is when O Sensei's art and the peoples spirit are / should be closest because we should all be thinking of divine love for all things. I have put this ink here aikido articles because there are a great many views and opinions about aikido some good, some bad, keep an open mind and a free heart as you peruse these pages, take what you need and disregard what you don,t.
Merry Christmas and have a Very Merry New Year.

Always practice the art of peace in a vibrant and joyful manner

Kyu Grading

2008-12-24T11:27:00.008Z

Earlier this month we held our kyu grading and I would just like to congratulate all who took part and passed. They all practiced very hard and have great spirit when they Learn Aikido. Part of the test is for our young members to do homework and write what they think the technique should be like. Here are some of their attemps the shortest is by our youngest member, I hope you all enjoy them. Just double click them to enlarge.

Hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas

Staff Technique

2008-12-01T18:55:00.005Z

What to write there is so much to aikido, so many aspects. Something I don't think I touched on so far is that of Jo or staff technique, I could write hundreds of word explaining this topic but fortunately I came across a series of five video's by Saotome sensei. The first of which is just below.

Saotome Sensei,s take, on the Jo is slightly different to that of Saito sensei, who,s techniques are quite formidable and are a great delight for me. Saotome sensei seems to flow softly as he displays his kata but I have no doubt that it would be very painful to be on the recieving end of his strike.

Below Saito sensei demonstrates a 31 move jo kata. See how powerful and precise his execution is, there are many years of practice here and we can hope that maybe while we learn aikido one day we may achieve it.

This is a gem, a video of O Sensei showing not only Jo technique but sword as well. Watch as he moves with speed and focus you can almost feel the force as he wields that Jo.

I hope that this will be of some inspiration to you and remember.
Always practice the art of peace in a vibrant and joyful manner.

Articles

2008-11-18T19:05:00.006Z

It’s amazing to think, that since aikido was founded and in terms of martial arts, aikido is still in its infancy. It has blossomed the growth and expansion too most parts of the globe has been incredible and with the success of the internet has come a medium to help spread not only the physical side of aikido but the spiritual side also.The amount of information and news that is placed here is astonishing, there is so much to look at it can almost be daunting.
I wonder what Morihei Ueshiba would make of it?

May be you have some thoughts on this, leave me comment, I look forward to your views.

Some interesting places to find this information are, we all know about youtube ( which has many fantastic video’s), there are article sites like ezine and goarticles, just click on the links and take a look. You’ll be amazed, you could read for hours and find out an incredible amount about how to learn aikido and much much more.Or enter your own seach words in the google search box at the top of my page, to all who want to learn aikido or those who are just curious I hope you find what you are looking for.
[Always practice the art of peace in a vibrant and joyful manner]

Takemusu Aiki

2008-11-12T21:29:00.005Z

I was thinking about Aikido, as I often do and came to this question, why do I practice Aikido? As I said before I have practised for many years and have enjoyed it very much but sometimes I think, am I just going through the motions.
When you practice the same things over and over again with the same people it is easy to get in this frame of mind. And as you ascend the grades maybe you feel that you already know the techniques and don't pay as much attention to them, so you fall into bad habits along the way and your pride (not always a good emotion), stops you from looking at where your Aikido has got too.
How does this relate to the question, well ask yourself! why do I practice Aikido and be honest. You most probably find that the reason was different when you started,to what it is now. I practice because I enjoy/love it, not just because it is a wonderful martial art but it helps me with life. I don't learn aikido to be the best fighter or indestructible, nor do I for praise and wonder of others. I practice aikido because its makes me feel good and at peace, I wish I could keep this feeling always. May be one day but as I am still only learning and feel that I still have some way to go I try to find way to help me, hence the title of this post Takamusu Aiki. The founder Morihei Ueshiba said that it is the manifestation of love where techniques are born by uniting with your opponents in a spirit of harmony creating infinite techniques. It is amazing to see O sensei moving with fluidity and power while in his seventies, smiling while he's practising what he so clearly loved.
I have attached this video which I found on youtube, it is one of three, which I have saved in my favourites. Just follow the link learn aikido favourites video,s and hope you enjoy.

Chiba and Harada Sensei's

2008-11-01T14:31:00.006Z

Still on the subject of Chiba sensei visit to Wales to see Colin Pike sensei. I have a few more photo's these are of the party on that Saturday of his visit. We managed to surprise Chiba sensei (not an easy thing to achieve, smile) as we all know. This we achieved with Harada sensei's help as displayed in the photo's below.

Here Chiba sensei laughs as he shows his wife a picture of his catch of the day, which was just presented to him by John with Colin.
Chiba and Colin sensei enjoying the party.

Chiba and Harada sensei enjoyed the evening catching up on old times, its been some time since they last met and a great evening was had by everyone. If you have any comments or would like to see more please let me know. Thanks to all who came to the party and who practice at the Ffenics Aikido club.

Visit by Chiba Sensei while on Holiday in Wales cont.

2008-09-27T14:21:00.009+01:00

Chiba Sensei was wonderful with the children when he came to the Ffenics Aikido club run by Colin Pike sensei an old friend of Chiba Sensei. All the children were so excited on the prospect of meeting Chiba they had heard so much about him. Below are a few photos taken on his visit.

Chiba signs a photo off himself for Jo, something that Joe (I bet) will never forget, he is an inspiration for us all he still insists on training even thou he has a heart condition. Well done Jo!

And shows his respect and thanks

Here our youngest member says thank you to Chiba sensei, all were amazed and happy it was as if Father Christmas had come to visit early.

A very big thank you to Chiba sensei for taking the time to talk to our young members, they all listened with great interest and hopefully they will remember this for many many years as they learn Aikido.

Video,s on Youtube

2008-09-21T11:10:00.005+01:00

Hi All

Just a quick post here, if your interested in aikido or you already learn aikido you'll get to look at some great video footage about aikido on you-tube. I have saved some of my favourite ones on http://uk.youtube.com/profile_favorites?user=learnaikido hopefully you,ll enjoy these. There are some showing Morihei Ueshiba at different ages performing techniques, these are just amazing in one he stands with feet apart and has one of his students try to push him off balance. Let me know what you think and /or if you know of any others that I can look at. Its great having books to read about aikido but even better to see how its done by the founder and his first generation disciples on video.

Visit By Chiba Sensei

2008-09-05T21:08:00.010+01:00

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of Colin Pike sensei, to give a big thank you to Chiba sensei and his wife for their visit this August for a short holiday. We were all so pleased to see Chiba sensei and were determined to make his visit as memorable as possible. We all owe Chiba and Colin Sensei for making it possible for to learn aikido.

Colin met Chiba and his wife at the station and with the help of some of his Dan grades (John Franks and Rob Alderman) took him to stay in Colin’s Chalet over looking the sea. It seemed that even the weather respected Chiba sensei as the sun shined for his arrival on Friday. In the evening he came to the dojo to see the children’s class and after, they crowded around to listen to Chiba Sensei and ask him some question, you’d swear that it was Father Christmas that came visiting (laugh).
On the Saturday morning, John and Rob collected Chiba sensei to go on a fishing trip, which had been organised for him on his visit and it appears that they are all avid fishermen. Here Chiba sensei with a Ray he’d caught.

Again the weather stayed fine and good fun was had by all, as the pictures show.

A Dogfish
Here the skipper is telling John and Chiba sensei a joke, I think he came of that fishing trip with many new jokes under his belt, so to say.

The evening ended up with a Chinese meal with Sensei and his wife, Colin and Elaine and a group of us. Didn’t see the Ray on the menu wonder were that went!

Interview with Morihiro Saito Sensei

2008-08-18T16:01:00.005+01:00

While re-reading some back issues of Aiki News magazines the other day, I came across an article of an interview with Saito sensei back in May 1979.

The question raised by the editor; was about the danger that what O Sensei taught us will become changed over the course of time into what can no longer be regarded as Aikido. So what would you regard to be fundamentally important points when you teach?

Saito Sensei replied: it is to adhere to basics. People think light of basic and are attracted to fancy techniques. Nowadays one cannot be regarded as good unless he does fancy things. This he said back in 1979 nearly thirty years ago, he also mention that, “It is wrong for a martial artist to try to make a living from students’ tuition by teaching budo”. The reason for this he say’s is that a martial artist shouldn’t be worried about his personnel financial situation, because he will end up giving rank to weak students or he will give special treatment and be biased favour of their gifts.

He mentions that O-Sensei always used to say, “I am what I am because I trained hard style for sixty years. What do you think you can do?” Many people don’t understand the meaning of hard and soft. “Hard” means to do the technique firmly with soft movement. But you find people tend to train in a jerky way and when people do soft training they do it in a lifeless way. Soft movements should be filled with the strongest Ki.

Through very hard training you will come to enjoy Aikido, devote yourself to daily practice observing those things that O-Sensei said. Train as O-Sensei trained himself in Iwama. To do perfect Aikido, study O-Sensei.

Kokyuho is included in the basic, which O-Sensei taught and ki exists in kokyuho itself, but there is no kokyuho in ki. Ki is in kokyuho.

Saito sensei trained in Iwama and there he had the basics drilled into him by O-Sensei even thought they were very hard to learn and must likewise be learned by everyone. Those who persevere will in the end, gain a true understanding when they learn Aikido.

This is just a small part of the interview with Morihiro Saito sensei, (ref. Aiki News magazine No. 34 Interview With Morihiro Saito Sensei (3)).

Now nearly thirty years on where is O-Sensei’s Aikido at, how far has it change? Have we been able to preserve it? I have added a video of Saito sensei which I found on youtube, I hope you enjoy it.

I have seen a change over the years and often wonder how O-Sensei would have felt about this. Aikido is personal and no two people practice it the same but when it comes to basic’s there shouldn’t be any way better than to do O-sensei’s way.

Aikido Books

2008-08-14T19:53:00.001+01:00

When I first started to learn aikido there were very few books around to read, video wasn’t invented (smile) so we would group together to watch old cassette tapes of O sensei and Saito sensei to help get a better understanding of aikido and its founder and students. At this time the major books around were Aikido By Kisshomaru Ueshiba, the founder’s son, Aikido and the dynamics sphere by Adele Westbrook, Oscar Ratti and Aikido the Co-ordination of mind and body for self-defence by Koichi Tohei sensei. These were very enlightening books and I suggest to anyone practicing aikido to read these.

Now it seems there are hundreds of books about aikido, from many different authors a lot of whom practice and have practiced aikido to a high level. Two of my favourite books are Morihei Ueshiba Budo Teachings of the Founder of Aikido introduction by Kisshomaru Ueshiba and Abundant Peace the biography of Morihei Ueshiba founder of Aikido.

The book Budo was first published in 1938 and is the only instruction manual that Morihei himself posed for photographs showing his techniques and contains a comprehensive explanation of his philosophy, along with Morihei message that budo is a spiritual path leading to enlightenment, peace and harmony.

Abundant peace by John Stevens who, by the way, has written many books on aikido. It is the biography of Morihei Ueshiba, about the man, the martial artist and the message. It gives you an insight into who Morihei was and what his teaching were in a stimulating and delightful way, with many sayings, enlightening and thought provoking verses.

Aikido And Children

2008-08-10T22:45:00.000+01:00

Aikido is a great art for children to learn, I started at about 10 years of age and to be truthful was grateful that I did. I had a terrible temper and would fly off the handle for any little reason, always getting into fights in and out of school. It was when I started to learn Aikido that I started to have somewhere to vent my energy and aggression.

As I began to learn and train I started to at first without really knowing to control my temper, this in a sense was a godsend as my teachers and parents were very worried for me because they thought that I might end up in trouble, big trouble, I learned respect not just for other people but for myself. This can and is often the case not only in aikido but other martial arts also.

Children can learn aikido and most aspects of it, it is hard because we use every part of our body and have to co-ordinate movement with timing but most of all we have to make it fun, and that has a lot to do with the sensei (teacher).

We have to keep in mind when teaching that children are still growing and therefore their bodies are vulnerable when over-training, and training too hard can distort young bones. But children like adults like to achieve, to challenge themselves and it gives them confidence.

Because aikido is a martial art and if practiced incorrectly can be very dangerous it is of the utmost importance that we teach our children respect, not only for each other but their sensei, club and to act appropriately, otherwise their actions could have serious affects. Important make your class fun, give them praise if they train well, likewise tell them if they misbehave, play games instil a sense of worth and value in what they are doing. And in this way hopefully they will come to love aikido and practice it not only on the mat but in every part of their lives, as O Sensei had intended.

Ffenics Aikido

2008-08-03T14:55:00.001+01:00

Welcome from Ffenics Aikido.

We are a small club that practice aikido in Sully in South Wales, in the U.K. We started up approximately two years ago, although we have practiced elsewhere. Ffenics is the Welsh spelling for phoenix and was chosen to signify the birth of our new club from the ashes of the past.

Our chief instructor (sensei) is Colin Pike, who first started practicing aikido back in the sixties and was taught by Chiba Sensei who was then head of the British Aikikai federation. Colin ran the Cardiff Aikikai club for over 20 years, teaching countless students of aikido, some of whom have gone on to open and run successful clubs of their own.

We were fortunate to be able to hire a dojo for two evening a week off a local Judo club, which means we have no distraction as we learn Aikido, as others who practice in leisure centres know. We have a children’s class of about 20, ranging from 7 to 14 year olds, we have found that any younger and they struggle to keep their attention fixed. Although Colin’s daughter did start at the age of two, being brought down the club religiously it seems from birth. Our senior class has approximately 15 to 20 members who regularly practice, we practice on Friday and Sunday evening. If you would like to practice, in the area and would like to come see us, email me at aikipad@yahoo.co.uk and leave me your details and i'll get back intouch with you.

Aikido And Our Health

2008-08-02T18:44:00.000+01:00

Aikido can be practiced at varying degrees, by anyone whether there young, old, have an injury or are physically impaired. O Sensei (Morihei Ueshiba) I believe accepted people of any age and condition, even over 60 and patiently helped them develop their Aikido.

Aikido improves our physical health and our spiritual health by training the body, mind and the spirit.

You don’t have to be able to roll, break-fall, be extremely agile or move at great speed to participate. You just have to want to do it - the enjoyment comes as you learn aikido. At our club in Sully, we have members ranging from 7 years of age to 68. Some of these have either asthma, cancer, heart conditions, muscle wasting etc and don’t think it is just the older Aikidoka’s that this applies too. Illness doesn’t distinguish between age, but one thing they have in common is the enjoyment and sense of achievement they gain through learning Aikido.

With Aikido you are stretching, bending, rolling, you’re breathing deeply and using you’re Ki (life force / spirit) while you’re moving; all this helps in our daily lives. Another benefit is, for that hour or two you can forget about everything else and immerse yourself in your training.

In aikido we learn how to breathe deeply and purpose filling our lungs to capacity and expelling almost completely. We train not only our bodies but our minds too, while learning how to accept the pain from the techniques we shift our focus of thought, so we can accept it and help our bodies to become more supple and receptive.

When you feel good and your spirit is lifted, then your worries and ailments all seem lessened. I would like to wish a big thank you to all who practice and participate in Aikido.

Techniques continued

2008-07-28T20:51:00.000+01:00

You also have techniques for defending yourself from strangulation or if your hair is grabbed. The techniques used in aikido are designed to either project or pin your opponent thus neutralising them and their attack. They are most effective when relaxed and applied with little strength but with your ki flowing freely and you move with your centre (hara) with your mind still and free.

With this in mind we mention defence from weapons, which could be from a knife, sword, stick or staff (jo) or even a gun and these attacks could be from the front or from behind. In respect to the gun, if someone were going to shoot you they would shoot first and ask questions later to coin a phrase. What I mean is that they hold the gun to you and while they talk you have moved and applied one of many techniques.

Techniques are made with weapons too, if someone holds your sword arm or hand using ki and technique you can free yourself and render your opponent helpless. There are various kata’s that are performed with sword and or staff, I’ll go into these later it is all part of learning Aikido. But please remember Aikido is not just physical and if you decide to learn it you will find this out. Aikido can be hard and painful but is very rewarding.

Techiniques

2008-07-28T20:04:00.000+01:00

When you learn Aikido you warm up performing stretching exercises, breathing exercises, break-falls etc. It is important to make sure that your body and mind is in a ready state for practice to avoid injury to yourself and others.

There are thousands of techniques in Aikido, (some say “infinite” as Aikido is personal to each and everyone). The techniques are split up into unarmed and armed, where you would practice in pairs or groups. To give you some understanding of just how many techniques there are, you have approx 9 basic applications or throws. These are then practiced in unarmed training, where you have different stances - one is where both of you have the same hand offered or oblique stance where opposite hands are offered. From here you would take the wrist where all 9 techniques would be applied, both left and right hand. Or the sleeve, lapels or the back of the collar, then you have a striking attacks from punching to stomach or head, chop to the head or neck, these are just the attacks with one hand. These are learnt both standing and kneeling. Then you have two hands on one, again from wrist, sleeve, lapels and shoulders also shoulders and neck from behind. So you can see the amount of techniques are building. As I’ve said in earlier posts Aikido is a Japanese art and as is custom a lot of time was spent on your knees, so you had to have a way to defend yourself or your Shogun from attack.

What is Aikido?

2008-07-28T20:01:00.001+01:00

Morihei Ueshiba (pronounced oo-eh-shiba) created Aikido as to be a new system of budo (the way of the warrior).

The name Aikido means the way (do) of harmonising (ai) the spirit (ki) . Ueshiba was born in Japan at a time when martial arts were still taught by the masters of the old tradition. He studied with many of these old masters, where he learned his swordsmanship and various unarmed forms of self defence. As his studies progressed he found himself growing into a deeply religious person. Which led him to envisage this new form of budo that would provide a basis for both spiritual and physical growth for any who wished to learn Aikido.

In Aikido we think of the word ki to mean the creative life spirit or force of the universe and ones own life-energy. Ueshiba wrote that true budo is the way of great harmony and love for all beings and with these words you can see that he meant Aikido to be far more than just a method for self defence. “I want considerate people to listen to the voice of Aikido, it is not for correcting other but for correcting your own mind."

Aikido

2008-07-23T21:12:00.001+01:00

Hi All

Why I have chosen to talk about Aikido.

I first started to learn Aikido in 1968/9, I was only a young boy then. I stumbled across it to tell you the Truth, I wasn't looking, I didn't have a driving passion to do it. We just found each other.
Aikido wasn't well known then in the U.K. and not practiced by many, the club I found had a small dojo (practice hall) and was near to where I lived in Cardiff. I was lucky! This club had quite a large class both for adults and children, I joined and started then to enjoy it so much that I continue, even to today. The Chief instructor (Sensei) was Colin Pike and he was taught by Chiba Sensei who was then head of the Association. He taught Traditional Aikido then which could be quite taxing for the students. He still teaches and has his dojo in the U.S.A but travels to the UK and Europe often to take summer schools. There are now estimated to be approximately 1.5 million people learning Aikido today around the world and the art is evolving as it grows.
Aikido has helped me in so many ways, it taught me respect, it gave me away to vent my frustrations and curb my anger, (which as a child was then a big problem). Also it taught me discipline, gave me confidence, how to look after myself and I made many friendships too, some of which have lasted over thirty years.