Learn the “devastating secrets of aikido”, “master your mind with aikido”, “with these secrets of aikido defeat any man”, ” the never before secret techniques of aikido revealed for the first time”…no really!
There are some pretty amazing claims out there about aikido, and why not? The founder of aikido was a pretty amazing guy able to dodge bullets, fight many men at once and defeated many challengers from all around Japan. So what are the secrets of aikido.
Firstly its worth defining what aikido is, it is a budo – that is its a martial art. The path is one of rigourous martial training and this is the only way to master the secrets of aikido. Any of the prominent masters of aikido got where they are through this path and only this path. Despite what they may teach now this is how they got there. All of the secrets of aikido are available from the very first class of aikido you take – from then on your journey begins as you revisit the techniques again and again to discover what they offer.
Mind
Many come to aikido attracted to its ‘art of peace’, non resistance, staying calm in conflict, but to achieve these things in our daily life, work or business is a lot harder. What the dojo offers is a way to practice these, here the conflict is physical which is the easiest of all conflict to manage and steadily increase the intensity of practice. Through this practice the body affects the mind and progress in the other more important areas of life can be made. But only through rigorous practice not a double decaff soy latte style practice!
Body
Many come to aikido attracted by the martial exploits seen in the movies like Steven Seagal but again they might miss the point. Its a wonderful paradox that in trying to apply aikido technique you actually fail to make aikido work, instead the philosophy of aikido must be embodied in a physical way to make aikido work (see Discovering Aiki)
Spirit
Many come to aikido attracted to its ‘art of peace’, philosophy and indeed the founder was a very religious, but in the the pursuit of these aspects you do not need to run about a mat to achieve these things, or worse yet bastardise a wonderful art in the pursuit of these things. However through the regular practice of controlled conflict, controlled life and death type experiences these things be discovered along the way. Aikido is thought by many to be a moving meditation aikido taking some meditation practices and keeping that feeling whilst doing physical practice on the mat