Another great seminar with the guys and gals in Scotland meeting some old faces and some new.  We covered a lot of ground in the seminar and as promised here are some of the key elements of what was covered.

As promised please see below the main discussion points from the course.  This is not meant to be a discourse or essay on the themes of the course but rather a list of bulleted points.  Therefore please excuse the fact that it is not flowery language flowing seamlessly from one point to the next!  If you have any queries on what is posted here please feel free to post the questions below.

The courses Main themes:

• Principles over Techniques
  • “There is no purpose in wanting or pursuing many techniques.  To master a technique, one needs to make each technique, one by one, his/her own.” – O’Sensei, Budo.
  • “I don’t fear the man who has done 1000 kicks once, I fear the man who has done 1 kick 1000 times.” – Bruce Lee
  • Begin with the end in mind: We should not lose sight of the fact that our aim in aikido is not to master techniques but to master the principles of aiki through the techniques.
  • In aikido we have in excess of 600 techniques, variations, applications, etc.  When you add the weapons to this it takes it to around 700.  The focus of the seminar was to go deep into a small number of techniques to work on the principles rather than to gloss over many techniques shallowly.
  • Takemusu Aiki – ‘Take’ means technique and ‘musu’ means to give birth.  So literally if you are practicing Takemusu Aiki you should be giving birth to techniques and this by its nature means original techniques.
  • You may have heard it said that takemusu aiki has an infinite number of techniques.  I interpret this in that the way in which we could be attacked is infinite and therefore so is the way in which we respond using aiki principles – creating a new technique every time.  This can then be extrapolated more easily to all manner of situations outside of combat really bringing takemusu to life.
  • However, in aiki one of the main ways in which we learn the principles is through the techniques.  These are where we find O’Sensei’s magic laid bare in the design and blueprints.  So in essence it would be fair to say – the techniques are not an end in themselves but the practice of the techniques is very important.
  • It is also important to balance practicing the principles through drills and exercises so that training stays fresh, alive, real and current (use current attacks also not just the traditional aikido ones).  This brings the principles to life in their infinite variety and allows you to make it your own.
• Kokyu – Another of the main themes was kokyu: 
  • Dynamo – You need to have the feeling that you are generating and storing Kokyu power and energy with everything you do, not just in aikido but everyday life. As you move your body is like one big dynamo storing power and energy.
  • To develop kokyu you need:
    • The kokyu form and feeling throughout the body, not just in the hand
    • The right balance between relaxation and tension (do the push up relaxation exercise to develop this)
    • Grounded through the hips and the feet – (do the squat relaxation exercise to develop this)
    • Breathe and move – don’t hold the breath or become too static.
    • Make sure that you extend and don’t contract through tension.
    • Belief that it will work
    • Remember Kokyu is not magic it can be trained and developed.
    • At the end Kokyu is as much about what you take out as what you put in.  Rid yourself of tension, fear, doubt, redundant and superfluous movement and unnatural or incorrect movement. Your movements need to be precise, calm and powerful.
• Atemi – the last of the main themes was atemi
  • “My aikido is 90% atemi.” O’Sensei
  • Atemi is one of the ways of dealing with an attack in aikido:
    • Atemi
    • Avoid and escape
    • Throw
    • Pin
    • De-escalate before the attack.
  • Atemi is very rarely taught in Aikido, most people’s experience of it is through training in other martial arts.
  • Aikido doesn’t engage in standing toe-to-toe and trading or blocking blows.  We have to think about the attacker behind us.
  • We need to make sure that it does not interrupt the natural movement of the response or technique.
  • We need to be able to have precision in the target areas.
  • A strike is a good placement then a push – just done fast.  We did lots of exercises to practice this – push-ups on partners body, fist walks on partners body, striking partners body etc.
  • We also need to think about the psychology of receiving a strike.  You can’t let it rock you or shake you.  This is managed through the breath, relaxing and being comfortable with being hit.  You build this this by getting hit in a training environment.
• Three rules of three– I often talk about three rules of three
  • Combat distances– you need to know, get comfortable with and develop an intuitive understanding of the three combat distances:
    1. Out of range
    2. In range
    3. Close.
    • An exercise to develop this is the one where partners walk towards you and you avoid.
  • Combat skill– Combat skills comes in three advancing stages:
    1. The stronger, faster, fitter guy will win.  You can make yourself stronger, fitter and faster etc. up to about the age of 40.
    2. Then you have techniques that can overcome strength and size.  You can continue to develop technique into old age
    3. Then you have the ‘super’ or above technique elements or the principles:
    • • Awase
      • Kokyu
      • Timing
      • Relaxation
      • Leading
      • Understanding of the principle of Aiki (when pushed pull and pulled push)
      • Non resistance
      • Strategy
      • Psychological grounding (ability to stay balanced, focused and aware during a situation)
  • Three Levels– During training you need to be aware of the three levels of training progression and what you are looking for at each level.
    • Kihon – Basic level. Kihon is where the big gains lie and no matter our level we should always be doing lots of this.
      • Don’t need speed and strength.  But you do need to put effort and energy into it.
      • Looking for precision.
      • Studying the angles
      • Studying structure – ours and our partners
      • Thoroughness
      • Accuracy
      • Slow, big movements
      • Training is from static, so your partner moves first in the strike or grab.
    • Awase – Blending level
      • This is the level at which you check whether you know the movement at a basic level.  If you can do it slow and smooth without stopping in awase it is a good indicator that you know the technique at a kihon level.
      • Again you don’t need speed and strength.  But you do need to put effort and energy into it.
      • You are looking for fluidity from start to finish.  You don’t have the stops that you have in the basic level.
      • Smoothness
      • Big movements
      • Training is in motion, so you move at the same time as your partner moves.
    • Ki-no Nagare – literally energy in motion.
      • Now you can insert speed and power – make the application of the techniques martial – big kiai’s, lots of energy.
      • Techniques wont be as precise at this level
      • Small, fast movements.
      • Morihiro sensei said ‘aite no ki o yobidasu’ Call our your partners ki or energy.  You start the interaction at this level and take command from the start.
      • Think about leading and openings
    • Remember that if nothing changes in your training then nothing is changing in your development.  In every practice you should look self critically at what you are doing, not just train mindlessly.

    Happy training all – if you have any questions please feel free to post below.

  In aiki,
  Matt.