The Turning Point
Many people think gentle and strong are mutually exclusive. They think: gentle means weak; to be strong, one has to be forceful. Takeguchi Sensei has demonstrated that such theory is wrong by practicing and teaching a style of Aikido that is gentle, yet strong and powerful. Takeguchi Sensei often use the word "neutralization" to describe what he does when faced with an attack. Instead of accepting or fighting against his uke's energy, he directs the attack to a place where it is defuse. When the uke 's attack is no attack, throwing is a piece of cake. According to Takeguchi Sensei, the essence of Aikido is to respond to your partner's movements without inflicting undesirable responses. Read [The Neutralizer] In a recent practice, a new 5th kyu student experienced for the first time the magic of neutralization. I was her uke . Like most students at her level, she tried using force to push me down. The more she tried, the harder sh...
