Aikido Impersonators

Our teachers always encouraged us to attend seminars. We encourage our students to do the same.  "What is the point of attending seminars?" asked some students during a recent dojo Zoom meeting.  

Different people have different ideas.  

Some say it is for learning different ways of doing techniques.  But, any experienced instructor probably knows more than one way of doing a particular technique.  In addition, every single encounter is unique and every repetition is different, requiring different adjustments to the same variation.  So, it is not like people cannot learn variations of different techniques at their home dojo anyways.  Plus, after attending seminars, no matter how cool it was, most people return to practicing what they normally do at their dojo.  What is the value of seeing and doing a few different techniques in a different style just for a few hours?

Here is what I think.

Imagine being an actor working on an impersonation.  To begin with, you have to observe very carefully to identify the most distinctive characteristics of the subject.  In order to do a good, convincing impersonation, it is critical to have strong self awareness.  You need to understand yourself extremely well so that you adjust the way you move, the way you talk with precision in order to transform yourself into the person you are trying to impersonate.  

Attending an Aikido class is no different from being an impersonator.  During an aikido class, the job of a student is to imitate the instructor closely.  In addition to mimicking the physical movements, a student should seek to feel what the teacher feels. Explore the internal environment of the instructor.  Try to become the instructor for that class.  Students should also try to feel what the teacher conveys to the uke.  A good Aikido seminar can be a very complex learning experience.  

Instructors send students to seminars so as to broaden their exposure to different teachers.  The more eclectic the teachers' backgrounds the better.  As students get out of their comfort zone in a seminar, hopefully, they are able to see more clearly what their own movements are like.  With different teachers, they get to see themselves in different light.  The ultimate goal of the exercise is self exploration.  

Aikido is self refinement.  It all starts with knowing oneself.  The irony is that the one thing that we want to find out about is something we can never directly see.  Everybody can look at us and see who we are; but we are trapped inside of ourselves and can never take a good look at ourselves directly.  At Aikido, we use our partners, our teachers as our mirror so that we can find out who we really are and make changes with the reflections.  

My teacher, Takeguchi Sensei, is also a big proponent of seminars.  He once said, "The more students go to see other teachers, the better they understand what I am trying to teach them."  I cannot agree more.