Go With The Flow

"What am I supposed to do?  Where am I supposed to go?" many beginners ask.

Aikido can be very confusing at first because the uke and nage are in constant motion, interacting with each other real time.  Even the "still points" are only still for a split second.  There is nothing static to easily hold onto for reference.  Plus, every interaction is unique and different.  There is no golden recipe that is right for all situations.  

"How do people even learn?" one may ask.

True.  It is not easy.  That is why we teach students principles instead.

In this world, impermanence is the only permanent truth.  Yet, it is human nature to take what is true for the present and project it into the future.  Not only does this flawed assumption cause a lot of emotional anguish, but when applied in motion, it also may present a peril to people's lives . . .

At practice the other day, we were doing kaitennage of which the ukemi leads the uke to roll forward and across the center line of the nage diagonally.  

Question: As nage steps forward to execute the throw, the uke is entering his roll.  The stances of the nage and uke are almost perpendicular to each other.  At this point, what is the most sensible direction for the nage to move towards?  

Many students had trouble with this technique.  They saw that the spot next to the head of their uke was vacant.  They thought that would be the perfect place for them to move into to do the throw.  As soon as they got there, however, everything changed.  

The space that was wide open a moment ago is now too crowded because their partner is now there, too.  There is not enough room for the nage to extend and use their arms.  Because they are crowding the uke, the uke has nowhere to go, and so the uke stopped moving.  

At the mean time, given their forward momentum and the tight ma-ai, the nage themselves gets thrown out of balance and they have nowhere to go either.  The limbs of uke and nage are sort of entangled together.  Fortunately, they were not practicing at high speed, otherwise, it is hard to say who might fall on top of who . . . 

Almost a year ago, someone made the same exact mistake on the road.  She -- and I -- are both very lucky to be alive so I can tell the tale today.

I was driving on a two-way, two-lane, winding, hilly road.  I noticed most of the driver were driving way too fast.  Maybe they were local and felt too conformable with this familiar road?  I sensed that I really needed to be extra careful.  

I was meeting a friend at a museum.  I made a left turn onto what I thought was the museum's driveway.  Before I could even finish my turn, an oncoming car from the other direction hit my car.  It came with so much momentum that my car spun almost 270 degrees before it came to a stop.  

One moment my way was clear; one moment, the other car appeared and we collided.  

I bet the other driver must be very surprised too when she saw my car in front of her.  She was approaching from the other side of a hill.  Our cars were hidden from each other's sight until it was too late.  She was driving way too fast to avoid me by braking then.  

She made the same lethal mistake that my students made: she steered the car to her right (towards the front of my car) to a spot that was open at the moment, without thinking that it was exactly where I was heading.  She thought she was avoiding me, but she was actually putting herself right in my way.  Had she steered her car the other direction -- towards the tail of my car, there was a chance that we could have missed each other . . .

The result was a scary driver-side to driver-side collision.  The cars were so seriously damaged that they were both totaled.

Cars are made to endure collisions.  Not so much for people.

Robert Nadeau Sensei says, Aikido is about form and flow.  It is not only about your own flow.  You have to also bear in mind your partner's flow.  

Henry Kono Sensei talked about how the uke and nage are like the Yin and Yang of the universe.  We may not disturb the interface between the two forces because they should never mix.  

In a Yin-Yang sign, there is the black and there is the white.  There is never gray.  

To keep the two forces separate while moving in a harmonized manner, read the flow of your partner, respect the edges and blend accordingly.  

Nothing good can ever come out of it when you see gray . . .