Insanity

Some people are relentlessly critical of Aikido as a martial art.  

From their comments on social media, I get the impression that they have never tried Aikido.  Their ability to perceive interactions between two people is limited at the rudimentary level of brute force and impact.  Nonetheless, after watching a few Aikido video clippings, they think they have garnered enough understanding to run their mouths on something for which they have absolutely no appreciation . . .

One kind of exercise that draw a lot of these unjustified criticisms are flow techniques.  

While I have strong affinity for short and efficient techniques, I can enjoy and appreciate long flow techniques for the movement and connection training they offer.  Every once in a while, I would concoct some lengthy "techniques" for training purpose.  In a real fight, I would never recommend using techniques like such.  For dojo practice, however, they can be really challenging "tongue twisters".

On one Saturday, I had people do a katatetori irminage that starts from tenkan with ikkyou-like hands, transitioning into a kaiten before finishing the throw. 

The emphasis was to shape the movement as if the nage were embracing a ball right in front of his hara, while keeping his elbows close to his ribs

In addition to introducing a different entrance style, the main intent of this exercise is to train students to keep their shape intact despite all the twists and turns that I built into the technique.  

As it often is the case, I came up with one training goal in mind, but what ends up happening creates even more teachable moments for all parties involved.

A big, tall man, M, and a small, short woman, F, paired up.  

Intuitively, the big guy chose to shrink himself so that he could offer a small ball to suit the small lady.  

By the same token, when it was her turn, the small lady over-extended herself so as to come up with an oversized ball to fit M.  

I watched with amazement.  

Both people tried hard to create movements as nages.  They moved a lot, but they seemed perplexed by the fact that their movements had minimal impact on their partners.

After letting them try for long enough, I went over and reenacted what happened to them.  They watched; they nodded.

Then I asked, "What if F were to make a small ball, and M offered a large ball?  What do you think would happen?"

I enacted the new scenarios with them.  They both were in awe.  

Nages are supposed to be the center of their universes.  They rightfully own and belong to their respective universe that is perfect for their height and sizes.  Yet, both F and M made everything all about their partners.  Not only did they cease to be the center of their universe, they forfeited their universe to their partners and banished themselves from it.  

The uke should be spinning around the nage like the Moon revolves around the Earth.  That is the way it should be.  Not the other way round.

O Sensei did say that we should have a pure heart, but it does not mean you give up what is rightfully yours.  We all deserve to live and be well.  In Aikido, there is no need for a martyr.  O Sensei also said we come to Aikido not to learn to become stronger.  We just need to learn not to be weak.  You are the ultimate keeper of yourself in this world.  Giving up your intrinsic strength and advantage is contrary to O Sensei's teaching.

As Einstein says, doing the same things over and over and expect a different result is insanity.  In this case, the two partners kept moving faster, harder and hope their partners would move differently is getting close to what the physics genius is saying.  

Result is the consequence of a process.  Keep doing the same thing over and over without examining the process, all you can expect in result is insanity.