by Chris Robertson
During the past year, I attended more Aikido practices than I have in the past four to five years combined. This is what I have discovered in the 12-month journey.
Attending practices changed from trying to squeeze practices around my activities to working things around my practices. Missing a practice gave me a sense of loss, of a missed opportunity to learn, to continue maintaining my momentum. I began wishing there were more practices.
Previously, each technique had been a discrete (independent) activity, a thing that could be solved, a location that can be clearly reached, a box that can be ticked on completion. This approach led to frustration, since one didn’t get the technique perfect first time, or the second time, or any number of times later.
Now I see a technique as a continuum and my ability will evolve and different parts of a technique will often evolve at different rates. There is no end point, no finish line and improvement will come through practice and not by any mental desire for perfection. I find myself working on different parts of a technique at different times. I’m better at accepting there are days where things just don’t go right, my timing is off, my balance is not quite there….
Uke has been a role I happily took on to aid a nage in practicing. While this is still true, I now see it as practice in its own right, rather than just helping someone else to practice. It is my opportunity to practice and improve my ukemi. It gives me the opportunity to practice timing, ma’ai, breathing, balance, stance etc.
Most importantly I’ve come to appreciate the need to improve the simple/basic/fundamental things such as tenkan, soto tenkan, mai, timing, stance, centre, breathing, relaxation and such. If you can’t get these correct, no amount of speed or technique will help your Aikido. I’ve found myself often doing techniques more slowly at times trying to get a sense of the changing stance, changing body and hand position, rather than trying to speed them up.
Has there been an amazing change in my Aikido? No, no more than you would expect from an increased training schedule. The biggest change I feel is how I approach Aikido. Aikido has become a journey and not a destination. Continually work on the basic things and the other things will come more easily.
One thing that has not changed is my thankfulness for my instructors and the other students for their perseverance and patience.