WHY DO PEOPLE PRACTICE AIKIDO?
Personal Performance and Development
Aikido training cultivates balance, effectiveness, and dimensionality—a valuable combination of qualities. Aikido training is a framework for using our body-mind system without strain, for transforming reactivity into responsiveness, and for engaging the moment more functionally. ASD members often share stories of how Aikido had unexpected positive effects on their life. Parents appreciate the growth reflected in their children, and dedicated students discover new dimensions to themselves, their activities, and their relationships.
Self-defense
Aikido technique, and the unique way in which it's practiced, makes it an effective tool for dealing with physical assault. Because of the practice's emphasis on efficient interaction between body, ground, and attacker, you don't need to be big, strong, or forceful to get results. You will learn how to engage conditions, blend with attack, redirect it, and apply techniques in responsive and dynamic ways.
Health and Fitness
Movement in Aikido is a full-body activity. It is also quite aerobic much of the time. At ASD we teach you to use your body efficiently, and so you will likely discover over time that your body is finding its own balance in whatever you do. Critical to Aikido, too, is learning to settle the body-mind. This is perhaps one of the most healthful elements of Aikido training as it calms the whole system to bring out the best in your actions. It's also a lot of fun, which makes it easy to want to show up.
Conflict Management and Engagement
The way Aikido is practiced makes it a model for understanding the greater context of communication, conflict, and engagement, and points to how we can deal with those things in more functional and appropriate ways. Aikido has been cited in many books on topics dealing with mediation, negotiation, relationships, and personal development. Why? Because in Aikido you are not learning to work against the conditions of attack, but
with them.
