Aikido is a subtle art. It's not loud or flashy. There are no board-splitting punches, no high round house back kicks to the face, no joint-rending arm-bars where submission or destruction are the only options.
Aikido is a martial art. But it's not about fighting. Proper aikido will never appear in a ring. O'Sensei told us that. It's not about entering a bar and challenging then kicking some butt. It's not about finding justifiable rage, then taking someone down who fully deserves it.
Aikido is a demanding art. It's not something that can bought in a store: look - at - me - I've - got - an - outfit - so - now - I'm - a - martial - artist. It's not a weekend warrior sport tackle - someone - in - the - mud - elbow - to - the - face - while - you're - going - up - for - a - layup. It's not I - watched - Chuck - Norris - now - I - know - what - to - do.
The message of aikido is simple, but not popular. Aikido says that it's possible to defend yourself against violence without inflicting violence in return. Aikido says that by harmonizing with violence, it can be redirected and diffused. Aikido says that by remaining calm and centered like a rock in a stream, violence will flow, but the rock will remain unperturbed.
Aikido asks that we fundamentally change ourselves, not just apply a veneer. It asks us to accept our own clumsiness, our stiffness, our lack of coordination, to feel foolish and laugh about it. It asks us to believe we can learn a flowing, graceful way of moving under the stress of being attacked. It asks us to practice, practice, practice, to invest our time. It asks not just that we learn to defend ourselves, but that we acknowledge and redirect our own violent tendencies.
O'Sensei, aikido's founder, believed that if enough people learned the art of aikido, there would be no more need for war. How can you go to war if you've taught yourself not to attack? Why would there be a war if everyone has accepted and learned to dance with their own fears?
Aikido is a subtle art, the liquid amber of a red-wing blackbird's call threading its way through the din of freeway traffic. But it's there, in perfect harmony, attuned to the silently flowing matrix of peace that suffuses the universe.
Joel Lindstrom teaches math, physics and psychology at Cottage Grove High School in Oregon and teaches aikido at the HAI KI Aikido Center in Eugene, Oregon, http://aikidocenter.tripod.com/.
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