After learning the basic elements that are necessary to make any technique work, most students think that continued emphasis on practicing those basic movements should be enough to guarantee success when the technique is applied. A technique can include any Strike, Lock, or Throw. Simply working hard at practicing a technique is not going to give any assurance of its effectiveness. Working hard has to be accompanied by working smart. The conditions that can make any technique fail are many. That is why we relish training with a variety partners and under a wide range of circumstances. Differences in size, ability, strength, etc. are one way to test whether one’s skills are real or imagined. Hoping that your street savvy opponent will be cooperative with your efforts is delusional at best and dangerous at worst. So, how does one put theory into practice? Understanding how the body works and responds mechanically is a crucial step in this time consuming, but essential process.
Perhaps the first thing that any Aikido student must learn, is to recognize the difference between energy projection (Ki in Japanese and Chi in Chinese) and physical strength. Knowing this difference allows for a better, more sensible handling of a persons’ “muscle” tension. We don’t mean to sound arcane when we use the term “Acceptance vs. Resistance”, however, we “accept” energy projection and we do not waste our “energy” on resisting strength.
Future articles will elaborate on this and on such body control concepts as “Taking Out the Slack”, “Two Objects Cannot Occupy the Same Space”, “Using the Head to Extend the Body”, “Giving Up Ground”, and “Giving Up Technique”.
Mr. Weber is the chief instructor at the Aikido Academy of Self-Defense located at 16134 N. Oracle Rd., in Catalina. He has more than 45 years of experience in the Martial Arts and has achieved skills in a variety of disciplines. He also teaches Tai-Chi on Saturday from 9 to 10 a.m.
Please call (520) 825-8500 for information regarding these and other programs. If you wish, check out the website at www.AikidoAcademyOfArizona.com.