Now I have your attention.  ”There is no Aikido that works”  …… all the time.  Misleading , wrong, correct?

As one great shihan was quoted a saying to a student , ” It is not that aikido doesn’t  work, it’s that your aikido doesn’t work”.  There is no aikido that works all the time in the same manner for everyone,  rather it’s the right aikido  for that person working at  the right time. For this reason  we train with numerous ukes ( to see if it does work) and don’t just head for our favourite each time because our aikido works with them . Also we  should also try different ways* of doing things until we find the one that we can call our own.(* cavaet  warning warning warning this is not a license to do what you want when you want)

I have just finished  watching a DVD, for the 3rd time ,with Ikeda Sensei from Colorado (The Unity Seminar  with Mary Heiny Sensei).  He emphasizes that there is no one way to do a technique and as well as having to be varied and adapted each time we must  find  which way of doing a technique works for us depending on our personal motor skills, body size etc.

So does this mean anarchy on the mat with everyone doing their own thing?  No, but rather that  general training sessions  are not designed for free styling  and that this is where we  do “kihon” waza (kind of like scales in  music) ( this also helps not to confuse new students who might see a senior student doing something “wrong/different”  and don’t know which way to turn) and either in advanced classes, or personal training, then we look more deeply into “our” techniques. It is easy to cheat in training by going too fast to cover up errors and ingrain poor motor patterns but it is better to do them slowly with control until one is ready to test them at a faster pace . Kihon waza is just that,  it is the basics or foundation that all technique spring from, and without a good foundation your aikido house will fall down.

When should someone start trying/experimenting with non-kihon techniques ………………….. one hundred people and one hundred opinions.

My feelings are basics are basics and those need to be programmed correctly before you move on.

More ramblings to come ……………………….