Aikido Demonstration

Low quality but watchable.

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Video Clip Morihei Ueshiba Founder of Aikido

Founder Of Aikido – The best home videos are here

Aikido in My Daily Life – Leah’s Story

Today’s post comes from Leah Meeker who kindly agreed to share her story of how she got into Aikido and how the Art pertains to her daily life. Follow this inspirational young woman on twitter @aikigirl77

[Edit: Leah has since started a blog. Go check it out, It's Not a Metaphor]

In January of 2007 I walked for the first time into an aikido dojo, the second floor of an old gymnastics building in the downtown district of our medium-sized town. It was a freezing Iowa Saturday morning and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. A month earlier I had never even heard of Aikido, I didn’t even know how to pronounce the word. I had done very little research, just a quick Google search and a flip through the yellow pages to see if there was a school within driving distance. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of things in Iowa, but we do have a few aikido dojos. At that point in my life I just needed some help. I needed help with my son. I would have tried anything. I would have stood on my head and yodelled the Styx greatest hits album if I thought it would help. That’s what parents do.

At 29 I already had 3 children, a girl and 2 boys. All three had been diagnosed with a form of autism. My youngest is a very mild case, my oldest, moderate, but my middle child, and eldest son, Aidan, is severe. Aidan has experienced just about every symptom a child with autism can experience. Caring for him has been almost impossible at times. My husband and I resolved to do whatever we could for Aidan and the other two, but our resources were depleted. There’s hardly an intervention that we haven’t tried. Out-of-state doctors, diets, nutritional and energy therapies, etc, etc. After years of trying, nothing was working…..and Aidan was getting bigger.

As his mother, I have been Aidan’s primary caregiver since he was born. At the time, he was a strong, hyperactive 8 year-old. Aidan’s hobbies included running away, climbing over fences, and sitting in the middle of the street. Having inherited my Irish grandmother’s petite frame, I was beginning to consistently lose the daily battle of Aidan vs. Mom. Aidan knew he could overpower me and I was scared. Scared of finding myself in a situation where I could not protect him from himself. I never had any interest in Martial Arts…ever. But, I have always been quite athletic, and can scale a backyard fence at an impressive rate, thanks to Aidan.

In December of 2006 I was a frequent visitor to what I lovingly refer to as the autism underground. A collection of internet forums for parents of kids afflicted with autism. There I learned about all the latest research and treatments as moms (and some dads) supported and guided each other through the murky waters of autism. It was there that I first read about aikido. I read about a mother and aikido practitioner who had been successfully using aikido techniques to help her son navigate through public places. Children with autism will often compulsively run off. Crowded or open spaces can be terrifying for the parent and child. I wondered if aikido could help me help my son. As it turned out, aikido helped me help myself.

I often say that I started aikido for Aidan but I stayed in aikido for me. On the mat I learned some techniques, I learned how to move from my center, how to breathe properly, how to remain present, etc, etc. But aikido taught me more than I was prepared to learn. I had spent my entire adult life dealing with autism. I researched fervently, cried frequently, and fought daily. I had lost myself in the fight. I was empty and numb. Aikido, to me, is not perfect. It is not a religion or a way of life. What aikido provided for me was a haven to rediscover myself. It was on the mat that I realized that I had stopped feeling, stopped breathing, essentially…. stopped living. In many ways, Aikido provided me with some tools to put my life back together. I gave myself permission to start living again. Today, I’m enjoying my life, my kids, my training, and the gifts each day brings. In a lot of ways I’m not a typical martial artist, if there is such a thing. I have an overactive, and often irreverent sense of humor. I’m still not a fan of the bokken, and I’m pretty sure I have the worst hakama tying skills in the state of Iowa. Still, I will always love and be indebted to the art and to those that have given of themselves to show me the way. Thank you.

Thank you Leah for sharing your story with us. It is incredibly inspiring.

Do you have any stories to share? What does Aikido mean to you? How do you use your Aikido training to help you in your daily life?

E-mail me, marc AT DailyAikido.com or use the contact form and I will publish it here on Daily Aikido.

Journey Through Life Like a River

The river flows naturally, blending with the landscape before it,
changing its shape while maintaining its form.
The large boulder, solid and impenetrable,
does not succeed in stopping the river.
The body of water does not cling to the rock, grab it or hold it.
Perhaps it just pushes just slightly into the boulder as the river simply passes by.
In fact the boulder is slowly eroded by the water on it’s way to the ocean.
Ultimately it is not the land that shapes the water but the water that shapes the land.

We endeavour in Aikido to emulate this quality in our mind, body and spirit.
Allow oneself to be the river.
My personal hope is that through manifesting Aikido in my life
I can slowly erode the hardness, the anger and the clinging despair of the boulders in my life
and the boulder I know that I can be.

Author unknown

20 Ways to Enjoy Your Aikido

Came across an excellent post today
20 things that any aikidoka can do to enjoy their aikido more

Great advice, including:

• Read some books…all sorts of books
• Practice weapons of some sort
• Learn to fold a hakama
• Contribute to the art

I really need to start making my own lists…

Key (Ki?) Moments

Apart from the awesome play on words this monthly newsletter is a great resource for “inspirational stories and concrete advice on managing life’s “key” moments.”

Focusing mainly on the kind of conflicts everyone experiences such as disagreements with a parent or a neighbour the author, Judy Ringer, gives some sage advice garnered from her extensive experience of Aikido to resolve the problem amicably.

Ki Moments (A nice addition to the blogroll!)

Art of Fighting Without Fighting

In what must be the best article I’ve read on the subject in recent times, Ross Barham writes about the ideology and philosophy espoused by so many Martial Arts (particularly Aikido) such that you are not learning how to fight but rather learning not to fight, a paradox that some seem unable to grasp.

If learning to fight is to be a lesson in how to not fight, it will be by way of giving one the confidence, not to fight, but to care.

This was highlighted to us in our own dojo when Shihan Gwynne Jones recounted the day a guy attacked him in the street. The would be attacker misinterpreted a glance Shihan had given him and consequently threw a punch. Shihan merely dodged the incoming blow the man – being slightly drunk – fell over. A few days later and the same man was down the local apologising profusely and offering to buy Shihan a pint.

Of course Shihan Jones could have fought back but the outcome would not have been as peaceful for either man.

Ultimately, a successful practitioner in the martial arts, through the philosophy, rituals and practices of their particular style, will find a greater harmony between their mind, body and world (and perhaps even spirit), so that, by learning how to fight, they will gain the confidence to not mistakenly think they need to.

- Ross Barham “Learning to (not) fight“