As a scientist, I have often encountered Aikido teachers who considered the epistemological approach as an aberration in the study of an oriental martial art, sometimes even like an insult directed towards their work or their own persona. Today, I would like to discuss the benefits there are in studying a Japanese martial art while keeping in mind what the Enlightened have brought to us.
Aikido
Warming up
It seems important to me to give some thought to this important part of the practice in order to insure an injury and a frustration-free practice. What first comes to my mind is this: if we were to practice our art in another place than in the dojo, we would have to move fast and with energy without undergoing the process of preparing our body for action.
The absentee
When you are teaching an Aikido class, you feel responsible for- but also grow very fond of the people who choose to train with us. Aikido has the ability to make people relationships very special. The result is an intimate link among trainees, very different from those that develop among teammates or “gym-mates”, or work colleagues. I’m not talking about everybody becoming friends, but certainly we are companions along a very special path, an intimate one, I’d say, one where we develop our human potential; in this, the teacher is only a person who is just a bit ahead on the same path.For the person in charge things are a bit different, though. He or she grows a particular feeling towards the ones who chose to train with him/her. It is a feeling similar to the ones between parent and child, with due differences. The parental instinct is there for sure, so if some of the trainees quits, a small quantity of suffering is granted.
Seeking the lost child within
Follow your dreams or become an “adult”?
I believe the United States made a very good job in exporting their culture by feeding our dreams. Some call it cultural colonization and they might be right. I grew up reading Marvel comics, so my contamination began with Spiderman (at the time we used the Italian translation of his name, but today the cultural colonization is stronger), although my deepest love was for Daredevil (just Devil in Italy); I was not immune to Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Fantastic 4 and the others. Everything was happening in the USA. Furthermore, as a kid I used to play with American Marines toy soldiers and even my favorite Italian comic, Zagor, was staged in the forests of the American northeast in the early 19th century – there was no way out…
Aikido and I
I started Aikido with Valter Francia in 2001 and I will always be thankful for this. He introduced me to this art and I will never forget it. I still remember the euphoria at the beginning of every day I knew I would have trained later. The day started in a better way just because there would have been Aikido. The ones who know me well are sure this is the truth and that when I say/write something, there is no hidden goal, nothing is between the lines. Never.
Why on Earth I keep doing this…?
For me Aikido was love at first sight. My infatuation began in 2001 and since then I’ve never stopped. I even started teaching to a small group from 2010 on. To me Aikido means well-being. It has always made me feel better, both as practitioner and as a teacher. It is a wonderful discipline and I will always be grateful to the one who first introduced me to it and unveiled Aikido to me. But it’s not all a bed of roses…