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In order to really understand Aikido, it is good to have some background knowledge of the history of the artform. As a more recent martial art, Aikido’s history and growth has luckily been able to be comprehensively documented. Many figures, most notably Stanley Pranin went to great efforts to gather first person accounts as well […]
We all have busy lives. It’s hard to carve out time to do something for ourselves. If we do find some time for self-improvement, there are many options to fill this void. Learning self-defence can be a worthy and rewarding choice. At the fundamental level, self-defence is an insurance policy in personal protection. It promises […]
In general, you will find at Griffith Aikido that in class, we perform breathing practices from time to time. It may seem strange to practice your breathing as this is something your body just does. As I’ll explain below and in later posts on the topic, breathing is an important subject to research in your […]
Unlike other martial arts Aikido is not about attack and defense. At it’s core it is about re-directing energy to create harmony instead of harm. It wasn’t always that way though. I tend to look at the evolution of Aikido as having two distinct eras. The first is pre-world war two and the second is post […]
Before I started training in Aikido I had spent two decades studying other forms of martial arts. Most of them were very martial which means a lot of physical contact and ultimately I could see that as my body ages I would not be able to keep up this level of intensity. I was also […]
In Aikido, you will have training for both physical and mental aspects. Physical training emphasizes more on the fitness of the body and specific techniques while mental training allows you to have peace in your mind and body even under dangerous circumstances. Your training actually begins right at the door of the dojo: here you […]
Man is most humbled through a culture that has a respect for all things. There are little eccentricities when training in a dojo. It can be rather daunting to the initial beginner when already trying to just gather the basics of technique, that you then realise you are thrown into as well, a strange dialogue […]
Now this looks familiar…
One very important issue discussed amongst the club membership at last Tuesday evening’s AGM was ‘home dojo’ etiquette. As Maruyama Sensei says, “Aikido is not a sport, it’s a martial art; and the dojo is not a gymnasium, it is a special place.” Our view is that our dojo and every dojo whether it is […]
As training gets under way for another year, it is a timely reminder that the reason we train is to develop ourselves so we can better meet the challenges of life outside the dojo. Although learning technique is fundamental and a lot of fun, one very important aspect of Aikido training can often be overshadowed. […]