Aikido Dojo San Francisco Philosophy

By Roger Williams


When it comes to different martial arts, it's true that most of them try to balance body and mind, some more efficiently than others. They all thrive to self-improvement and provide excellent defense techniques as well. All eastern techniques have this spiritual part within, and it would be hard to imagine them without it.

Harmonized body and mind is a must. Even so, there are numerous other benefits in practicing these techniques. If you visit one Aikido Dojo San Francisco center, you may find out more about this particular teaching, and why it is so special, even compared with other popular martial arts, and why it really deserves you attention.

The word Aikido is actually made using three different words. 'Ai' means harmony, 'ki' stands for energy, but also spirit, while 'do' stands for path, in other words, a way. So, the word can be translated as the harmonious and spiritual path, or the way of the spirit and harmony. High ideals, elegant outlook and highly efficient defense techniques, and this is only the beginning.

This is, actually, the youngest of the traditional Japanese martial arts. It was founded by The Great Teacher, or O-Sensei, Morihel Ueshiba. He was an expert in various other traditional Japanese discipline, staring with Jujitsu, Kenjutsu and Sojitsu. But, he was also really interested in religion and spiritual part of the training.

O-Sensei soon became famous, because he was able to conquer his attackers without even touching them. He developed his non-violence technique, basing it on defending yourself without direct confrontation, avoiding causing harm to your opponents. His basic philosophy is harmonizing the movements of your body with the movements of the universe.

In fact, anyone can start practicing Aikido, and it doesn't matter how old or how fit this person is right now. This is not only really efficient defense technique, but also the sort of training that you will benefit from in many different ways. It brings not only great physical improvement, but also better health, especially cardiovascular health, better concentration, coordination and balance, etc.

But, there are some other important benefits that need to be mentioned here. For example, conditioning body, mind and spirit leads to better self-confidence, the peace of mind, better results in other areas of your life, and, finally, in finding your own life-path. It's certainly isn't just about fights and strength, it's so much more in it.

If you compare Aikido with other martial arts, the first thing you may notice is that the main goal is to defend yourself without causing injuries to your attacker. The movements are circular, and, since most attacks are basically linear, this techniques kind of harmonizes with these attacks, using arm pins and wrist locks, for example, to unbalance the attacker, avoiding direct confrontation.

Aikido is a true Budo. This means that it is a martial art based on traditional Japanese warrior arts, on ancient Samurai battle tactics, but dedicated to perfecting the spirit. O-Sensei used to say that the secret is in harmonizing your movements with the movements of the Universe. His Mahatsu Agatsu statement states that the true victory is the victory over oneself.




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