Aikido Basics. Phong Thong Dang

      O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba taught that aikido should be practiced with a joyous nature. That does not mean that one should fool around and not take practice seriously. It simply means to keep a positive attitude about the training and enjoy it. A positive attitude helps you to stay mentally focused, emotionally calm, and physically strong. Besides, nothing unbalances attackers more than to see a slight smile on your face when they are coming at you. Learning to maintain a positive attitude during training, when someone is attacking you, will help you cope with the everyday stressful situations at home, school, and work.

      Maintain Physical Alignment

      One of the easiest general rules about the physical alignment necessary for throws is to keep everything pointed in the same direction. Your feet, knees, hips, shoulders, and eyes should all point at, and through, your training partner's centerline. If you aim your alignment toward the opponent's balance point, you will add power to your technique.

      Keep your hands in front of you, on your centerline. To keep your technique strong and avoid injury, keep your hands where you can see them. Don't let your arms get beyond the sides of your body. Keep your elbows pointed down and tucked in front of your body. Keep your arms and ki at a natural extension, as if pushing forward. Visualize the weight of your arms, on the underside of the arm. This lowers the arms' center of gravity and provides you with a sense of upward support. At the same time, think of your arms as unbendable by holding them with a springlike tension, with a slight curve at the elbow. Do not totally lock the elbow, since this produces rigidity rather than fluidity. Never collapse your arm beyond ninety degrees. This will weaken your technique.

      Try to keep your hands at hip width apart. A good training visualization is to see your hands and your hips as the four corners of a square, which move together. As the hip goes forward or back, the hand on the same side goes forward or back. Keeping your hands and hips aligned helps coordinate the full-body movement characteristic of aikido.

      Always stand straight. You should feel as if you are being lifted up, allowing your spine to elongate. Keep the body erect and straight. Hold a proud upright posture.

      Motion and Momentum

      Aikido is a very fluid and dynamic art. In the beginning, you will train by standing in a static position and practicing the techniques. Later, as your training partner approaches, you will begin to enter and blend with him by moving in to meet him and gently guiding or redirecting his momentum into the technique. Your technique will no longer be a sequential series of moves, but one fluid move. This fluidity of motion and momentum makes aikido look a lot like dance. Aikido is a very powerful dance of self-defense and personal transformation.

      Move from Your Center

      Your center of gravity is slightly below your navel. All movements are aligned with, and originate from, this center. Motion and momentum are initiated from the hip, coordinating all movement as one. An easy way to stay aware of your center is to keep thinking about moving your belt knot first. The knot of your belt, and eventually your hakama, will be placed directly over your center and can be used as a point of reference.

      Become the Center

      When doing circular movements, become the center of the circle, allowing your partner to rotate around you. O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba believed that one should move like a beam of light, fly like lighting, strike like thunder, and whirl in circles around a stable center. Think of your center as the middle point of a circle. Think of your training partner's center as the middle of his or her circle. Standing at a distance from each other, you form an oval. As your training partner approaches or attacks, the distance between the centers lessens. Capturing the center, and becoming the center, leaves your training partner going around you on the periphery of the circle. A slight turn from the center will create a greater distance on the circumference of the circle. This circular motion makes use of both centripetal (inward spinning) and centrifugal (outward spinning) forces. Spin like a top. Hold your body straight and think of your turns as if you were a top spinning at the center of the circle. By becoming the center of the technique, you generate momentum and power.

      Keep Your Training Partner Close

      Do not let your training partner get too far away from you. To maintain control, keep very close contact. If you let your training partner get too far away from you, you will have to reach and overextend yourself beyond your balance point, breaking your own vertical physical alignment horizontally, and losing all your power. To maintain power in your technique, keep your circular movements tight and your training partner close.

      Follow the Radius and Circumference