10 Ways To Be A Better Training Partner

This list is posted on our bulletin board in the Dojo. I have had several requests to post it on the blog page.

1. Avoid Teaching Your Partner: We all perceive and learn differently. Stopping training to "instruct" your partner is not only rude to the Sensei, but is also disruptive to your partner's learning process.

2. Give Your Partner a True and Spirited Attack: You cannot help your partner by delivering a "wimpy" attack. Aikido training replicates actual physical conflict. Though it may be slower than full speed, your attack should be both True (strong grab or accurate strike), and Spirited (well-centered and delivered with good posture and ki).

3. When Nage, Blend with the Speed of Uke's Attack: Training half speed or slower is not a sin, but rather a virtue. However, the benefits of slow training are greatly diminished when nage attempts to rush the technique. Rushing the technique can also result in rough handling, making uke's job much more difficult.

4. When Uke, Relax and Blend with Nage's Technique: After a true and spirited attack is delivered, uke's job shifts to maintenance of the attack and escape. When practicing the "escape," choose the technique (front/back fall, roll or break-fall) best suited and execute it in coordination with nage's technique. Try to time your fall or roll to be neither too early or too late.

5. Respect Your Partner's Training and Reasons for Training: Our reasons for practicing Aikido are as varied as our body types and athletic abilities. Avoid trying to impose your own reasons for training on your Dojo Brothers and Sisters. Each person has his/her own set of goals and expectations. Acceptance of your partner's goals and abilities creates an atmosphere of harmony both on and off the mat.

6. Protect Your Partner by Making His/Her Safety a Priority: An injured student cannot train effectively. Often even a small injury is enough to convince a student to quit training altogether. Though a Dojo will inevitably experience injured students, it is every person's responsibility to train in a manner that promotes the safety of all persons (not only your partner) on the mat.

7, Senior Students Should Not Expect Junior Students to Train at Their Level: With new people joining the Dojo on a regular basis, it doesn't take long to become senior to somebody. Though Aikido can be confusing and sometimes frustrating, your understanding of the art continues to grow as you train. When you are working with a person who is less experienced, exercise patience and allow your partner to "discover" through a healthy training process.

8. Avoid Competition with Your Training Partner: Aikido training is noncompetitive by nature. In order for both partners to fully benefit from the process, it is important for both partners to engage in a blending of energies and movements. Competition interferes with this process and makes learning more difficult. Additionally, trying to compete with your training partner can cause the training to escalate beyond a safe level.

9. Leave Your Ego Off the Mat: "Nuff said!!"

10. Make Your Partner's Training the Most Important Thing Happening on the Mat: "There is a Japanese parable that explains Heaven and Hell. In this story people are sitting around a huge bowel filled with rice, but are compelled to eat with chopsticks that are much too long for personal use. In Hell, everyone is gaunt and starving because they are only concerned with getting the rice into their own mouths. By contrast, in Heaven everyone is well fed and jolly because they are all merrily feeding one another. Make your partner's training Heaven and yours will be also!!


Please take these to heart. Not only will your training and learning benefit but the Dojo will continue to be the great place it has become.

Yours in Aikido,

Tom, Sensei

DO: Part 2. of Part II

When we talk about "Do" we must necessarily discuss it in terms of the process of leaning. Most martial arts employ technical drills as their principal means of instruction. Karate students, for instance spend much of their training time kicking, punching and blocking. They practice moving up and down the floor combining these techniques to develop impressive offensive skills. Since Aikido is an art that stresses defense, we approach learning differently.

The most apparent difference is that we usually practice in pairs. Both members of the pair take on a different function. One person is the attacker or Uke while the other is the defender or Nage. Both Uke and Nage have specific tasks and responsibilities to perform in order to make the practice fruitful.

The responsibility of Uke is to deliver a true and spirited attack and then receive and blend with the technique that Nage uses as a defense. Uke usually concludes the encounter by taking a fall or roll to escape and make space for the next attack.

Nage has the responsibility of blending with the attack, capturing his/her partner's center of gravity and then executing whatever technique is appropriate.

This is a familiar training scenario for practitioners of Aikido. When both partners execute properly, an affinity develops and both people can learn and refine technique and principles. The engagement between Uke and Nage also creates a mental bond. Both partners feel what is coming and are able to moderate or intensify the training in order to meet their learning needs.

Because there are two people involved, the training experience is more complex than when training alone. If one of the pair fails to train proficiently or honestly then the training of both suffers. For instance, since Aikido training is not competitive the introduction of competition into the paired training depreciates the experience and distracts from training. Also, attempting to train faster or at a higher level than one or both partners are capable impedes the learning process.

Students who engage in paired training are also communicating. Not with words or voice but by movement and gesture. The simple act of bowing at the beginning of a technique is a valuable communication of good will and cooperation. When Nage purposefully shows an opening then he/she is silently indicating readiness for an attack. When the pair is in mid technique each partner is feeling and exchanging energy. This focus and attention result in an enhanced experience.

When paired training is properly executed the result is remarkable. What may appear to an outsider to be dancing or falling for one another is in reality a sophisticated and intricate system of learning. A technique may be initiated by a slow and deliberate attack until both partners are satisfied with the result. Then Uke can attack faster and with more intensity. As the training gradually progresses in spirit students can achieve a cohesion the benefits both.

I like to make the analogy to working with a weight machine. One starts out with light weights and trains until his/her muscles can accommodate more weight. By gradually adding more and more weight to the exercise muscles become stronger.

Aikido practice adds another dimension to strength training. Not only do we develop our physical stature but we develop our mind and spirit at the same time. Our ability to blend with an attack becomes enhanced and our awareness is sharpened.

This is the process of Aikido training. This is another facet of the concept of "DO."

Yours in Aikido,

Tom, Sensei

AI-KI-DO Part II: DO

When we enter the study of Aikido we embark upon a journey. For some the journey is short. For others it lasts a lifetime. Like all journeys it begins with a single step. With every step we take thereafter our lives take on new meaning. This is the "Do" of Aikido.

When we begin our journey the way appears to be long and strewn with obstacles. As we travel down the path we find that the obstacles that are most treacherous are those that are within ourselves. As we surmount and overcome these challenges we find we are changed and that we are changed for the better.

We also discover that the path may not always be clear. There are no signposts. We know that the trail has been blazed by others before us but there are precious few clues to guide us along the way. It is, after all, our way and our path and the footprints of those who preceded us have all too often become worn and hard to follow.

Fortunately we are not alone on the path. Our fellow travelers include our Senseis, our Sempais and our dojo brothers and sisters. We all traverse the same ground. And even though we share common experience we still must make our own way.

Some of us will get lost along the way. A relatively few, who start the journey through Aikido, will make it a lifelong sojourn. Many will stop along the wayside and cease to follow the path. For them, the journey is over. Like a ship that has found a friendly harbor they cease to set sail for further and more exotic ports.

Some will be enticed away from the path and choose to follow an entirely different course. Often this happens when a person looses sight of the ultimate goal and becomes distracted by what may appear, on the surface, to be a more expedient way.

Of course, these analogies only serve to explain our growth in Aikido in the broadest of terms. Like with all arts, there is no end to the knowledge. We can (and should) keep learning as long as we are alive. Our learning experience will always be personal and closely tied to our individual lives. As we continue to practice and learn, it should become apparent that earning the black belt, the technical prowess gained or any of the many benefits of Aikido are not the most cherished goals. The true joy of Aikido is in the process of learning.

To make yet another analogy, a great adventure is not rewarding in its conclusion. It is the experiences and knowledge learned during the course of the adventure that uplifts and edifies. Following the way is the reward.

I encourage all who choose to follow the path set out by O' Sensei to make the most of the experience. There will be magnificent rewards, lifelong friends, and stories to tell. Take the courage to stay on the path. Though you may start with fear and trembling, as you overcome each challenge presented to you, you will become richer in spirit and more fulfilled in your joy of the art of Aikido.

Yours in Aikido,

Tom Sensei