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
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
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