Practise Aikido in Daily Life to Fast-Track Your Skills

Many aikido students, just like everyone else, are busy people, and may not have the time to go to an Aikido dojo every day. This often reduces their ability to learn the art down to a couple of times a week. Aikido training a few times a week is a rather slow process, when it comes to developing real aikido skills.

You see... If a class is 2 hours long, the first 20-30 minutes is taken up by warm-ups and stretching to prepare your mind and body for Aikido training. Then you may cover a series of basic movements for 30 minutes, to remind you of the correct attitude, mindset and form. Maybe another 30 minutes, is spent covering several basic and advanced techniques. After a small amount of lecturing on theory... the class is over.

You must have noticed that in each class you are taking a long time just to reach the skill level you were at in previous classes. Once this level is reached you can then develop further. BUT it takes almost half a class to return to where you left off each time, so how can you possibly develop good Aikido skills with the little time left.

It can't be done! At least not quickly. This is why it takes so long to reach Dan grade level in Aikido.

Is there an easier way?... you bet there is! The way to develop your Aikido training skills fast, and take your development to a whole new level, is to practise Aikido in daily life. A little at a time, or for best effect, a few hours, that moves you quickly forward to peak levels of skill.

You can easily work on the form, postures or movements at home (make sure there is enough space). A lot of what you learn in Aikido can be practised without your instructor. Of course, an instructor is definitely necessary to give you tips and feedback on techniques specifically, and also about your direction and progress etc.

But YOU can work on many of the aspects of the art, at home, on your own or with a partner just when it suits you. Now don't go throwing each other around without a safe environment and teacher present. But, you can practise your moves slowly, work through them, and think about them. This is the best way of developing your skills fast!

Even better, is to work on using the theory and principles of Aikido in your everyday life. If you are working on the essence of Aikido in daily life, you will learn at a much faster speed! Think about different aspects of the art, do some research, and imagine the new you with great skills and understanding.

You can either change your lifestyle around drastically and just go for it. Or you can introduce aikido into your day, a little at a time... its your choice, but it can be done. There are several key tools, and tips to get the most out of your training...

How to choose an aikido instructor, best ways to focus your mind for training, principles of Aikido - the real key to effective techniques, how to prevent and treat Aikido training injuries, how to avoid many of the training pitfalls that slow you down, and a lot more... all covered in my Aikido Success Blueprint.

I recommend that you study the art of aikido on and off the training mat for the very best results.

Tony Wilden
Aikido Health Centre

Tony Wilden has been studying health and spirituality for over 30 years, and practising Aikido since 1987. He founded the Arun Aikido Club in West Sussex UK in 1992, and has given 1000's of health treatments. He offers Aikido, Aiki principles, self defence, and pressure points to individuals and small groups.

An Introduction To Aikido

There’s no mistaken the fact that Aikido is one of the best and most popular martial art in the United States today.  The art of Aikido is best associated with actor Steven Seagal, who made it even more popular with his movies.  Aikido is rich and history in tradition, an art that originally started in Japan back in the 1940s.

Aikido’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba, was born on December 14, 1883.  As he was growing up in modern Japan, Ueshiba witnessed the local thugs vandalize his father.  The young boy decided that he would make himself strong in order to seek revenge against the thugs.  Ueshiba was strong willed, and devoted every waking moment to physical training and martial arts.

He received a lot of certificates in jujitsu, spear fighting, and fencing.  Even though he was very impressive with his abilities, he found himself not happy with his skills.  He knew that there was more to it, and began to look into religion, hoping that he would find a greater significance with life - pursuing martial arts all the while.

Ueshiba founded the martial art of Aikido by combining both his religious beliefs and his training in martial arts.  At that time, the style was known as aikibudo, it wasn’t until 1942 that he decided to go with the name Aikido.  The style was quite different indeed, incorporating several different styles of jujitsu, aiki-jujitsu, and spear and sword fighting techniques as well.

Even though a lot of us think of Aikido as the ultimate martial art, it is an art that is based on religion and harmony.  Aikido uses joint locks, weight manipulation, and throws to achieve it’s purpose.  The martial art is very effective, which were the intentions of Ueshiba from the start.  Aikido consists of many techniques, and it is the result of Ueshiba’s creative innovation.

Aside from what many think, there really is no unified belief or philosophy in the martial art of Aikido.  While Aikido is indeed rich in heritage and religion, it believes in harmony and peace of the spirit.  By achieving a higher spiritual power, Ueshiba has always believed that the human body is capable of anything.  Even though he wanted revenge, he still stated that Aikido wasn’t about fighting, but rather a way to reconcile with the world and make every human being on giant family.

Over the years, Aikido was introduced in America with amazing results.  Steven Seagal is by far the most popular, showing the world the power and harmony of Aikido through his many movies.  There are a lot of martial arts dojo’s around North America that offer Aikido to study, possibly even some in your area.  Not only will Aikido teach you self defense, but it will also teach you harmony of the spirit and how to find inner peace as well.