Morihei Ueshiba synthesized his own martial arts studies, religious beliefs and philosophy into the discipline of Aikido. The idea behind Aikido is to be able to defend yourself fully, but avoid injuring your opponent. It uses your attacker’s energy and momentum to strengthen your own moves, so that very little strength is actually required from you.
Aikido is highly spiritual or philosophical. It eschews brute force, tricks and deceptions, and focuses on honing the will until it becomes your most powerful weapon. Aikido also teaches practitioners to find harmony with nature and the universe by unifying their minds with their bodies.
The movements in Aikido are circular, because circular movements can protect one from being damaged by collision with an opposing force. The center one forms in Aikido movements must have a “firm center”, which is achieved not by any particular movement or physical discipline, but by discipline of the mind – what its founder referred to as clarity of mind and body. The state of mind one must enter is one of intense focus and calm directed toward one purpose and one purpose only.
Aikido is intended to be a practical defensive discipline as well as a classroom exercise. For this reason, teachers work not only to help students find that clarity of mind and body in the gym, but also outside it when facing dangerous circumstances. To this purpose, students are taught breathing techniques designed to invoke the sense of calm clarity they have experienced in the gym anywhere else they may go, under any circumstances.
