Yondan Essay: The Application of Aikido in Daily Life

by Michael Goodman Sensei, Yondan,
Dojo Cho, Kyushinkan Dojo, Roswell, GA

© 2011 Aikido World Alliance

Aikido is the search for “center,” a point of equanimity. Aikido teaches us to develop a sound physical and emotional base that, while firmly rooted, remains flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances presented by life’s vagaries, whether they be on the mat or outside the dojo. The goal of my aikido practice is to find my own center, blend with any obstacles placed before me, and then move that center to a place where conflict can be resolved.

In many respects, training on the mat presents the easiest opportunity to properly apply these principles. Although a relative newcomer to aikido in comparison to others, sixteen years on the mat seems to have afforded me a certain awareness of my uke’s intentions and an ability to find the point where uke’s center can be moved off-balance and a technique applied. I practice to improve the fluidity and creativity of that process. I also hope to impart to my students something of the joy that can be found in diligent practice: awareness, quiet calm, martial competence, compassion, and the exhilaration of ukemi that teeters on the edge of control.

As my physical condition has deteriorated over the last two years, I have looked deeply toward aikido principles as a source of inspiration to continue forward. How can I function as dojo cho when I am often sidelined by injuries and surgeries? Am I able to nonetheless be of some benefit to my students and contribute to the life of the dojo? In wrestling with these questions, I have been forced to examine my own emotional center, move offline from negativity, and recall aikido’s true purpose of establishing community.

In essence, blend and move forward, tenkan and irimi. Fall down and get up. After I was unexpectedly thrust into the role of dojo cho, I understood I would have new obligations as chief instructor. It soon became apparent, however, that I would also have additional responsibilities: business manager, surrogate father figure, hearer of confessions, facilitator, mediator of student disputes, public relations specialist, liaison to the larger aikido world, and putative role model to others. No doubt, a heady responsibility not to be taken lightly. I would like to think that aikido principles have served me well in this role. I try to recognize the true nature of the energy being presented to me, blend with it, and hopefully redirect it to a healthier place of common understanding.

My life away from the dojo is also colored by aikido. I am a litigator, essentially a warrior hired to resolve disputes that others are unable to resolve on their own. In our enlightened age, trial by combat has been replaced by trial by jury. Elaborate rules of “civil” warfare have replaced the katana. Yet, as with the Bushido code of the samurai, there is a professional code of honor among lawyers. We spar within the rules, jockeying for leverage and victory. Moving to take the center of my opponent and create an area of imbalance has helped me with negotiation strategy, mediation, and trial. More often than not, it has helped me find common ground with my adversary. Annihilation of the opponent is neither necessary nor desirable.

Above all else, I am a husband and father. All families face challenges; we have had our share. Aikido principles have helped me relate to my sons from a more compassionate center, to understand their concerns and fears from their perspective. As with tenkan, sometimes just turning and facing the same direction together can solve what at first appeared to be an insurmountable problem. I must confess, however, that I have yet to figure out how to move my wife off-center; perhaps spouses are impervious to aikido principles.

This essay requirement should be renamed “Aikido IS Daily Life” because I can think of no aspect of my life that has not been touched by aikido. The art has provided me with a stillness that comes from physical assuredness and a more fully developed sense of both self and harmony with others.

Source:
A I K I TA I S O
 F a l l 2 011 N e w s l e t t e r 

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