What is Aikido? Beginner Guidelines and FAQ

Reading from the book entitled Best Aikido. The Fundamentals by Kisshomaru and Moriteru Ueshiba. (2002 p.14-19) - Captured Live on Ustream at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/beauty-and-aikido

Answers to questions like:

• Why are there no contests in aikido?

• Will aikido make me strong?

• Is physical condition such as weight training necessary for aikido?

• What is the nature of ki in aikido? Is it the same as chi employed in Chinese martial arts?

• When I watch people practicing aikido they seem to spin around like tops. Can such a movement really be efficient as a martial art technique?

• During aikido training how much should we resist against the application of a technique?

• Isn't it a problem to remember so many techniques? (for more about aikido terms check out my two other blog posts The Aikido Effect and to have just a bit of fun Basic Terms you Need to Know to Survive Aikido

• What is the aikido approach to etiquette? (for more about dojo ettiquette here)

• What is the most important relation between aikido training and everyday life?

Me... Two Years Ago

After the first aikido training I was really exhausted and posted a panicked question on YAHOO Answers. Thinking back I am a bit ashamed of my being so scared, but it was somehow natural. I am writing this post to all of you who are not sure if you should start aikido, or you just started and wonder what it will be like. Read the answers, most of them are really inspiring! If I were to answer my question to myself now, it would be something like this:

It is natural to feel a bit uncomfortable at the beginning, as you don't know the people and everything is new. It is also normal to feel really exhausted after a training in the first couple of month. I would add to that that I still sometimes have stiffness in my muscles it I don't train for a week for some reason and get back to a powerful training. I never used pain killers, because I was always able to live with the pain for two, three days. I somehow see it comforting because it means your muscles are getting stronger. Most of the time when I sit in the office and my muscles hurt, I am glad that it is not my back hurting and being tensed as before but a healthy kind of pain, that soon goes away. In time you will find a completely different state of mind after trainings. A sort of lightness of mind and body.