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Aikido Dojo San Francisco Philosophy

By Roger Williams


When it comes to different martial arts, it's true that most of them try to balance body and mind, some more efficiently than others. They all thrive to self-improvement and provide excellent defense techniques as well. All eastern techniques have this spiritual part within, and it would be hard to imagine them without it.

They require balanced mind and dedication, as well as strength and trainings, and offer a wide range of self-improvements you can only benefit from. Among other popular martial arts, one is especially interesting. If you visit one Aikido Dojo San Francisco center, you may find out more about it and understand why it deserves a special attention.

The name itself, Aikido, consists of three different words. The first one, 'Ai' stands for harmony. 'Ki' means spirit, but it also means energy, while 'do' stands for the path, or the way. There are different translations of this word, but it is really harmonious and spiritual path, or the way of spirit and harmony. In any case, you will find appealing outlook, great self-defense techniques and many other things there.

This is, actually, the youngest of the traditional Japanese martial arts. It was founded by The Great Teacher, or O-Sensei, Morihel Ueshiba. He was an expert in various other traditional Japanese discipline, staring with Jujitsu, Kenjutsu and Sojitsu. But, he was also really interested in religion and spiritual part of the training.

O-Sensei's flawless technique proved to be more powerful than mere strength, and his legacy of non-violence made him not only popular, but also highly appreciated. His methods are based on defense without harming your attacker, and his philosophy is based on harmonizing your movements with the movements of the universe.

You don't have to be young, strong and especially fit to start practicing this technique. The training itself will be beneficial in so many ways, starting with physical strength improvement, as well as the improvement of your flexibility, balance, concentration and coordination, and even significant improvement of your general health condition, especially your cardiovascular health.

And another thing. This type of balanced training have a great impact on your self-confidence, conditioning your mind, body and spirit, and, as a result, you will start feeling better in your own skin, finding your own life path. If you are primarily interested in building strength and fighting with others, this might not be something for you.

If you compare Aikido with other martial arts, the first thing you may notice is that the main goal is to defend yourself without causing injuries to your attacker. The movements are circular, and, since most attacks are basically linear, this techniques kind of harmonizes with these attacks, using arm pins and wrist locks, for example, to unbalance the attacker, avoiding direct confrontation.

Well, Aikido is certainly the true Budo. This extraordinary martial art unites Samurai battle tactics, ancient Japanese martial arts techniques and harmonizing your body and mind. O-Sensei said the secret is in harmonizing with the universe. He also said that the real victory is the one over oneself, and this is probably the main principle of his philosophy.




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