The best Aikidoist understands leverage.
In Aikido, the outcome depends on where and when we apply leverage but also in our intention. In Japanese, “to leverage one’s skills or abilities” is ikasu (生かす).
To study Aikido is to become aware. Not just aware of our surroundings and others but to become self-aware. We need to be aware to the point that we can look into our training partners eyes and know just how much to throw them or just how hard to attack them. We also need to be self-aware enough to be cognizant of not only what we are doing, but also why we are doing it. Being aware is a subtle knowing which enables us to enhance the quality of not only other people’s training but also enhance the quality of their lives.
Within every technique there are several mechanisms which make the technique “work.” When we are new to Aikido, we use a lot of physical strength in our upper bodies to make the techniques work. As we become more experienced, we find ways to “work smarter not harder.” The trick is in knowing one from the other.
For instance, when we want kotegaeshi to work, we can rely upon pain compliance and mechanically facilitate the throw by cranking the other person’s wrist until we get what we want. This mechanical breaking of a person’s balance to facilitate a throw or technique is referred to as kuzushi (崩し) and is what we see in other arts like Judo or Karate. Kuzushi literally translates to mean “to break,” “to pull down,” or “to destroy.” Later on in our Aikido training, our technique becomes more sophisticated and we try and transcend this physical idea of pushing, or pulling and try to cultivate something called aiki (合氣). On the outside aiki looks like we upend a person’s balance by how we move and how they react to our movement, but it is more complicated than that. Within aiki there are also aspects of timing, reaction, and spacing but also in what we think and how we make them think.
It is important we strive for aiki because on a certain level kuzushi requires us to destroy our opponents. This is not necessarily bad - it depends on where we are in our development. If all we are concerned with is effectiveness and beating people up, then kuzushi is all we need. If we are trying to understand O’Sensei’s philosophy of non-violence, then we need to understand not only how to move but also how to think which doesn’t lead to their destruction. Interestingly, when we look deeper into the word for to leverage or ikasu, it can also mean “to let live,” “to keep alive,” and “to bring back to life.” With that understanding we can posit that to leverage one’s skill is to save another’s life.
Most times in Life and in Aikido, we don’t even realize that we are engaging in forms of subtle self-destruction with the way we eat, with the way we live our lives, or how we treat one another on the mat to name just a few. Philosophically, the other does not exist and thus intentionally hurting others is a form of self-destruction because to destroy others is to destroy ourselves. Realizing this, the best Aikidoists understand that leverage depends on what we want the outcome to be.
Today’s goal: Leverage your skills to be the light not the darkness in other people’s lives.