The best Aikidoists know when to throw someone down or when to hold them up.
There is a moment within every technique when our partner momentarily loses their balance and can easily be thrown down. However, there is an interesting bit of human instinct where we try to catch people as they are falling down.
In class, lots of times, when we are supposed to be throwing our partners down, we are unconsciously hold them up. It makes the throw mechanical and ineffective even if we aren’t aware that we are even doing it.
This tendency is reflexive but it’s a good thing and is probably because it demonstrates that the student is a good person and is naturally only “trying to help.” However, this is bad for training because we are supposed to be throwing them down and may never get the sense of what it feels like to break someone’s balance and actually be throwing them. Not only that but this instinct can cause us to get injured as we try to hold them up and end up lifting their body weight. Regardless, the good thing is that, whether we know it or not, we felt the moment when their balance broke. Once we realize we are holding them up, we should try and actively resist this instinct and throw our partner down at that moment. Remember, it is training and throwing someone down in this environment is safe and even warranted in this situation.
Later in our training, we return back to our natural instinct and learn to use it to let our partner down gently. What that means is that not only is there a moment when their balance is broken, and we can use it to make the throw more devastating but there is also a moment and a way to cradle our opponent to make the throw less devastating. What I mean is that there is a right way and right time to ease them down to the ground. This is what makes it Aikido. Most other martial arts cannot moderate the power of the technique, or at least never cultivate the level, to make it gentle or hard depending on the circumstance or desired outcome. Aikidoist train to have the wherewithal to choose how and when to dispatch their opponent.
In Aikido and in Life, we have to know the right moment to catch a person as they are falling. It is a universal truth that everyone suffers and that is why O’Sensei advocated for non-violence. It is part of our training as practitioners of Aikido to know when someone is in need and are falling. Most times, things happen so quickly that there is no time to think and so we have to go by instinct or feel. If we throw when we should be catching, we run the risk of making that person’s situation worse. If we can catch them at just the right moment, perhaps we can save a life. So there is a time to throw a person down and a time to hold them up. The trick is in knowing which is which.
Today’s goal: Try to catch people that are falling but just remember some of them may also need to be thrown down too.
Watch this video to better understand Aikido and self-awareness