Adopt ‘Kaizen’ Approach When You Practice Aikido
First of all, you may wonder what is ‘Kaizen’ if you have never heard this word before. Well, I never heard this word too until I recently read a book about Toyota (yes car manufacturer – as I have a penchant and interest into cars, as some may have noticed) as a friend of mine, recommended I should read this book to help me understand their success and how they have reached this level as being one of the largest car manufacturers in the world (biggest until end of 2019 and was taken over by Tesla since 2020 as a matter of fact).
The word Kaizen did appear quite frequently in this book and it means to seek constant improvement, by adopting a certain philosophy and mindset to improve making better cars and without stocking unnecessarily and become extremely efficient in building and assembling all parts to build cars as quickly as possible and sell them meeting the customer demands.
In the context of Aikido, I do believe the word ‘Kaizen’ is a brilliant word to retain for our learning of Aikido, to improve our techniques, making them strong & effective, how to minimise our footwork by conserving our energy without wasting it, performing a beautiful Aikido that catches people’s eyes with perfect Awase (blending in Japanese), so that we feel a strong connection between Tori and Uke forming without seeing a delay between action and reaction. A perfect blend where Tori is leading the situation maintaining the upper hand.
To me, this ‘Kaizen’ approach is very helpful, extremely important and vital if we want to improve our Aikido deeply.
The reality is that Aikido is very difficult to perform and takes years to master. If we speak about Awase for now, we know that this perfect blend is also equally hard to achieve, as we will fail to do good Awase ie action reaction mode for the first few years, sometimes, we may feel ‘yes I have found it’ and then we lose a bit of it again but with consistent practice over the years, the Awase does sharpen and gets better.
To make this even more complicated, the blending with one partner is not just the end goal but to be able to move away from the starting point so that you can be in a better situation to deal with multiple attackers.
The Kaizen approach remains ever so strong, as you may be asking yourself: am I blending enough, or am I moving with my hips strong enough or am I using my arms or is my posture affected as a result of my turning or trying to bring my partner down?
The important thing, as I see it, is to be continuously aware that your Aikido is on the evolution path or improving continuously providing you allow it to progress. If you lose the Kaizen approach, then you risk reaching a point where your Aikido will stagnate at the point when you stopped using Kaizen or stop learning the Art with fresh beginner’s eyes.
Sadly, I have seen some long-term practitioners who have been practicing Aikido for years and years and yet their Aikido has not vastly improved much over these years.
If you are a beginner, you will surely progress with Aikido or any other Martial art over a period of time by attending the sessions on regular basis because you will have the desire to progress – some will progress quicker than others and that is ok, as Aikido is not a competitive Martial art. You progress at your own pace whenever you can join any session.
I would add that it is important when you practice Aikido, that you should do so feeling happy and enjoying every class you attend (like I have been feeling for the past 32 years doing Aikido).
If you retain this feeling of enjoyment, you will be in your best element to progress.
So, to me it is clear that Kaizen approach should always be retained especially when you become an advanced Aikidoka. Some Aikidokas will fall into this common trap (if I may say) that when they reach the Shodan level (black belt) they may feel that they have achieved and ‘mastered’ Aikido and we all get this feeling after working so hard to get there. I suppose we believe we have become an expert (for a short moment).
Some may also admit that they had practiced all this far only to get the black belt and sadly choose to ‘stop’ practicing Aikido because their goal was achieved.
To be frank with you that when we become Shodan (1st degree black belt) we all feel like have climbed a huge mountain (that appeared impossible to get when we first started), only to discover in Aikido (and all other Martial Arts) that there is new mountain that is revealed to us and that the Shodan level is only the beginning to a new level ahead.
To me, it is what motivates me, knowing that there is this unlimited way to progress and it is up to us how far we wish to go.
To best describe how I live with Aikido is identical to brushing my teeth in the morning and evening daily. If you want to keep your teeth in good health, we brush our teeth. So to keep things relatively simple, my philosophy with Aikido is to adopt Kaizen daily, ‘like a step at a time’ with the attitude that I will do my best today and see how far I can go and continuously improve on my Aikido bit by bit, then I am confident that some progress should emerge to be noticed (well, I would like to think so!).
The truth is that by maintaining this Kaizen attitude daily, not only helps me and my Aikido but also has additional benefits beyond my practice, as it helps me as an individual to overcome daily challenges and see how I can cope with daily events and situations with my work, private life etc.
Aikido has this amazing ability to help ourselves. Indeed, when we practice Aikido techniques on the mats and apply specific principles with circles, triangles, square and spirals, these movements do affect us, our mind and spirit for the better, so our behavioural attitude change how we respond to difficult situation, helping us ‘stay calm and carry on’ spirit, finding a positive outcome that will provide all parties a win-win situation (not always possible but we will surely be trying our best to find this ideal solution). Aikido has this ability to subconsciously help us.
That is why, I believe, for as long as I live, in continuing practicing Aikido as it has helped me tremendously building who I am today.
I also believe that Aikido has a way to keep us active and stay in tune with our body, mind and spirit that whenever we get old, we continue to believe we can practice Aikido and therefore our mind beats our age limit.
We are witnessing so many of our senior Instructors who are over 60 or even over 70 still practicing as if age has no limit – Aikido helps them maintain their spirit sharp. Some may practice over forms such as Yoga, meditation but no doubt that Aikido has given them the strength and will power to do such disciplines.
To me, it is clear that the Kaizen approach is in them and I cannot help but admire their passion and spirit that continues to thrive and learn Aikido. So from watching our senior Instructors, I cannot help but continue with my burning desire to practice Aikido with Kaizen approach…