Aikido Centrum Delft

The reason I started practicing aikido is very simple: I got beaten down at the streets at night. I vowed never to let this happen again this easily, so I started practicing the martial arts. The memory of this incident is vague, so it isn't a motivation anymore to train. Then why do I practice aikido? The most honest answer I can give is, because I 'just' do it. Aikido doesn't have competitions, which gives room for you to just practice the art as you are, amongst a group of very kind people. The practice gives insight into the workings of yourself and others; insight in yourself because the practice really makes clear what goes on in your mind and body, insight in others because the defender (tori) and attacker (uke) have a complex interplay. Don't be mistaken: Aikido is difficult and hard work, nonetheless it's very satisfying to practice.

I recently started taking aikido classes, driven by nothing but curiosity. I have some experience with other martial arts, that is, judo and jiu jitsu, and besides the good workout I like the improvement of proprioception, motor skills and self control. No single budo discipline stands on its own; the great masters practiced under several senseis of various disciplines and styles, allowing them to create their own philosophies and systems of self defence. That’s how aikido came to be as well. I guess I like to do things the old-fashioned way; practice form first, underlying principles and philosophy will come as you progress. This led me to this new budo adventure called aikido.

Pure chance had me find an article on aikido about ten years ago and yet I still remember an anecdote from it as if I had read it yesterday. In it a little girl prevents a subway fight by showing a true and honest interest in what the lout has got to say. The way she takes control over the situation taught an experienced aikidoka who witnessed the scene, as was put in his own words, one of his greatest lessons in aikido. To be honest, I do not know if this is true or if it even comes remotely close to what the article was actually about. What I am becoming increasingly aware of though is that the lessons aikido can teach us go far beyond the two hour practice sessions and its locking techniques. The best thing though is, that the practice sessions are, apart from all that life-changing-and-becoming-superman-business (it is a fact that every aikidoka is required to fly from his or her 4th Dan onward), a truck load of fun.

The people practising aikido are so mind-bogglingly diverse in age, shape, gender and number of times they run back into the kitchen just to find out that they completely forgot what they came here for, that there is no way of studying it without learning to sense the partner and actually make sense of him, her or as a matter of being 'it'. Very costly studies show that people who can identify themselves individually as being part of a group and its environment are more likely to create a better world and score high on peer reviews.

If all this does not totally make you want to join, please read it again until you do. If it does totally make you want to join, consider that it has been written by somebody who studies the mysterious ways of aikido for only half a year now and realizes with almost every session how personal the lessons are. So, while we will enjoy practising aikido together, it might mean something different to each of us. I am looking forward to meet you.

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