Aikido

Aikido is not just a self-defence art. Its philosophy is based on the idea of harmony with the opponent rather than that of conflict with him. The Aikido ideal is not to beat your opponent but to become one, both bodily and spiritually, with the movement and the energy of the latter. This is the reason why it is sometimes called: 'The art of non-resistance', 'The non-agressive martial art'. The name "Aikido" is composed of three kanji: - 'Ai' means harmonization, - 'ki' denotes the spirit and - 'do' shows the way, the road 'Aikido' hence means 'the path for the harmonization of the person with its spirit'.

Aikido was founded by Morihei Ueshiba early in the 20th century and follows an extensive study of armed or unarmed martial systems, representing a qualitative distillate of centuries of Japanese 'martial knowledge'. The Japanese martial art of Aikido is a comprehensive system of 'throw' techniques, 'control' techniques, 'joint locks' and 'hits', enriched with instruction in traditional weapons such as the sword, the knife and the stick.

The goal of the instruction in Aikido is not to create agressive warriors but to improve their wisdom and self-control. The mind is trained to maintain its calm and clarity and prevent fear, anger and lack of trust from affecting the movement of the body negatively. The body becomes the image of the mind. Body and mind work together and this cooperation allows you to react productively, simply and rationally under pressure instead of letting yourselves at the mercy and the control of the circumstances.

So, summing up: neutralization of agressive acts, balance of mind and body, self-confidence and tackling of stress with 'dynamic calm'.