Hikari Aikido Dojo

As the individual starts the training process, they will have many questions and ideas about what they are experiencing.  Since what we practice is a primarily a kinesthetic art a lot of the practitioners might experience difficulty in moving especially in some of the throws and rolls they are asked to perform.

This is where from the beginning of each class they will be asked to practice the art of Ukemi or falling ways.  This will involve them totally as they can’t be thinking about something outside of class while they are rolling across the mat or being thrown onto the mat.

Ukemi is the foundation of any of the martial arts that involve throwing and falling.  Ukemi practice helps preserve us for many years not only in class but outside of class.  Many practitioners over the years, myself included, have taken falls on concrete, downstairs and a variety of other options that the world seems to provide for us to learn our lessons about being aware of our environment and possibly avoiding these sometimes traumatic episodes.  Sometimes the nature of our world at present can be many times more hazardous than being in a fight.

Our next step in the training process is the learning of kata(training forms).  We have many different katas which were taught to us by our predecessors from Japan.  These katas are helping us to understand what possibly might occur in our contact with violence in the real world.

In a lot of ways they are pure concept about what could be involved in a fight, since we don’t know when or if these scenarios might present themselves.  The new practitioner will see and practice a variety of kata in each class that is designed to help them in their progress of understanding and so start the integration process that will be part of the foundation for their Aikido learning process.

The next step in the integration process is very important as are the ones previously mentioned.  The introduction of Principle into the training process can be very interesting and  profound for the practitioner.  For example, in Aikido training we ask the practitioner to move off the line of the attack continuously for all practice of kata.  This one Principle can save one from many devastating events whether they be fight oriented or again out in the nature of the world, ex. move offline from in front of a moving car.  Simple example, could save your life or keep you from getting seriously injured.

Other examples of Principle include eye contact, unbendable arm, same speed, just to name a few.  As the weeks of involvement accumulate we are asking the practitioner to start combining the ukemi, kata, and principles to start feeling what is happening as they are being asked to deal with someone attacking them.  This can bring about many revealing insights into what the person thinks they have learned as adverse to what they really have learned.  We will be adding more articles to the site about the benefits of learning Aikido and how it may be applied to your daily life.

Thank you, Will Gable

Please come and join us as we practice the Art of Aikido with our growing family of practitioners.

In this time of uncertainty in our society we have a high level of civil unrest, we all need some security in all levels of our lives whether it be physical, emotional or financial.  Most people try to be secure in their person by locking their doors either at business or home in hopes that they can control any unwanted elements intruding into their lives.

The truth is we can neither predict when, where or if these intrusions will happen to us.  Most people don’t want to think about these things and go along unaware that they are involved in a world that can and will at times produce violent acts towards them and their loved ones.

There are no sure answers for any of these possible incidences but one can take steps that can allow one the self-control, self-awareness, and self-confidence to deal effectively with situations that intrude into our daily lives, be it physical, emotional, or mental assault.

At the Hikari Aikido Dojo we teach a system of pure self defense based on the attackers energy being used against them, how to effectively deal with the situation to a conclusion, how to use a total approach where one leaves the situation as quickly as possible after effecting an appropriate move or technique to evade the oncoming energy of the attack.

Entering the process of training in Aikido we guide the individual into specific, focused, and principled disciplines that require that the person be able to adapt to a different perspective about self defense than they may have considered previously.  Some individuals may have had numerous encounters in their life and some individuals may have never had any self defense possibilities arise.

With either possibility the individual is educated in the formal structure of the requirements to learn the foundations of the art through the structured classes through the ukemi lessons, kata, principles and randori and apply the lessons in each class session along with trained practitioners. All new individuals are received with genuine openess and respect for their life experience.  Also, see Aikido for Modern Society  II and Aikido Essay III.

Thank you, Will Gable

We are initiating the new website for Hikari Aikido Dojo.  We were down for a few weeks from technical difficulties.  Our contact phone numbers are 405-495-8128/405-921-6457.    Our formal school hours are Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:30PM, and Saturday 11:30AMto1:30PM. Please contact me, Will Gable at either of the above posted numbers.