Opening up to possibilities

One of the hardest things to do is to open up in the face of an attack. It feels counter-intutitive. All of one's defensive mechanisms scream in protest at the impending doom. And yet that is often what aikido demands of one - to step into the space before that attack is complete, to face it and to work with it.
Doing so requires that you open yourself to the possibility of being hit, of being hurt. And therein lies the difficulty. None of us wants to be hurt.

And so often, as the one leading the class I have demonstrated how to execute ikkyo against shomen-uchi, how to enter directly under the attack, how to lead it upwards in a spiral so as not to clash.. And over and over I have exhorted students to open up, to enter fully with the body (the true meaning of irimi)...
But recently I realised that in order to open up there has to be a willingness to open up; that the hard work lay in the moment before the opening up. The challenge is not so much in executing the technique, but in the moment before - within ourselves.

The difficulty with holding back, of not engaging fully is precisely that - you do not engage fully. Very often I see students' posture shift completely as they over-extend their arms while retracting their centre in an instinctively defensive mechanism. So too in life when we fail to open up, we fail to engage fully - and we rob both ourselves and the other person of the full benefit and beauty of that engagement.

So next time on the mat, become mindful of the quality and nature of your interaction with uke and check that you are in fact fully present. And in your day-to-day dealings with people, explore what it feels like to open up - and the depth and quality that brings to your engagements and your relationships.

See you on the tatami soon....