For as long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by the world of Martial Arts. At the age of 10, like many children of my generation, I would go with my brother and a few of our friends to watch Bruce Lee movies at a cinema near our house. Then came the teenage years; all pumped up by those movies, decided to practice Karate, which I found exciting, active and cool. But, there was something missing.
A few years later I came to know about a less famous art through the prolific movies of Steven Seagal (classics like Under Siege, Above the Law, and so many more), and I remember thinking to myself, It looks cool being able to beat up attackers and break their bones! . At the time of course, I didn t know what Martial Art I was watching, as it was not yet popular in Egypt.
After I moved to Dubai, I learned that this Martial Art was called Aikido . Not really understanding much about it then, I joined a Dojo for practice, trying to imitate the coolness I saw in those movies. When I started, all I wanted to do was mimic the techniques as I imagined them to be; I was convinced I was doing it right. While technically I might have been, there was still something missing. I continued my training for a year, but soon got busy with life and put the practice on hold – at least for a while.
Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment.
Morihei Ueshiba
The word itself is derived from three Japanese words; Ai (Unify or Join), Ki (Spirit or Energy) and Do (Path or Way), often referred to as, The way of harmonious spirit . Aikido was established in the 1920s through the 1930s by Morihei Usheiba, who was inspired by older marital arts. Like every other martial art, its primary goal is self-defense, but what intrigued me the most about Aikido was that even though it has many techniques that can be easily damaging or even fatal, you have the option to (in fact are encouraged to) fully control the attacker and end the attack with both yours and the attacker s safety in mind. The way to achieve this was the biggest challenge I faced, because not only did I have to learn not to resist an attack, but in some cases even invite it!
Having previously practiced Karate, the idea of not resisting the attack with blocks, punches and trying to overpower the attacker was simply not realistic. I even found it against my own innate survival instinct. It took me over a year of continuous practice just to learn to let go of the urge to resist and to stop focusing on the details of the attack and to look at the bigger picture. As my Sensei would say “Stop looking at the knife, it is not the knife that is attacking you”.
After a while, I started to look at things differently. I began applying this to my daily life, which helped me to maintain my own personal balance. After all, why resist when you can control? Why cause damage when you can end conflicts without losses to both sides? Some of my friends would say, “You?! Not resisting? We just can t see that happening” and to those I say “You didn t see me before, and it is still a work in progress towards a better me”.
