Aikido Effectiveness

I came across an extremely dedicated Aikido instructor who gave up Aikido after 14 years. He praises Aikido’s beauty, philosophy, grace and fitness. But its effectiveness? One day, he “woke up” and realized through testing that no matter its positive qualities, Aikido just didn’t work as a self-defense system.

It’s easy to get caught in the daily dance of tasks; it’s harder to step back and discover what is truly effective. Our challenge is to look at data / reality clearly, no matter how long we have spent at something. The time we devote to something – a software project for example – doesn’t matter at all. In fact, we are more likely to be blinded to that which we are closest to.

There is effectiveness and Aikido effectiveness: something that works and something that looks like it works. Every day, we have to ask ourselves which path we’re following.