At the end of class I asked if there were any questions. A new student to aikido raised his hand and I asked what his question was. Like all new students in their first class they want to know what I would do if they were to try and punch me. Actually this is the kind of question that is asked by every new aikido student sometime when first starting out in their training.
My answer was to ask the student to start their training diary. Write this question down in their aikido diary so they can go back and answer it themselves. I promised that if the student continued to train in the lessons that are given in class you will learn the answer to that question and many more without asking. The lessons that are given at the time a student is learning them sometimes are hard to comprehend all their uses.
The lesson in my answer was to learn aikido and all those kinds of “What if?” questions about what to do when a certain situation should arise will come with time on the mat. Don’t be in a rush when learning; understand that there are way too many things in play while learning budo.
Swederska sensei
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