Kotsu Kotsu

Just a Few of the Strong Women in Kokikai Aikido Women are some of the strongest practitioners in my aikido school.  In Kokikai Aikido we train to practice with "minimum effort for maximum effect." We see proof in every class that using less muscle is  more effective . And yet, when faced with a challenge, most people fall back on muscle power. Why women are strong in Kokikai: Women take self-defense seriously. To cite just one statistic, nearly 75% of family violence victims are female,  (while nearly 75% of family violence perpetrators are male). Learning to defend ourselves against a strong male attacker is real-world stuff. Women are not naturally endowed with a great deal of muscle strength, therefore we don't spend years of training learning how not to use muscle. Women don't tend to fall back on using muscle when the technique doesn't work. We know muscle won't work. Women therefore address the principle of "relax progres...

Any of these women can walk you to your car. The other night as I left a music jam session after 10pm, I was asked if I needed an escort to my car. I reminded the guy who asked that I have an advanced martial arts degree. He looked like that wasn't a very convincing assurance of my ability to defend myself. I joked, "If you would like, I can walk with you to your car and protect you." I was bothered by this interaction. It was as if 18 years of training was unimportant when faced with a difference in gender. I have no beef with this guy personally. His response was based on social conditioning; it is not normative to imagine a woman could protect herself better than a man, or that she could protect him . But the fact is, someone who is well-trained in martial arts is more likely to have a fast and appropriate reaction to danger than someone who is not. And successful self defense simply does not depend on superior physical strength. For example: is physical str...

Yesterday I taught a seminar for women students at Aikido Kokikai of NYC . It was wonderful to work with these strong women who are so enthusiastic about their practice! I felt honored to teach them. We worked on ways that women can become more responsive and strong partners so they can feel comfortable working with partners of any size and strength. We also talked about ways to make our aikido practice "our own," for example by finding metaphors and ways to visualize ideas in practice that are more feminine. (My first idea for a feminine metaphor was the fembots from Austin Powers , but we decided this might be too racy for some. OK, it's just a joke, but they did have to have great posture in order to be able to aim correctly!) Posture was another topic of the seminar, and all of us experienced how small changes in posture can make a big difference in our ability to respond to an attack. It was fun to practice with a group of women, although essentially I didn...

When I mention to others that I teach aikido I get a variety of reactions, most of which are based on misconceptions. Some seem very confused, as if they can't put this idea together with the person they know. Perhaps it's because most people think of martial artists as young, muscular, and male, and I am none of these. Yet I have been practicing Kokikai Aikido for over 16 years and have been teaching for 8 years. Misconception 1 . I bet you could kick my ass. Reality: It would never occur to me. In practicing aikido I have learned not to react to anything that is not a threat. Misconception 2 . It doesn't make sense for a person who is committed to more peaceful interaction to be involved in a martial art. Reality:  Aikido is an ethical form of self-defense. In Kokikai Aikido, we practice that the greater the threat, the more we relax. This enables us an infinite amount of flexibility, even right in the middle of the response to an attack. I've heard this story...