Apple Pie Aikido

I made the apple pie in this picture. When it was finished I had to laugh. It looks so good with that perfect, flaky, whole wheat pastry crust. Unfortunately, I used apple slices that had been too long in the freezer. The pie was inedible!

Sensei uses this metaphor to describe technique. He'll throw someone with big, flamboyant movements, with his arms and fingers extended and a mean look on his face. Then he does the same thing, only this time he tells uke to resist. Impossible! The technique looks great until uke resists, and then we see that it's ineffective. Just like the apple pie, beautiful, but not what it seems.

Then Sensei will do the technique again, only without the showmanship: more relaxed, with correct internal feeling. Amazingly powerful. No one can resist. And he can throw hard or soft, throwing large, flexible and fast people, or small, inexperienced beginners, all with the same effect. I've watched this in person, I've watched on videotape, I've even slowed the tape down to look frame by frame. It's impossible to see the true source of power because it's internal. You can only see the effect on uke. Just like the pie, you can't tell by looking at it whether it will taste good or not.

Kokikai aikido is a self-defense method, not a sport. We don't get points for having our arm extended just so, or for proper foot placement. The way a technique looks is important in that a beautiful technique may demonstrate that nage has more control and is more calm. But beauty is no good all by itself. A delicious apple pie is even better to eat if it's beautiful to look at. But if you had to choose between yummy and ugly, or gorgeous and tasteless, which would you choose?

It seems obvious, but it's very hard to remember when we practice. It is so easy to focus on how something looks. Which way to turn the hand, which foot steps first. Of course these things are important in a functional way. Just like the fact that the pie crust has to be made properly to hold the apples. But they mean nothing without the correct feeling. Absolutely nothing. Inedible apple pie = ineffective technique = a waste of time.

You would think that after many years of baking, I would know this. I knew those apples had freezer burn before I made the pie. But I wanted to believe that cooking would make them taste better. Please don't make the same mistake in your aikido practice.