Putting Aikido Students in the Spotlight (Drink after Keiko #4)
Teaching Aikido with Attention on the Student, not the Teacher
In April, Vanda and I spent three days in Rome, Italy. We had a marvelous time, being in the eternal city, meeting with our aikido friends Paolo and Flavia, enjoying food and wine. As we realized during our stay, we dedicated most of our time to Italian baroque: paintings, sculptures, and architecture.
We saw around 30 original paintings by Caravaggio and several buildings created by Francesco Borromini. You may not know their names or work, but don’t worry; I’m not going to lecture you.
But there’s one interesting point I’ve noticed about these two artists: they both put normal people in the spotlight instead of authorities or celebrities.
The figures in Caravaggio’s paintings, even the most famous ones like Jesus or saints, have faces and gestures of common people, full of life and emotions. And there’s a church designed by Borromini where, through its beautiful baroque dome, light falls more generously on the people in the nave than on the altar itself. Whether intentional or not, it subtly shifts attention from the clergy to the congregation.
In their time, such an approach was not only extraordinary — it bordered on scandalous. Art was meant to be a tool of propaganda for the powerful, not a mirror of ordinary life.
It Should Be the Same in Aikido
I believe that we, Aikido teachers, can be inspired by this approach.
When we teach, we should put the experience of our students in the spotlight, not ourselves or the mysterious teachers from the past.
Yes, I agree—that won’t make us more famous or adored. On the other hand, our work is to let the students explore and grow. We should be guides, not celebrated gurus.
As much as I can, I try to do it like this:
When I practice with other people, I rarely “educate” them by telling them what they should do. I try to give them an opportunity to practice what was shown by the teacher.
When I teach in a class or seminar, I design the practice so that students can feel different parts of their bodies and qualities of their minds in the present moment.
When I write or speak about Aikido, I try to point out things that we can experience in our daily practice or life, not some noble truths about the Universe. I rarely use references to previous Aikido masters (who aren’t present), so that we can focus on here and now.
The spotlight should be on people who practice, and the goal is to fill the present moment with awareness and life.
How do you do it?
Our Posts in April
This is the list of articles we published here in April:
Aikido as the Search for Natural Posture was intended as another post in the series on Movement Development in Aikido and I was really surprised that it became one of the most read and shared articles in the whole publication. Be sure to read it if you haven’t yet.
Milada wrote a lovely article Aikido Off the Mat: How Teaching Helped Me Out... For me, it's special in the way it describes—so simply and naturally—how we sometimes quietly develop certain qualities in Aikido without even noticing, and only realize it when we use them in our everyday life. It may help you notice these subtle changes that you may know from your own practice.
A bit off plan, I posted Aikido: A Space for Children to Be Children - a short text I wrote as a column for one Czech daily. Take it as a teaser for a cycle about teaching children.
In May, I’ll be in Japan for 3 weeks with my family and students. Even though I’ll spend the month travelling, the flow of Aikido inspiration will continue here with our usual rhythm. We prepared some texts for teachers, a guest article about a program for teachers in Berlin, another episode from the cycle Aikido As...
Stay tuned and have a good time with Aikido!
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