BENEFITS OF PRACTICE

Here are some reflections on Freeforming, freeform aikido and kimusubi  by those who practice.

Creative practice

I began training Freeform Aikido in February of this year, since joining I have been surprised by the number of unexpected benefits to be found in this discipline. Aside from the obvious benefits of training to improve physical fitness and co-ordination I have also found that the practice has given me a space to explore ideas that have been of great interest to me in my creative practice as a designer, in particular the notion of reading intent.

Connection and relationship

One of the first concepts Peri introduced me to was the concept of Kimusubi, the idea of oneness and connection. In my practice as a designer I have become interested in developing an approach to practice that does not rely on a fixed approach, technique, or style instead I have tried to develop an approach where my choices are informed by the values present in the subject, people and environment. Working in this manner is much more like stumbling, feeling for a sense of what is present and of value. In taking this approach I have found myself developing not just a more intuitive and honest approach but also more importantly a practice, which is born out of the relationship with the people, I work with.

Feeling intention

In my first training session with Peri it was obvious that a similar idea was at play in our practice. I wasn’t being asked to learn a technique or system of responses, instead I was asked to feel the intent not just of my partner but also of environment and myself. I’ve been taught a few basic principles of how to protect my self and my partner when Freeforming such as rolling and extending.

Outside of this I have found that listening for Kimusubi has been enough to inform my choices when Freeforming, a feeling of extension in the shoulder, a bending of the knees towards the body, a drawing of breath, all these things are there in the moment informing myself and my partner. I have had no formal training in traditional Aikido but listening closely for Kimusubi I’ve found myself responding in a way that has not been learned but would be recognisable to many as a form born of the ideas of Aikido.

Freeform Aikido has offered me the opportunity to understand myself in relation to the practice both on and off the mat and aside from this it continues to be a fun and uplifting experience.

Here is another

Disintegration and re-integration

I’d love to throw some thoughts out in the open about freeform

Aikido…hmmm…let me see…unique benefits?

I’m thinking it’s like a ‘bodily’ stream of consciousness…somewhat

Like the body, mind & spirit is blending into a stream of conscious

Action…For me it first felt like I got totally messed up, passing

Through stages starting with disintegration and ending up with

Integration…and I reckon what I most of all got out of it was to

Discover that it’s possible for the body, mind & spirit to make

Friends and have fun!

Letting go and laughing

Wow…I loved this seminar…somehow I experienced it as both a ‘heart & mind opener’, in the sense that I got a glimpse of the power in expanding instead of holding on…
Also, it was a great laugh…especially spending so much of the w/e upside down, looking at ‘the world’ from totally unfamiliar angles. I wanted to play, and I got my wish fulfilled…plus I also had moments of frustration…as if something got disorganised inside me, and I didn’t quite know what had happened and how to fix it…I think that my will to accept this fact helped me ‘go through’ the experience, and it left me with a feeling of emptiness that I, to my surprise, enjoyed…

Else Hartmann-Johnsen

Exploring and experimenting

The benefit I get out of it is the exploring and

Experimenting way that freeform can help us to overcome mental, emotional

Physical inhibitions, the fact that freeform grows out of the here and now

, And out of the immediate issues between us .the minimal stripping down to

Investigating kimusubi and how techniques happen because of kimusubi that

Would of otherwise of been very difficult to do if we were working from the

Techniques perspective, naivety, keeping the beginner’s mood, the constant

Dressing down of each other, cross examining and investigating how and why

It happened…. how its very practical for those practically inclined but

How it can also spiral out, way out to extreme drama, dance, theatre!

Being open

Practice today was wonderful. Yes, exactly, “wonder” “full”… it is magic, it is peaceful to be so open. Krysia Mansfield

Paradoxical and pure

I really enjoyed it …the emphasis on expression, intuition, sensitivity and presence was refreshing. Paradoxically, this dance-like way of training is also of great benefit from martial perspective as it teaches aiki in its purest form, and is a great workout to boot. Mark Walsh

Contact and awareness

I found that freeform made me very aware and gave me a deep contact with my partner and the group.

Freeform aikido is like flowing in contact with the partner.

The timing and speed of our movements came naturally through the contact. Any change of speed was a mutual decision, a result of constant communication.

Breaking routine

Also, I find that your free forms prevents from getting into a routine. As every aikidoka might know, and has experienced throughout countless repetitions of aikido forms, there is a danger of drifting off.

Freeforming is like acting in the unknown. I have to be in touch with my partner, because I don’t know what is coming next.

I have to be aware and yet I can give myself fully into the movement the same time. I very much appreciated that.

Dropping the rules

I also liked how you included legs, arms and the entire body in the freeforming. That made it a very three-dimensional.

And getting out of strict rules frees the movement and gets the head out of the way.

I think Freeform Aikido is a valuable contribution to everybody’s training, regardless what school of aikido I’m coming from.

I experienced Freeform aikido also as joyous, playful and great fun. It enriches my aikido practice and also my personal development.

To me it’s a very pure and refreshing free form of the spirit of Aikido.

Now having written so many words about my experience and my thoughts and knowing that aikido should be practised and not written about, I hope to share more freeforming lessons with you all. And wish you all the best for your dojo, many students, and new discoveries in movement for freeform aikido. Caroline Redl