Can Aikido techniques reduce stress? Whether you are a career woman, a homemaker, or combination of both, stress can take its toll both physically and mentally. There are deadlines at work, chores to do, kids to pick up, meals to be prepared, and vacations to be planned. The interesting thing about stress is that its effects are additive and often insidious. Some of the warning signs include a shorter temper, overreacting to disappointments, or becoming angry at the smallest provocation. How can a martial art help a woman to manage stress? Meditation is a part of the Aikido training in many schools. When many of us think about meditation, often a church, synagogue or other places of worship comes to mind. In fact, meditation at its simplest level can be thought of as the art of becoming calm and looking inward rather than outward.
A calm mind sees things much more clearly just as a lake, on a windless day, clearly reflects the mountains and trees around it. On the other hand, an agitated mind becomes unsettled and, like a wind blowing over a lake's surface, distorts the images of objects around it. Many Aikido schools practice a technique called Misogi breathing. This exercise is designed to help the student gain control of their mind and body.
It involves sitting in a comfortable position (seiza or zazen). The student sits with a relaxed posture, eyes half closed, and body well centered. The breath is drawn in through the nose as one imagines that it transits through the mind down into the lungs and into your center or hara, which is imagined to expand over the full length of the breath. Once the lungs are fully inflated the instructor will clap his hands, which signals exhalation. In the exhalation movement, one imagines that the breath moves upward from the one-point or center through the lungs into the mind and out of the mouth in an "ahh" sound. During this time the one-point is imagined to contract to an infinitely small size. This cycle is repeated again and again taking breaths in every 10 seconds or so.
In the beginning new students have a tendency to gasp because they are not used to taking such prolonged inhalations and exhalations, so they struggle to catch or maintain their breath. For this reason, the exercise trains the student to gain control of and thereby unify the mind and body. If the mind is in control, it tells the body to continue the inhalation or the exhalation until the next clap is heard even if the urge is to take the breath. As the cycle of breaths continue, the mind becomes relaxed permitting thoughts to turn inward and stressful thoughts to be released.
These breathing techniques can be applied even when the body is in motion, performing Aikido techniques and permits the Aikido student to remain relaxed: decreasing the likelihood breathlessness. Even in the intense technique known as randori, in which multiple attackers are moving toward the defender simultaneously, exercising proper breathing control can keep the mind and body relaxed for much longer than the person whose mind is and body are tense and out of control. In addition, proper breathing allows a student to maintain a relaxed mind, which sees things more clearly including the identification and reaction to potential threats.
Aikido techniques in daily life. How can you apply these same techniques in daily life where the stresses cannot be avoided or ignored? The first part of the answer is the unification of mind and body through mastery of the breathing exercise. This requires regular practice. Once we are in tune with and in control of our bodies, we should more readily be able to recognize the danger signals associated with loss of emotional control. We can then apply the principles of the breathing techniques to relax the mind and body even during highly stressful situations. Imagine a situation where your child is crying, you hear a knock on the door, the phone rings and you see the pot or kettle boiling over on the stove.
In the midst of all the stimuli can you maintain control of you emotions and remain calm? What if one of your co-workers approaches you with an angry, unfounded accusation? Can you keep from reacting in-kind with hostility? In short, the answer is yes if you apply the principles of the breathing techniques in the midst of all of the turmoil that surrounds you. Important problems can be more readily identified when the mind sees the overall situation clearly. Randori is an important part of advanced Aikido training because awareness of threats from all directions through a calm and unified mind (and body) is what one learns from this exercise.
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