Initial Steps in Aikido - Our second aikido class: aite 相手

Our second aikido class acquaints us with the concept of aite. in Aikido. Aite means training partner. Aikido teaches us mutual defence. By following the Aikido's ideas and techniques, I protect myself and also protect the attacker. Ideally, we try to resolve the conflict in safe and peaceful ways.

相 ai - aite - partner

During the first part of our class, we went through the things that we learned during our first class: Standing up and and sitting down correctly, seiza, bowing and kamae (basic stance).

Sumi Otoshi

We practiced and improved our koho ukemi (falling to the rear) and we proceeded to learning a basic principle called sumi otoshi (diagonal/corner drop).

Tenkan

While practicing tenkan which we learned last time, we began to understand how it takes us out of the line of attack, and enables us to merge our partner's attack with our movement.

If tenkan is done correctly, we end up facing the same direction the attacker faces. It creates a common point of view and a feeling of safety and unification.

Haishin Undo

Next time, we will learn a nice exercise that we practice at the end of every aikido class. It helps us to relax our spine and back and actually the whole body.