My Journey Into The Martial Arts-Aikido

It was 1998 or 1999 when I first got interested in the martial arts. A cousin of mine attained a blue belt in Aikido and would show-off his moves whenever we had a get together.

I would remember him asking me to “Grab my wrist” and being Nikkyo-ed forcefully to my knees in the process. (My cousin is the type that doesn’t pull any punches-literally.). Nevertheless, it always impressed me how his wristlocks could bring me to the ground without much effort and from that day on I decided that I Need to learn Aikido.

I’ve never received any formal training in the martial arts before and the idea of learning Aikido was so exciting that me and a neighbor signed up for classes the very next day. (Aikido being Steven Seagal’s martial art sealed the deal.)

The school I enrolled in was taught by a black belt named Winston (Goush?) He was in his mid-30’s and was a very capable teacher, especially considering that our class consisted of kids and adolescents with burgeoning hormones.

Days and weeks of training passed and I took to the art with gusto, practicing constantly at home, buying and reading books and videos, and generally assimilating the art in its fullest.

I trained with Aikido exclusively until I started dabbling into other martial arts (and got interested ib the UFC,) but it is one of the arts that has stuck with me (literally) throughout the years.

What I took away from Aikido:

–Tenkan-This step-pivot move might just contain the whole essence of Aikido. Mastering and committing it to your muscle memory will allow you to throw people with ease. (I am Not exaggerating.)
–Rolls/Falls-If you front/back roll and breakfall for dozens of minutes before every training session, it will eventually be totally ingrained in your reactions. I’ve front rolled my way instead of tripping while sprinting, and have back-rolled while on defense in basketball. Again, incredible, funny even, but is surprisinly useful and true.
–Subconcious balance/momentum control-You will find yourself able to easily manipulate or at least direct/redirect someone’s actions by being subconciously aware to slight changes in their posture/movement(s). Sounds like Bullshido yes but you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve trained Aikido at least a year.

My Conclusions: Aikido is a Great martial art. It has plenty of things to offer that’s not offered by a lot of other martial arts. It’s primarily a defensive art but If you take it seriously and allow yourself to immerse in it fully and without biases, I assure you that you Will be a better martial artist for it. It is a great art to complement any other art you might be practicing/mastering.

Next: ARNIS/ESKRIMA

The Beginning -The Journey of Parenthood

On October 28, 10:52pm my little baby daughter was born. She is the cutest thing ever. She looks like a cute mini-me hybrid of me and her mommy! She weighs a startling 8.5 lbs and is 21″ long. I guess she takes after me after all 🙂

On October 29, 3:30am her mommy was wheeled back to our hospital room to recover from her Caesarian Section. Our little baby girl was roomed in with us around 10am. Today we learned (or so we thought) how to feed her and make her sleep. (or so we thought)

On October 30, baby Nina had her newborn screening tests done. We’ll find out results in a week or so. There were also many visitors today; including a lot of mommy’s friends and her grandparents. I had to leave to attend a wedding at around 7pm and the few short hours I was gone were hard (and I’m not exaggerating for drama.)

On October 31, we checked out of the hospital at aroud 1pm. We dined with my parents and a few relatives and learned a very valuable lesson today. This is almost like finding inner peace. The steps to attain it are: Feed, BURP, and Sleep. Feed, BURP, and sleep. Do NOT forget to Burp. You’ll surely regret it!