Aikido Walking Tips: Part 1

Video Transcript

"So for our first exercise we're going to learn how to walk properly. As Americans and as general people walk, and because we're all in such a hurry all the time, we generally walk heel, toe. Now, what this does is it causes the hip to pivot. We tend to walk in a process of constantly loosing balance and falling, okay. This is perfectly fine, this is how we move through life, and we really aren't always paying attention to what we're doing. However, in the context of the marshal arts world, this is seen as incorrect walking, and especially in any type of swordsmanship. My hips are telling you what I'm doing. The movement is unbalancing me, it's throwing my weight in ways that are improper. So the first exercise, is going to be just to walk by maintaining the hips, so it's actually a toe, heel step. Now, the more comfortable you become with this, the less the hips are going to actually move. Again, toe, heel, the majority of the weight is in the thighs. And there is always a constant forward motion, indicating an aggression, even though it is not perceived as aggression, you are always moving forward, you're never once stopping, slowing down, and it is always a forward projection of what's happening."