An important fact to remember is that actually the mind rules the body. It is the mind that leads and the body that follows. Aikido realizes this truth and teaches that before you attempt to move your body, you must use your mind, and when you are trying to throw you opponent, before you move his body, first lead his mind. Try to throw your opponent by brute force alone and you will find it heavy going. Remember that the mind does not necessarily have a heavy mind. If the art of leading the mind is learned and mastered, even a woman or a child can easily throw a big man.

After seeing an Aikido exhibition for the first time, the usual reaction is to consider it a faked performance. "Common Sense tells you it's all faked!" They say. The trouble with common sense is that it considers the body as its central figure and so derives only a half-knowledge of common sense, and cannot see the working of the mind. Only with knowledge of the working of both mind and body can one know the truth. Then for the first time will Aikido's art be grasped. Arguing the point is useless; the only way to understand Aikido is to get down to real practice.

In most Martial arts, an enemy is put up and the training is aimed at learning to defeat him. In Aikido, the aim is not to conquer the enemy but to conquer oneself. This is why Aikido is said to have leaped from material, physical martial arts to a spiritual martial art.

To defeat an opponent is a relative victory. There is always a day coming when the victor of today becomes the vanquished of tomorrow. Men of old said, "Do not blame others nor hate them. Be afraid only of your lack of sincerity." In Aikido, seek not to be strong but to be just, not victory over enemy but victory over self through correct principles.

Then if you can add polish to polish in your art, there will be no need to strive unduly to defeat an opponent. He himself will obey you and you will find yourself without an enemy. And you will understand then that Aikido has indeed made the leap from a physical martial art to a spiritual martial art.

The world today is full of conflict and this has led us to the brink of annihilation.

Conflict will never cease so long as mankind is convinced that this is a world of conflict and that any one who refuses to fight loses social status. If we Sincerely wish for world peace, each individual must nurture with himself the spirit of non-aggression.

In Aikido, every art was designed in obedience to the laws of Nature so that there is no strain in its execution. Obey the laws of Nature in all your movements and win; disobey and lose. Let your opponent go where he wants to go; let him return where he wants to return and bend in the direction he wants to bend as you lead him, and then let him fall where he wants to fall. There is no need to strain yourself unduly.

Again if a rock weighing 100 pounds were falling directly toward your head, it would be a tremendous feat to stop it with your bare hands. But if instead of trying to catch it, you step nimbly aside, the rock drops to the ground without doing you any harm. If the rock weighed 1,000 pounds, it would be just as easy to step aside. There is a limit to what you can accomplish by physical force, but what you can accomplish by non-violence is limitless. In Aikido, there is no practice in the use of brute force but there is training in how to use an opponentÕs own strength in leading him.

For this reason, Aikido can call itself "the non-fighting martial art."

Aikido is not merely self-defense but into its techniques and movements are woven elements of philosophy psychology and dynamics. As you learn the various arts, you will at the same time train your mind, improve your health and develop an unbreakable self-confidence.