focused on why you have decided to become involved in aikido. The social contacts and friends you make will be important to you for the rest of your life. There is time outside the school to cultivate these relationships. While in class, keep your social conversation to a minimum. Some schools prohibit social conversation during practice. You are here to train, not socialize. Minimize your talk and maximize your training. You will find it worthwhile.
Follow Instructions
Follow instructions to the best of your ability. What you are told to do will sound easy. What is demonstrated to you will look easy. Following instructions will make it easier for you, but remember, as a beginner in your first class, you are not expected to get it right. You are just expected to do your best. There are many subtleties in aikido. Many times, you will think you are doing exactly what you have seen the teacher demonstrate, and yet it doesn't seem to work. Following instructions will allow you to adjust your technique ever so slightly and discover that it works.
Behavior
Ask Questions
Most questions are answered through training. As a beginner, you will either be full of questions far beyond what you need to know for the level of your training, or you will not have the slightest clue about what to ask. An empty mind is the open mind of the beginner, and will be ready to receive learning. Accept the answer you receive. We often ask questions but do not really listen to the answers. Once you have an answer, return to your practice. Many times the words will make better sense if they are practiced though aikido movements.
Take Turns
Aikido is cooperative, interactive learning. You will learn to both give and receive the basic techniques of aikido. Your training partners will help you by allowing you to practice with them. You will reciprocate and allow them to practice with you. This partnership becomes a profound learning experience that extends far beyond the relationship you have in the school. After you have practiced a technique a few times with each hand, bow to your training partner and let him or her have a turn. Do not monopolize the training opportunity and time.
After Class
Gratitude and Appreciation
Expect to cultivate an attitude of gratitude and appreciation. You will appreciate the efforts made by others to show up and train with the discipline that has allowed them to advance and share their learning with you. You can look forward to the day when new students will appreciate, and be grateful for, what you will share with them.
Not Knowing
Aikido does not lend itself to easy description or definition, even by the best of practitioners. You may not totally remember what you learned. Learning will be gradual. There will always be more questions than answers in aikido. The beauty of the art is that it keeps refining and teaching you.
Exhaustion
Breath control is another factor of aikido that many beginning students do not anticipate. The cardiovascular aspects of being out of shape for the vigorous workout may leave you out of breath as well. As a new student, you will be taught to breathe normally while executing the aikido techniques and when taking the falls. Your cardiovascular fitness will increase over time. What once made you out of breath will later only take your breath away as you experience the beauty of aikido.
Soreness
Many new students find they are sore after their first class. You have used your body and muscles in ways you are not used to. The body takes a while to adjust and accommodate itself to the new workload. If you are in pain, it may mean that something has been injured. Talk to your teacher and consult with a medical care professional. Some soreness just means that you had a good workout and that you are taking your body beyond its normal limits. It means you are learning. You will learn eventually to relax and gain harmony with your body.
Now that you know what to anticipate in your first class, don't expect it to be exactly as described here. Each training partner you have will approach you with slightly different energy. You must be able to respond to each. This adaptability is essential to aikido. It is explicit in the teachings and implicit in the training.
DESPITE ITS STRONG philosophical base and its emphasis on peace and harmony, aikido is a martial art. On first observing it, some will say they can see the gentleness in the art. Others witness the painful joint locks and hard landing on the mats. To them, aikido looks very violent. The practice of aikido requires a measure of safety, and there are safety rules and requirements for the environment in which you train.
Before any rigorous exercise program, consult your primary care physician. Physical illnesses and limitations known ahead of time can prevent injuries or reinjuries.
Some Personal Safety Rules
There are many basic rules to follow that will make the training in aikido safer. Many of them are common sense.
No Horseplay
A basic safety rule is no horseplay. You may want to mimic some character from your favorite action movie. Your own bit of acting may get you some laughs from others, but ultimately, it will distract you and others from what you came to the school for—to learn aikido. Because aikido is a martial art, the techniques you will be practicing have the potential of inflicting great damage and harm. They must be practiced without horseplay to minimize the likelihood that someone, possibly you, will get hurt. Enjoy your training, but remember it is not play.
Pay Attention
Pay attention to what your teacher tells you to do, and do it. Pay attention to your movements. Pay attention to your training partner's movements. Pay attention to the space around you. It is easy to get caught up in the momentum of your own training and forget that others are training next to you, and that they are more than likely caught up in their own training. This can create accidents as you both throw your training partners into the same space. The impact can be dangerous. Try to pay attention to where you throw your training partners and where they are falling. These awareness skills pay great dividends in the school as you practice aikido. These skills alone can be your first line of self-defense.
Other Safety Considerations
Relax
It is important to stay relaxed during your training. The usual response to stress is to tense up and stop breathing. Learning a new skill, especially one that incorporates joint locks and throws, could be considered stressful. Staying relaxed helps the body move freely and more fluidly. This relaxation actually prevents injuries.
Rolling and Falling (Ukemi)
It is impossible to practice aikido without learning how to take falls. This can be very frustrating. You may want to learn all the fancy throws and footwork that make aikido such a beautiful art, but learning how to fall is for your safety and the safety of your training partners. Falling is not just important in aikido, it is an essential necessity. Taking ukemi and learning to be a good training partner is as hard, if not harder, than learning the techniques of aikido.
First Aid
Injuries
