Relax! - by Dean Stansfield

(written part of Brown Belt grading examination)

What does it mean to relax? I have been asking myself this very question for many years now. Many people would likely explain it as; a time when I can sit quietly and read; or a time when I can sit and watch a TV program; or vacation time. However, through my practice of Aikido, I have come to a different understanding of the term relax. In the martial arts, as well as sport, I believe “to relax” refers to the state of your body and mind. For quite some time now, I have heard sensei repeat the word “relax”. For a long time I thought to myself, “but I am relaxed”. However, over time, I came to realize that although I was not stressed, I was not relaxed in the way sensei meant. I came to realize that I was using too much strength and speed in my techniques, and that I was actually being too forceful with my partners and causing them discomfort. This was also causing me to become fatigued because I was expending more energy than necessary. When this realization came to me, I knew I had to make changes. Otherwise, I would not progress in my practice. This is something I have been trying to improve upon and continue to work towards.

I believe to practice and learn Aikido effectively, it is crucial that you learn to relax both your body and mind. A relaxed body will allow you to move more smoothly and effectively. Being tense and nervous will actually make you move more slowly. If a person is overwhelmed they may not even move out of the way of an attack. When the body is in motion, the muscles need to relax before the person can change direction. For example, if someone is pulling their opponent towards themselves, they will need to relax their muscles before they can push them in the other direction. If they are tense it will take longer for the muscles to react. A relaxed body will allow them to sense their opponent’s movements earlier and to interpret their intentions. This will allow them to react faster and give them a little extra time to get out of the way or counter attack. One of Master Mochizuki’s dictums was “Flexibility overcomes Stiffness”. To be flexible you must be relaxed. Imagine two people pushing against each other. They are both using strength and exerting themselves to push their opponent backwards. Obviously, the person with more strength will eventually win. However, if one of them started to push, and the opponent senses the motion and steps backwards and pulls, they would win by using the others strength against them. By being relaxed and flexible they have overcome the others strength. As you can see, this person exerted less strength and would be able to maintain their energy level much longer. Since he was not over exerting himself, his breathing would be regular and he would be supplying the proper amount of oxygen to his body.

I recall my first years of Aikido and how exhausted I became during rendori. Since I was tense and using too much strength I would get tired out quickly. I would be perspiring heavily and breathing so hard my lungs would ache. Meanwhile, the higher belts remained calm; they were breathing normally, and did not seem to be perspiring. The difference was that they had learned to relax and I had not.

The use of strength is more effective if an individual remains relaxed. I have seen children of relatively the same size, where one seems to be stronger than the other. I believe the two children were actually around the same strength. However, one of the kids knew how to use his strength to generate more power. I think that using his strength came more naturally to him and he approached it in a relaxed way. I remember experiencing this in one of our classes when we tried what is called the “unbendable arm”. Sensei had us put one arm out in front of us and another person try to bend it. We tried this exercise two ways, with our muscles tense, and our muscles relaxed. The difference was obvious, when the arm was relaxed it did not bend, but as soon as the muscles tensed the arm started to bend. So learning to use the body in a relaxed way will actually make you stronger.

Another consideration of remaining relaxed is the reduced possibility of injury. Even being thrown to the mats will hurt less if you are relaxed. If the body is not relaxed there is a higher likelihood of pulling a muscle or straining a joint. It is like starting a race without first warming up, the person will not perform as well and is more prone to injury. When practicing Aikido, if you remain relaxed, your movements will flow better with the techniques and there will not be jerking motions that can cause injury. This not only applies to the person doing the technique but also the person receiving the technique. Since the receiving person can react more quickly, there is less chance that they will get behind the technique and end up with a sprain or other injury. I realized how important it was for me to become more relaxed in my practice, simply to avoid injuring my partners. 

Having a relaxed mind during practice is key to effective practice and learning. I believe that the most successful athletes are those that have a well-trained mind. There are many people who can physically perform, but it is the mental aspect of performance that paves the way to real success. A relaxed mind will allow an individual to concentrate. If someone is distracted and thinking of other things during practice, their concentration is lost and they will not be able to practice effectively. It reminds me of a time in college when I was cramming for an exam that was the next day. Because of the urgency to learn the material, it became very difficult to concentrate and I was unable to remember anything. I was thinking about what I had to learn on the next page instead of concentrating on learning what was on the page in front of me. On the mats it is the same thing, if a person is thinking about the last or next technique, they will have a difficult practice. But if they can relax and stay focused on what they are doing at that moment, they will have a better practice and learning experience. 

Being relaxed during practice will also promote awareness. It will seem as though things have slowed down. If a person is nervous and stressed, they will naturally rush their techniques and will be unaware if the technique is actually working. If the person is relaxed they will be more aware of what they are doing.They will be able to see their technique and feel if it is working. They will also practice more safely and learning will progress faster.  

Although I feel I have made a lot of progress towards being relaxed in my practice, I can sense there are many layers to achieving this goal. So how am I going to achieve it? I believe it can only be done through practice. It is only through experience that an individual can become familiar with different situations and learn how to deal with them. Then when faced with one of these situations again, it can be approached more calmly. It is not something that can be learned from a book. I believe one learns to be relaxed through an accumulation of experiences. It is through practice that the body is taught to react, so that when faced with a situation the reaction is more instinctive. It is through experiencing the discomfort or stress that you become familiar with it and learn to cope with it. This way the limits are slowly stretched and one is better able to cope and relax when faced with a difficult situation. In my example above, when I was cramming for that college exam, if I had studied the material throughout the course instead of leaving it to the last minute, I would have only had to do a quick review the night before the exam. However, since I had left my studying to the last minute, I was not prepared and this created a stressful situation. Through regular practice with my training partners, we will help each other learn through our training experiences. This will help peel away the layers of understanding and we will become more relaxed in our training.