So you know what I'm talking about

I'm not going to go into the history or philosophy of Aikido much; you can find oodles of that elsewhere on the web. I'm just going to jot down some of my observations, and provide some links that are relevant to me and may be interesting to you.

Aikido is a Japanese martial art, invented by a WWII veteran named Morihei Ueshiba -- known to Aikido practitioners as "O Sensei". Aikido is a derivative of Aiki Jutsu, which is related to Ju Jutsu. Aikido can be translated as "The way of harmonizing with the universe". Depending on the style of Aikido, it can be hard (martial) or soft. A number of Aikido schools are loosely associated with Ki societies; Ki organizations are to Aikido as Tai Chi is to Kung Fu, although Kung Fu is generally more martial than Aikido.

The secret to Aikido

I think of Aikido as a study in physical blending. Much of the "secret" of Aikido is in learning how people move, and how to coordinate in one way or another with that movement. It is sort of like horse riding, or rafting; there's this force that you're interacting with, and if you're good, you can -- to some extent -- control or direct that force. The sneaky part is that what you're really doing is learning to control yourself, which is much more difficult.

On Instructors

A wise man once said to me, "It is better to spend ten years searching for the right teacher, than to spend ten years learning from the wrong one." If you learn any one thing in life, it should be this -- and learn it early. This doesn't mean that any one style is better than another; this is a statement about the teacher, not the art.

There are, in my experience, three kinds of Aikido instructors. There are those who do, and expect you to gain insight from observation. These instructors do not talk much in class, and do not like people talking in class. These are my favorite. There are instructors who explain everything they do, in practical terms. I don't learn well from these instructors, although I am a very methodical (read: non-intuitive) learner. Then there are instructors who describe things in a mystical sense. These instructors talk about Ki, and energy, and such. This is actually really useful. I discovered, at one point, that you can accurately describe the forces of Aikido techniques in terms of physics -- leverage, action and reaction -- but that this is entirely counterproductive except over beer and pizza after class. However, you can also translate this information into metaphysical mystical explainations which (I find) is much easier for the brain to absorb on an intuitive level. It is an aid to visualization, whether you believe in the mystical explaination or not. Like riding a Segway, the key to Aikido is to visualize, so that your body reacts in subtle ways that you don't really notice and couldn't do anyway if you were consciously trying to.

My pet peeve in Aikido is "instructor wannabes". There is this natural human tendancy to want to correct others, and this is no more evident than in students of martial arts. The real problem is that you have people, say, 3rd kyu students, who think they know what they're doing because they've passed a few tests, and so believe that they are qualified to instruct others. If you're one of these people, take a hint: Don't. You're clueless. You don't know what you're doing, and all you're going to end up doing is teaching some poor sucker your bad habits. The secret about bad habits is that once you learn them, they're really hard to unlearn. Here's an example situation I've seen a hundred times:

Student 1 (3rd kyu): No, you're doing this wrong.  Do it this way.
Student 2 (6th kyu): Like this?
Student 1: Yeah, like that.
(Sensei walks by)
Sensei: How are you doing?  Let me see.
(Student 2 performs technique the "right" way)
Sensei: No, this is all wrong.  Where did you learn this?  This is how you do it.

The worst outcome is that Student 2 will want to say, "But Student 1 told me to do it that way," which makes everybody unhappy. So just keep your opinions to yourself, and remember:

I've been told that, when O Sensei first started, he'd only accept as students people who already had a black belt in another martial art. In later years, he'd only accept as students people who already had a black belt in Aikido. So, no, you don't know enough Aikido, and if you had to learn that from me, you truly have learned nothing.

If a kohai asks, or is really having trouble, seek a senpai or the sensei. Then, you'll learn something too, and at least you won't be responsible for misteaching somebody and being made to look like a fool. If all else fails, just do the technique the way you would and let kohai take from it what s/he can.

A Practical Art?

Is Aikido practical? Yes.

That was easy.

Actually, this answer obviously needs to be qualified. If you've studied Aikido for years and years, you'll probably have some skill in defending yourself physically. It really does take a lot of time to get good at Aikido, and in the best of times, Aikido is not the most agressive martial art. You're not going to be Bruce Lee, and you probably won't be Steven Segal, either. However, you learn little useful things in Aikido, like how to keep from getting hurt, how to manipulate people in subtle ways outside of all-out-conflict, and how to control your own body.

I've heard about a number of cases where the lessons of Aikido have come in handy and have experienced a few myself. I haven't heard many about fist fights where Aikido has saved the day, but then, people who are really good with Aikido are the kinds of people who would tend to not talk about them.

Suffice it to say that I believe that Aikido is very practical, in more ways than you'd use if all you were learning was how to fight. I also believe that it is good for fighting situations, but I think you need some other skills if that's all your concerned about. Kung Fu, or some art with more conflict skills (striking, kicking, etc). Actually, if you watch "The Ultimate Fighting Championship" series, the winners are always Ju Jutsu practitioners. But Ju Jutsu is wrestling, and wrestling is boring ;-)