Customer Reviews

Aikido Exercises for Teaching and Training

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C. M. Shifflett's newest book, "Aikido Exercises for Teaching and Training," (AET) expands her previous book, "Ki in Aikido, A Sampler of Ki Exercises" (KIE) (itself a limit -shattering book in its own right) in several directions.

While KIA dealt only with Ki Society style aikido, AET expands its scope, drawing lessons from all styles of aikido and a global internet discussion list where all aikidoka ae welcome. Likewise, Shifflet's second book focuses attention on all stages of study in aikido, from the first day in the dojo beginner to the 20 year experienced sensei. Finally (and most importantly in my opinion), AET expands well beyond traditional "throw uke to the ground" aikido, to encompass such rarely discussed topics as dojo injuries, the physical basis behind many common techniques, the psychological and physiological process of learning and "verbal self-defense."

It is this last section that truly creates the book's value, at least for this reader. In a chapter at the end entitled "Off the Mat, in Real Life," Shifflett (with a little help from linguistics expert Suzette Elgin) dismembers the traditional view of martial arts as a means to beat evildoers on the mean streets of your local city. instead, she shows how to apply principles of aikido to the sort of conflicts people are far more likely to encounter in their real, non-Steven Segalesque lives.

I have read the final chapter, including Verbal Self-Defense, Life Etiquette, about five times. I have read the middle of the book, about techniques and exercises, twice. This is a disturbing underemphasis on my part of the end. The middle of the book will likely never save your life. The end likely will.

This chapter alone compelled me to buy the book -- the rest (including the badly needed translation of Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere technique numbers into the actual names as they are used in real dojos) was merely a bonus. A wonderful, amazing bonus that makes this book one which, if you can only buy one aikido book, you should buy. But a bonus all the same. =) Like her previous book, this is also wonderful for a nearly constant laugh, with quotes from a wild variety of seemingly mad, yet inspired, aikido practitioners on and off the internet.

Carol Shifflett's second book covers the martial art of Aikido in a way I've never seen before. Most of the books I know deal with either the techniques or the philosophy, some try to cover both. Mostly, the technique books are lost on me because I'm not good at learning techniques from photographs - and the philosophy books are often very difficult to understand without guidance. But Carol's book talks of things I haven't found in any other place:

Ever thought about the physics of Aikido? Ever seen a collection of answers to those "silly" beginner's questions? Ever thought about "verbal Aikido"? And - ever gotten advice from people of various Aikido styles from all over the world? This book contains all this and much, much more.

It is like walking around a sculpture you already knew from pictures and finding out that it is three-dimensional and you can see it from angles you never thought of. Each topic, each question is not only presented in one way but with various approaches to help the reader gain a better understanding. Everyday experiences included in the book suddenly reveal a new sight on the principles of Aikido.

But what I like most about this book is that it approaches the art I love with a lot of humor without making fun of it.

I've read quite a few books on martial arts now but "Aikido Exercises for Teaching and Training" has to be one of the most engaging and entertaining. There are no mystifying black and white photos of two angry looking guys throwing each other to the floor with a technique wich has a six word Japanese name. Instead there is a great deal of reassuring, level-headed honesty about what Aikido is and,equally impotant, what it is not,as well as some very workable training tips. There are quotes from master Aikidoists,as well as thoughts on training,attidude and spirit from many areas outside the Aikido world. And the secret of becoming a master Aikidoist? Schifflett quotes Garrison Keeler," 90% of life is just turning up." All in all this is a highly imaginative, beautifully put- together and very informative book about Aikido-the martial art, and Aikido-the approach to every day life. Wonderful!

I received my copy of Carol's book earlier this month and read through it almost immediately, but I wanted to wait until I had time to digest it before writing a review.

Even though it has a light style, the book is dense with information. Her approach isn't the standard "Grab-here-push-there" martial arts instructional text. Neither is it a fluffy, feel good, visualize the white light and pretend the world is made of cotton candy book.

What does come through is a direct, vivid view of Aikido, with an almost childlike clarity and sense of wonder. After a few years around dojos, there is a tendency to become jaded. To see only what you have seen before, and to instantly categorize whatever is presented to you. By whatever means, Carol has never become jaded. Reading her book, I was able to remember the first time I stepped into a dojo, the odd stiff feel of my first dogi, the smells and textures and body language of the dojo. Aspects that seem so commonplace now.

It has been said that all of the secrets of Aikido are presented to you in the first weeks of class. Is there anything that can be more important, and more elusive than the razor sharp and bright awareness that was present when all of this was new?

The underlying theme throughout the book isn't the techniques, or the rituals of the dojo. It is about the "Do" of Aikido. Aikido as a path... a way of perceiving the world. A practice that isn't compartmentalized, but pervades business, social, physical, emotional, and yes...even spiritual interactions.

The quotes used in the book mainly came from the Aikido-L mailing list. The choices were well made. They present a picture of an art and a community that's passionate about what they do but are not overly self-impressed and serious.

The exercises are presented in a logical, concise manner. Since it is nearly impossible to adequately describe complex physical skills in written language, Carol has taken an alternate approach for many of the exercises -- she sets them up as experiments. She offers a basic set of parameters and then instructs the reader to listen to their body and let their body teach the most efficient and effective motions. I believe that if more teachers taught by this method, it would eliminate many of the classic "sticking points" that that frustrate new students.

Carol has created informative and enjoyable book that would be useful to any student of Aikido, whether they are a beginner or a seasoned teacher. It has an alive and crunchy feel, with all the texture and flaws and flavor of a close and trusted friend.

I found this book quite by chance in a bookstore and I have never regretted the purchase. I'm finding it even more useful now that I have moved from the UK to New Zealand, because I have had to to change from Yoshinkan to Aikikai.

The book details general Aikido exercises and tips, but it's main value for me is that when describing techniques, it provides references for each technique in several of the major texts, Total Aikidio for Yoshinkan and Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere for Aikikai, amongst others.

It provides very useful explanations and metaphors for visualising technique that have done wonders for my understanding of the art.

Just the first chapter makes the whole book worth while. The Q&A is funny and at the same time very educational. It deals a lot with the proper mindset regarding the study of martial arts and the fact that aikido is more than self-defense. The section on basic exercises help a lot, as does the one on memorizing technique names, which can be difficult if a person does not speak Japanese. Much importance is placed on Ukemi (the art of falling), something which a lot of students ignore or dislike. Overall, I could not recommend a better book for all beginners (regardless of how many years they have been at it).

The late George Simcox, Chief Instructor of the Virginia Ki Society says in his introduction: "I wish I'd had a book like this one available to me when I started teaching 25 years ago!". Well, I wish I'd had a book like this when I started practicing Ki Society Aikido 10 years ago. This book is outstanding and full of great illustrations and discriptions of techniques and terms. I am sure I would have learned more, quicker if I had had a resource like this. This book not only contains excellent discriptions of the basics of Ki Society Aikido and the basic exercises, it also covers rolling - a tricky skill to learn at times - and a lot of physics and theory behind the art. But best of all, it has a comprehensive bibliography and videograhpy and an extremely complete glossary of Japanese Aikido related terms by Chizuko Suzuki, that took me almost as long to read through as the body of the book! If you are interested in Aikido or have been practicing for quite a while, there is good stuff in this book for you! I highly recomend it.

First, I have to say that this book has THE best assortment of quotes about a martial art that I have ever seen. In fact, it was after someone posted a couple of the quotes on an Aikido web site that I ordered the book without having seen it....Before buying this book, you should realize that it is something of a hodgepodge of information. There is a Q&A section, which draws on various sources to answer FAQ. The book also includes poems, technical information, training tips, info on training aids, a guide to other resources with aikido references, a glossary of terms, an excerpt from a motorcycle guide (to illustrate certain similarities), a verbal self-defense primer, and more.

This format is both a strength and weakness. At any given time, you are almost guaranteed to find something that you like a lot -maybe even one thing that is worth the price of the whole book. You are also just as likely to find a bunch of stuff that you have little or no interest in. For example, I initially resented that there were quite a few pages dedicated to describing movies and books that the author thought were Aikido related. I thought, "who the heck needs to be told to see Star Wars" ? On reflection, I have to admit that she threw in a few interesting tidbits about the Star Wars movies. Also, I'm sure that someone will appreciate this section of the book, but hate some of the quotes I love so much. There were other sections of the book I thought superfluous as well; however maybe some day I will come back to them and think they are the greatest !

Overall, the author does a great job discussing a wide variety of topics by drawing on some great resources. There is a lot of wisdom in this book, although I certainly don't agree with everything she has to say. I do think that she must be an extraordinary person to train with.

I suggest that you try to look through the book before you buy it to see if you think there are enough sections that will be of interest you. I have no doubt that if certain sections of the book are right for you, they may be worth the cost of the book and everything else in the book can be viewed as bonus material that you may enjoy at some later date.

I'd sincerely recommend this book to very beginners and... yes, to sensei.
The most valuable point of the book is that instead of usual plain listing of the standard techniques of this or that style, it concentrates on the basic principles - "how, why, and when it works", thus offering basic building blocks, and lots of unique tips and tricks. The principles are beyond the style differences, and thus applicable to everyone.
For sensei it contains many tips of how to handle difficulties of beginners.

I actually got in trouble because I neglected my work the first day I had this book, I simply could not put it down! I'm just getting back into aikido and this book is full of helpful insights into the art, both the techniques and the philosophy. Many of the stories and analogies help to clarify some of the more confusing aspects of life-application of aikido. Wonderful book, can't recommend it highly enough. Thank you, Ms. Shifflett!