What is Ki-Aikido? Ki-Aikido is a particular group of Aikido styles that derive from Koichi Tohei Sensei 10th Dan. Tohei Sensei was the Chief Instructor of Aikido under its founder Morihei Ueshiba O Sensei and was awarded the highest possible rank in Aikido by O Sensei in the late 1960's. Ki-Aikido places emphasis on actively teaching relaxation in order to unify and coordinate mind and body. Unlike other martial arts Ki-Aikido has specific methods and teaching directed at helping the student to learn how to be calm and relaxed under pressure. Exercises are used to teach the student how to coordinate mind and body in a relaxed way and thus to achieve the most powerful and efficient ways of moving and using the body, it is with them one can defend oneself without any great physical exertion, this means that Ki-Aikido is a method of self defence which is able to be practiced by anyone regardless of gender, size, strength or disability. In addition to this the calmness and relaxation techniques are applicable to situations in daily life that do not involve self defence. For example, many people suffer from headaches as a result of tension in the neck and shoulders, this can arise from using a computer for long periods of time. The relaxation methods taught in Ki-Aikido can help enable a person to relax and thus avoid such problems and many other similar problems also.
