If you’ve ever been in a fight or seen one on TV, your first reaction might be that the person receiving the attack is either the victim or at a disadvantage compared to the attacker. After all, he or she has to deal with the assailant’s blow. To the layman, the common response is to react defensively with fear, panic, or aggression. Our body’s natural fight or flight response kicks in and typically manifests as blocking, evading, or running away. At one level, this helps us to avoid injury but at another, it prevents us from dealing with the problem at hand.
Through the principle of awareness, the skilled martial artist sees that the attacker has created an opening, a vulnerability that can be used against him or her to neutralize the attack. A jab leaves the armpit and ribs exposed. A sidekick exposes the groin and compromises balance momentarily. As one of my teachers says, “The kick or punch is not the problem. The problem is the person throwing it.”
Aikido employs the principle of irimi, meaning “to enter”, to respond to an attack. Rather than blocking, evading, or running away, an Aikidoka (one who practices Aikido) moves into the attackers space and subsequently neutralizes the attack by changing the spatial relationship and moving out of striking distance. “Closer is safer” is a common phrase I heard in the dojo. Rather than moving away, which is a natural reaction; you move into and reduce the space between you and your partner. This seems counter intuitive. We naturally want to get as far away from something that is threatening us. We want to eliminate it from our space. In the following video, sensei Christain Tessier demonstrates this principle of irimi through the technique of shomenuchi iriminage. Notice how he moves into the attacker’s space and thereby executes the throw…
In our lives, we can choose to fight, flee or receive what seems to be threating us. Fighting or fleeing provides a short-term solution. But the price we pay is greater than the benefit. Fighting, either verbally or physically, threatens to damage the relationship and sabotage the outcome we had hoped to achieve. The body also suffers. Physical tension, stress, and high blood pressure are the bitters fruits we bear. In the heat of the moment, we say and do things that we will ultimately regret. Fleeing or ignoring the problem just makes us incapable. We don’t force ourselves to deal with the challenge and therefore stunt our own growth. When faced with a similar challenge in the future, we are not equipped to deal with it and resort to the same reactive behavior.
What if you recognized that the person confronting you is actually the one who is vulnerable? Their external aggression reveals an internal weakness; a fear masked by apparent strength. In the video, the attacker (uke in Aikido) created an opening that the receiver (nage in Aikido) enters. Notice that he doesn’t flee, or block the attack. He moves straight in and thereby creates the opportunity to counter. Ultimately, uke ends up on the ground and nage is left standing unharmed.
Awareness that any form of aggression has within it an inherent weakness is the first step towards a resolution. We must perceive the situation without judgment and then have the courage to face it without hostility. We may even find some degree of compassion for the aggressor once we perceive his or her vulnerability. Their aggression blinds them from their own vulnerability and leaves them exposed. When we allow the person or situation to be what it is, we are then in a position to change it. If we resist or avoid it, we only give it strength. When we see the inherent weakness in another’s aggression, we become aware of our own internal strength. The illusory veil of the threat is lifted and we see the possibilities that were once hidden by our fear.