Positioning, Not Throwing

Aikido is full of moments…

When I asked Jan Nevelius (7th Dan, Shihan, Aikikai), this question many years ago:

I often have a problem with taking a high fall when training with people. But when you throw me, I never have a problem with a high fall.

Jan responded:

I have never thrown you. I put your body in a position where a high fall is the most logical thing for it to do, so it does it.

This is an answer I pondered for many years.

The Misconception of Force

When you start training in Aikido, you first have to learn the techniques. During your training, you will meet many types of people. Some will be cooperative, some not so. This training forms our ideas of how to perform techniques.

When I first started, Ikkyo was described as “push their elbow through the nose”. Clearly this will involve force…

Once in a while you come across someone a little different. When they perform a technique and you find none of this pushing or pulling, you are confused. You fall, but how, what happened…

In Aikido, I think tori does not throw. Tori creates a relationship with uke where the technique is the most logical outcome. Tori positions uke, uke does not need to think. On a subconscious level their body knows.

Positioning Over Force

I think Jan is describing the ability to place uke’s body in relation to his own, using the mechanics of movement, so that the fall becomes the obvious solution. Not the only solution, but the most logical one.

When was the last time you slipped?

Did you plan the fall in advance?

Your body was placed in a position where falling is the most logical response. Your centre of gravity moved past your base of support, and your body did what bodies do, it fell.

The Logical Fall

What happens when you are standing and someone pushes your shoulder?

You will tend to take a step. But what happens if the push arrives faster than your conscious mind can react, and it arrives from a direction your body was not braced against?

Now falling may be the only option.

Imagine that the push does not feel like a push at all. Imagine uke’s touch feels like an invitation rather than pressure. Your body is led into a position where standing is no longer the most natural option.

This is not throwing. This is positioning.

The fall you take is not something that is done to you. It is something your body does because of the relationship between tori and uke.

The Practical Implication

If you accept this, it changes how you approach practice.

If Aikido is about throwing, then the goal is to get strong enough, fast enough, skilled enough to overpower your partner’s resistance. The training becomes about control through force.

But there is always someone stronger, especially as you age…

If technique is about positioning, then this is entirely different. Your aim in training is precision. Understanding the mechanics of the body, how momentum works, where to place your partner’s centre of gravity so that the technique works without effort.

Every technique in Aikido is an exercise in positioning. Once your body is in the right position, the technique runs itself. Gravity and momentum do the work. The fall is just the end result, not the target of the technique.

This Matters for Your Practice

We have all met senior instructors who move people effortlessly.

But how do you practice?

In a club, generally, senior students can move lower grades without much trouble. But what happens when these senior students become the lower grade at a seminar?

The next time you are uke, when you receive technique, do your best to feel what is happening. Ask yourself:

And the next time you are tori,

The throws will take care of themselves.