From the moment we are born, our feet are covered by socks, bound by shoes and generally desensitised. Furthermore, we walk on unnaturally flat hard featureless surfaces with relatively obstacle-free paths to get from A to B. On the other hand we are using our hands and fingers more and more with jobs involving pens, keyboards and data entry terminals.

With this in mind, I shouldn’t be surprised that we navigate our world as if we have blocks of wood for feet. The stifling of our feet affects our legs and hips, and as a result much of our vertical movement is derived from our spine. Compare the major joints in our legs and hips with the vertebrae in our spine. These joints are sturdy ball-and-sockets which are designed to provide a large range of motion. Our spinal vertebrae however are made for bearing weight in a single direction and providing some shock absorption and limited movement.

It is time then to wake up our lower bodies. I myself do not wear shoes in the office whenever I can get away with it. I eagerly adopted the 5-fingers shoes by Vibram, and usually wear light footwear when going bush. I supplement my aikido training with rock-climbing to increase lower limb agility and perform yoga and weapons practice outdoors on uneven surfaces.

If we compare ourselves to a car, wheels and engine are equivalent to our legs and hips, and the bodywork is our upper torso and arms. Performing aikido without legs and hips engaged is like trying to drive a car by pushing it from the outside instead of getting in, turning the key and giving it some gas!

The benefits from activating our lower limbs are huge to our Aikido practice. In fact they are similar in scale to pushing a car versus driving it. Forces applied to the upper limbs can be properly redirected through flexible joints. Throwing power generated from the ground will increase our own stability and undermine that of our opponent. Leading the forces of an attack becomes light and effortless. The difference is really ground breaking.

To make these changes require extraordinary thinking. Essentially, a 180 degree shift to what we do currently. Explains why we train tai-no-henka (turning practice) at the start of each class!