Earlier today, I hit the mats at the New York Aikikai for my third Aikido class. It’s good to be back to training a martial art regularly, after my eight or nine month self-imposed hiatus – last summer, I had recurrently dislocated my right shoulder while sparring in preparation for a mixed martial arts (i.e. “no holds barred”) tournament, and I took the time off to rest up my rotator cuff before seriously damaging myself. During the break, however, I started giving some serious thought to my motivation for training, as with a bit of distance, I began to see the brutal violence inherent in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (the two arts I was studying at the time) didn’t square well with my more peaceful overall view of the world.

So, in the hopes of finding an art more philosophically in tune with myself, I decided to return to Aikido, which I had studied for about eight months while a student at Yale. A system of throws and joint locks derived from jujitsu, Aikido focuses not on punching or kicking opponents, but on using their own energy to gain control of them or to throw them away. Frequently referred to as “the art of peace,” Aikido is effective while inherently non-aggressive, focusing on neutralizing opponents without injuring them. So far, at least, it seems like the perfect match, and I’m thinking I may jettison the other arts in favor of training solely Aikido.

And, as an added bonus, I’ve also been perversely enjoying the exceeding frustration of starting a complicated art as a complete beginner. It’s been a while since I’ve forced myself to regularly do something at which I’m so very, very bad.