Search the Community

Alright I know there are a few people who train and are very talented in Aikido and I need some advice. I used to train and very much enjoyed it. However due to a whole lot of factors I ended up stopping, but I am done with that. I want to get back into it. However I know enough not to just jump back into things. Right now I am in the first steps of turning myself into a bad ass martial artist, you can look at my challenge right now if you would like. Once I complete this one I am going to start on a Defenders themed series of challenges, all based on my goal of becoming like Iroh from Avatar. My thoughts are I will base a challenge off each member of the Defenders using it as a build up to once again practice Aikido again. For more of an idea I tend to make my challenges three goal ones with a Body, Mind, and Spirit inspired goal. I am looking for some advice and ideas on this. Specifically things I can work on or resources to help me. An example will be that I need to work on my flexibility and mobility to get it to better levels, so examples of some stretches that are well suited for it. Things to read/study to get the philosophy of of the style in my head, as I personally believe understanding of what something is based on allows you to better understand it. The spirit if you will. Keep in mind this is not focused on what moves to focus on, throws, etc. To use a cooking example, I am not looking for a cuisine or dish suggestion. I am looking for things like knife skills, understanding ingredients, the roots of a cuisine to look at. Make sense? I sincerely appreciate any advise you can offer.