Aikido Training and Safe Falling

During warmups in yesterday’s 5:30 pm class, one of our adult students suddenly exclaimed, “Sensei, I forgot to tell you!”

He has a 2-story house with a space for a very large Christmas tree.  He was part-way up a ladder and, of course, carrying stuff.  When he climbed onto the step that was about 7-8 feet off the ground, he felt the ladder falling to the side.  Rather than fight what was obviously going to happen, he took a forward roll.  He said it was a really good roll.  He barely bruised a shoulder.  Otherwise he was entirely unhurt!  Well, done!

In response, another adult student said that he had a very different story to tell.  Back in 2001, before he had any martial arts training at all, he was about 3 feet up a ladder.  The ladder tipped and he fell.  He landed wrong on his foot and was on crutches for 3 months.

Of all the skills we work on in aikido, falling skills are amongst the very most useful.  Yes, we all could suffer physical attack.  No question.  But, the likelihood of slipping and falling is much greater. 

Keep improving your falling skills.  You really may need them.