Great question! Kittens learn to hunt by playing. Women learn how to have and raise babies from their family and from research and study. The learning portion can never be the same as the actual portion. The learning simply makes it much more likely that you will succeed. Beyond that, by co-operating while adhering to the dynamics of survival, you train yourself to equate survival with what is natural, easy and loving. When an attacker approaches you, you will have no intention to hurt or injure and you will have a deep confidence in your ability to move and act. Because you have no "plan of attack" (an Aikidoist has only a plan for security) your assailant cannot "read" you. You are co-operating with his best interest as well as your own.

At the level of attack and safe resolution, you are not co-operating with the attack or the attacker’s mental attitude. In fact you are rejecting them completely. You are, however, co-operating with your commitment to safety and with human physiology. This understanding will allow you protect yourself non-violently and to generalize Aikido techniques into all areas of life.

Yes and No. Here’s a great story to illustrate my point. Hameed Khan had about 6 months of training at my dojo. All of his friends were training in Tae Kwon Do, a Korean type of karate. When he would go to their dojo and attempt to spar with them, he would always be easily defeated. His friends would jokingly tell him to give up on Aikido and do something real. Hameed finally got the Aikido message. He went to his friends’ dojo and said, "I will not fight with you any more. However if you would like to try to hit me or take me down, please do so." They tried. They failed over and over. Never make the mistake of thinking that you can use Aikido to fight better than others. Aikido is for making your life safe and happy. It is not for winning over others.

No. It never happens. Of all the times my students have used Aikido on the street, no one has ever asked for seconds. And no one has ever been hurt. In fact, my police students say something like this: "before Aikido the fight never ended until the suspect was in handcuffs and in the car; since Aikido as soon as I take a suspect down he stops fighting and co-operates." There are several good reasons for this. Attackers expect you to freeze, cower or fight. When you don’t stay with any of these, they are stunned. Assailants inflict pain and expect pain. When you move them without pain, they go into a kind of mental blankness. Because your energy and response come from the truth of your right to be safe, the attacker is completely overwhelmed. In a very real sense, they are happy to co-operate with you.

No. You might be surprised to learn that in street situations people roll almost exactly like they do in class. We are amazing creatures. Given half a chance, we all tend to respond wisely.

Let me answer with a story. Christian is a young man from Ripon, Ca. He and his wife are visiting his sister and her husband. They are at an apartment complex. The manager decides that the brother-in-law is too loud and must be quiet. The brother-in-law is large and has a reputation for a hot temper and trouble. The manager is much smaller. Christian is also much smaller than his brother-in-law and has never been in a fight. As the two men argue, Christian sees his brother-in-law begin to rage. Just as his in-law begins to move forward to attack, Christian moves in front of him and pushes him backwards 10 feet. He looks him square in the eyes and says, "this is not going to happen." His in-law is stunned. He cannot understand how Christian got there so fast, nor can he believe that he was pushed 10 feet backwards, nor can he believe that his rage is gone. The manager is, by this time, 100 yards away and inside his apartment. Christian receives many thank yous and his brother-in-law swears that this has kept him out of jail. By the way, Christian’s wife saw the whole thing and says that she was sure that Christian was going to be pounded when he moved to stop the violence. What Christian did was a classic example of Aikido. He didn’t even use an Aikido technique. He did the right thing. Or as he says, "the right thing was done through me."