A Principle Based Art


Seishin Aikido

A Principle Based Art


The Principle is to be understood and applied. Practice is to be done and experienced.


It is not in seeking a single technique or style of art that one will find the answer to every encounter. But it is in the understanding of principles that one has the tools to create a solution for every encounter.


Principle is defined as a rule which guides the way one acts, a truth upon which a system is based, or a law by which something operates. Principles are universal in nature. They guide us in our actions. They are the bases of the systems we live by and are the laws by which the universe moves. Principles are a changeless core in our lives. Without this base core we flounder in times of crises. 


The learning of technique without principle is a hollow promise. No true understanding of any technique can occur without knowing its underlying principle. So before the artist can call a technique his own, he must first come to know the principle upon which the technique is based. All techniques are but a singular expression of some principle. In Seishin Aikido, principle is always taught along with technique.


If the student hopes to grow in the depth and breath of the art, he must be introduced to the principles of the art and of Seishin Aikido at the time he begins his study of the art. Exactness and precision in the execution of a technique comes from the discipline of practice and deepest understanding of principle. In this sense, Seishin Aikido is a principle based art.

W. Muryasz

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