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"Your guide for newbies covers vastly all the points that worry me the most ... I read it eagerly the minute I received it, and several times more after. ... I wonder how people used to prepare for their first gradings in the olden days, before you guys wrote this guide ... In general, I like the understanding and friendly style of yours, and the tricks to gain a few secs in case you feel too tired! ..." Patricia, London
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Five years ago I had to leave my dojo because my studies took me to England. Now I'm doing the same thing again, leaving my dojo and going to another country. Before the last trainings at the dojo in Wimbledon I had been wondering if the two leaving experiences would be very similar.
In this post I am going to discuss the relationship between aikido techniques and the concept of self defence, and – finally – I will also touch upon the effectiveness of techniques.
A couple of days ago I was walking towards the train station after work. It was around 9pm but it was still not very dark. As I was walking I heard someone saying in a nervous-sounding voice: "Excuse me!!" It was a woman on a bycicle and she was saying this to an other woman walking just behind me. The pavement was wide, there weren't many people there walking but the bycicle woman wanted to cycle in the middle of it and anyone in her way had to get out.
The next aspect of self defence that still does not need to end with executing a technique, but that is a very important basic principle of aikido, and no technique can be done without it, is getting out of the line. What does that mean?
I have been getting questions recently about the applicability of aikido in self defence situations. How effective are the techniques of aikido as self defence techniques?
A couple of days ago I was travelling in the 
