One of the major criticisms of Aikido is that it is not practical.  People see wonderful displays in the dojo that  look choreographed.  To a certain degree they are right. 

When we practice Aikido it is choreographed to a certain extent, but it is important to ask why?  Aikido techniques are powerful and used at full strength and power to an unprepared partner would cause serious harm to your partner.  This is akin to katas seen in other martial arts.

The harder one attacks an Aikido practicioner the greater one will feel the power of Aikido as they spiral away into the mat.  It’s for this reason that both partners know which technique is performed and that they are not at full power.  In turn this is very misleading.  I believe that in order to understand Aikido one must expreience Aikido, and feel the techniques first hand.

For all the skeptics that don’t believe Aikido has practicality I would like them to take a look at the following video.