Aikido Demonstration At Library Shows The Art Of Peace In Combat

You may have seen UFC, WWE or boxing, but Aikido brings something wholly different to the concept of martial arts.

"It's different because you have to feel your attacker," Aikido of Solano Roy Pippin said. "You can't get in front and just combatively beat up on one another. We use our opponent's energy to defeat their purpose."

Time and again Wednesday at the , Pippin showed how quick reflexes and simple motions defeat a wide range of oncoming attacks. His fellow instructors Joe Le and James Fulmer demonstrated a wide variety of rolling Aikido falls, designed to avoid injury.

O'Sensei Morihei Uyeshiba (1883- 1969) practiced all traditional martial arts of Japan, then invented the martial art of Aikido, focusing on harmony and peaceful reconciliation.

Pippin said Aikido takes effort and patience to learn. If you practice Aikido day in and day out for years "you can feel what's coming. You can sense it."

The concept is often foreign to today's instant gratification way of thinking.

"To do anything you have to have the desire to do it, then you have to have the effort to do it and then you have to have the willpower to continue to do it," Pippin said. "Most everybody these days has a Burger King mentality, they want it their way and they want it now."

For those willing to practice and devote their time, the rewards are stark, as Pippin, Le, and Fulmar showed (see photos). The minimum age to start Aikido is 7 years old. The maximum age? Well, Pippin is 64.

Aikido of Solano is located at 502 A Parker Road in Farifield. You can get more information by going to www.aikidoofsolano.com or calling 707-469-0210.