Aikido, Iron Balls and Elbow Power: The Teachings of Alex Essani

Description

Alex Essani, the Aikido teacher and practitioner, whose thoughts about the practice of Aikido are expressed in this book, does not in reality exist – he is a fictitious character invented by the writer as a means of exploring ideas. Then again, the training philosophy and methods attributed to Alex Essani are definitely not fictitious: they’re based on the writer’s personal experiences with real Aikido instructors, in particular his current sensei, and on many years of practising, studying and teaching Aikido. The conversations between the two main characters, Alex Essani and his student Ian, are inventions used illustrate the most important principle or concept. As the writer’s real Aikido teacher would put it after telling a tall story, “It is a true story; only the facts have been changed”; insofar as the writer has fictionalised real incidents and conversations, this book is the same – it is fiction based on fact. In this third edition the writer has replaced and improved all the images, edited numerous chapters and added two more. He has also omitted the final a part of the book, in the past devoted to technique notes, as there are currently many excellent books devoted entirely to this aspect of Aikido training, including “Essential Aikido” written by the writer.