Inverness Aikido Club head instructor Angus Lyall has achieved one of the highest ranked qualification in Europe
Inverness Aikido Club head instructor Angus Lyall has achieved one of the highest ranked qualification in Europe. He tells Will Clark about how he has dedicated almost five decades of his life to Aikido.
For almost five decades, Angus Lyall has dedicated himself to becoming a master of Aikido.
Now the 76-year-old holds a rank few people in Europe have ever reached in the non competitive martial art.
The head instructor of Inverness Aikido Club has been promoted to the rank of Rokudan, which is the sixth degree black belt.
The sensei has dedicated most of his adult life to becoming a master of his martial arts discipline, which spans 46 years from when he first took up Aikido.
His achievement was celebrated by his students at their latest training session at Inverness Leisure Centre.
Lyall was modest in accepting his promotion to sixth dan.
He says that it is a rank which takes time to achieve and required dedicating his life to be promoted to.
However, he says that he is proud to receive the new ranking, which makes him one of the most qualified in Europe, with very few other instructors able to call themselves Rokudan.
“It is a bit unusual, and I’m probably only the second person in Scotland to get it,” said the sensei at his latest training session.
“There is another man in England that holds the rank, but that is it.
“It’s an age thing more than anything.
“Before I first came up here I did it in Dundee for eight years and became first dan.
“Then I came to Inverness and continued my training here.
“There are about five years in between grades and there is a committee that gets together once a year for annual promotions.
“The committee is based all over Europe, including in Italy, Denmark, Germany and England.
“It is a great honour to be promoted to Rokudan.”
Aikido is a self defence art that was developed in Japan in the early 20th century.
But it has roots which go back to the samurai era.
While remaining true to its roots, the art has been developed into an activity suitable for the 21st century and modern life.
Aikido is translated as ‘way of harmony’ and has three main components.
It includes exercises to maintain health and flexibility, as well as meditation and breathing practice along with self defence techniques.
A major principle of Aikido is that it is better to lead an attacker in such a way that their attack fails, rather than trying to beat them at their own game by fighting back.
It is based on the fighting arts of feudal Japan but has developed into a peaceful, non-competitive art.
It aims to develop flexibility, relaxation and harmonious movement while providing good gentle aerobic exercise.
Lyall has run the Inverness Aikido Club for over 25 years.
He says the non competitive element of the martial art has always fascinated him and it sparked a life long affair with the discipline.
“It was originally based on ju-jitsu but it doesn’t involve competition and fighting and that is what makes it unusual for martial arts.
“The guy who developed Aikido solved the conundrum of developing a martial art that was non fighting.
“The non fighting aspect is what I like best about it and there are a variety of techniques involved.
“There are mental aspects as well physical aspects and Aikido develops mind and spirit as well as body.”
Classes generally start with two kinds of exercise.
They include exercises for health, such as breathing, flexing and stretching.
There are exercises for Aikido which help the development of a unification of mind and body and the body movements and body mechanics used in the Aikido techniques. The class also practices breathing and meditation techniques.
Aikido practice begins with basic of various techniques and develops to use minds and bodies in harmony.
Lyall leads the class at Inverness Aikido Club at the Inverness Leisure Centre where he leads a dedicated group of athletes through the disciplines of the martial art.
He says his students range from a number of varied backgrounds and age groups, ranging from people who are just starting out in Aikido to those, like him, who have also made the martial art a major part of their lives.
He says learning the elements of Aikido also teaches life skills.
“Aikido teaches confidence, balance, coordination and self defence,” says Lyall.
“All these aspects come into Aikido and it can be described as a multi faceted sport.
“I would recommend more people get involved in Aikido and we have people who come from all walks of life.
“In our group we have one retired police officer and one serving police officer.
“There is no particular type of person who comes along to our class.”
Lyall added: “Kids seem to really take to Aikido and we had a kids class which took place in Alness and those that took part in sessions were aged seven and 13-year-old.
“Aikido is great for the mind as well as the physical aspect.
“I would recommend more people get involved.”
Inverness Aikido Club is part of the Highland Ki Society and it runs three classes in the Highlands and Moray region.
Inverness Aikido Club meet on Wednesday nights at Inverness Leisure Centre from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
The Alness Ki Society meet at the Alness Dojo on Kendal Crescent on Monday night at 7pm.
In addition, Kinloss Ki Aikido meet on Thursday night at 7pm at Cumming Hall in Kinloss.
Those who are keen to find out more information about how to get involved in Aikido in their area can visit their website at www.highlandkisociety.co.uk
