The first character, Ai, can be interpreted as “harmony” or “union with” or “oneness.” The second character, Ki, refers to the essential life force or the fundamental creative energy. It is believed that Ki is centered in your “one-point,” which is located in the lower part of the abdomen. The final character, Do, is one that we often see in the names of other martial arts, such as Judo, Kendo and even Taekwondo. It means “way” or “path.” Taken together, it can be interpreted as the way of blending with an opponent’s attack or movements. This reflects one of the principles of Aikido, in that a practitioner will seek to blend with his attacker’s movements and use his attacker’s momentum against his attacker, turning the attack into a throw, a pin or some sort of joint-manipulation.