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<blogEntry id="3949">
	<title><![CDATA[The shiho nage paradox]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I went to a sports doctor once for an elbow injury. He's a very good doctor. He looked at the x-ray carefully and then he asked me, "Do you do aikido?" "Wow," I thought to myself, "this guy [I]is[/I] good!" Then he told me he had only seen bone spurs in an elbow like that once before. In an aikido teacher. 

Let's be honest. Shiho nage is a dangerous technique. Done incorrectly by an inexperienced aikidoka who doesn't understand the technique it can put severe stress on the elbow joint. Done incorrectly by a more experienced aikidoka who is starting to understand the technique it can cause long-lasting damage. At the Aikikai hombu dojo I have seen people have to stop their training in the middle of the lesson after getting injured with an uncontrolled shiho nage.

So in fact I only teach it to experienced aikidoka. There's the paradox. If I only teach shiho nage to experienced aikidoka how do the inexperienced aikidoka get to be experienced aikidoka?

It's a kind of zen mondo or koan - an existential riddle of aikido. 

So what's the answer? 

Well if I told you that it wouldn't be a paradox any more, would it.

[I]photo: X-ray 1 by Owen Blacker ([url]http://www.flickr.com/photos/owenblacker/[/url]) used under creative commons licence[/I]

© niall matthews 2010]]></body>
	<date>06-05-2010</date>
</blogEntry>
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