I Used to Believe...
 

What sort of beliefs did you used to have about aikido that have since then changed or been "shattered"?

What caused the change in your thinking?

(Idea taken from this link posted on Aikido-L.)

-- Jun

The Best Martial Art
 

When I began Aikido my initial thoughts where that it would be the most completel martial art form to date. Such that the techniques, the mentality, and above all else, the instructors, where somewhat invincible and nearly untouchable. Now, I don't believe that is completely true; but I also do not believe it completely false.

Today, I understand that instructors and aikidoka alike are human- that we all have problems pertaining to our lives. Moreover, that just because I (we) practice Aikido, all our problems go away. Yet even though they still exists, I now have a broader understanding of their nature. That is what has change in my mind most of all. Aikido is not the answer to all my problems, it is a tool to help me undestand myself better, so by and by, I will be able to solve them.

That's just my opinion.

Cheers,

Frank

Black belt in one year.

:eek:

Early beliefs:

- if I trained as long as my instructor my aikido would be like theirs

- it was the techniques that made aikido, and that some were unique to it

- that more training would necessarily make me better at aikido

- there are seperate techniques in aikido

Thee final point arose because I realised that once you get to a point where you know the techniques and you can do them all pretty much in an instinctive manner you have to think whether you are doing the techniques optimally. For that you have to have a correct model of what you are really aiming to achieve in the technique (and thus understand howw the dojo simulation really works). You can spend years practicing a technique, but what you are practicing is wrong all you learn is poor technique.

This leads to the last one - took me a long time to understand how they lead into and relate each other, and in many respects I am still finding amazing discoveries in this area. What amazes me IS the completeness of aikido in that the techniques form one indevisable whole.

When we started we were going to change the world.

Now I just want to change the block where I live.

Aikido was a religion. It was a tao. It was a path to enlightenment.

I am now going to publish the list of every person who has achieved enlightenment through Aikido.

Okay. It was the final martial Art. That is still true. Problem is, Saotome Sensei is about the only one who gets it. Teaches his shihans that way - some get it. It is a whole life experience and if you put aside any presumptions it makes your whole life indescribable... you actually LIVE YOUR LIFE.

Sorry if I got too emphatic. It has just been a fabulous day.

I used to believe aikidoka were nice people

bad to the bone
 

I was once Snow White, but I drifted.

Mike Lee said.

"I was once Snow White, but I drifted"

That's what happens when you hang out in the forest with 7 dwarves.

Which reminds me of a joke.

(Radio announcer voice)

"Do you wake up in the morning feeling sleepy and grumpy?"

"Then you must be Snow White"

(badbum)

opening my eyes
 

When I first showed up at a major dojo in Asia, I was starry eyed. I had never seen so many black belts in one room for a regular practice session. Soon thereafter, I became friends with a nidan who was also a very excellent martial artist. He simply told me, with regards to technique, there were "good aikidoists and bad aikidoists."

At first, I was kind of surprised to hear that. But then, I started to think about what he said, and I quickly realized that he was right. Some were just hobbiests, looking to get away from their nagging wives three nights a week. Others just wanted to dabble in the art and get a little exercise. Some tried to be teachers' pets, only caring about getting promoted, with little interest in gaining ever higher levels of skill.

Although I tried to remain open-minded, practicing with everybody, I scoped out the most skilled aikidoists and I tried to practice with them a little more often, making an effort to gain a deeper understanding from those people.

...aikido is fake.

I still remember when I asked somebody to really do nikyo to me. Gravity was not strong enough to pull me away from the pain fast enough.

...sensei is superhuman.

I've seen him mess up. Thing is he's able to flow with it and turn it into something else. Once he slipped on the mat at the execution of the technique and fell. I was uke and he used his fall to throw me. I wish my techniques felt as smooth as his mistakes :D

I don't think any highly skilled person has achieved anything that anybody who is willing to put in the same time and dedication can't also achieve.

...when I got to shodan I'd be really good.

I got to shodan and I wasn't really good. I was better than I used to be but a far cry from where I thought I'd be.

Bronson

I used to believe that aikido always changed people for the better. I now know that this does not always happen. People are people and some will always have deep seated insecurities and massive egos that no amount of practice will erase. I've seen educated people, the type you'd think would be wise and mature enough to rise above the ego trap that ranks and seniority can be just pound on students to prove they're better.

I used to think that Aikido was an immediately practical martial art. Almost 10 years of practice later, I now realize that practical application is more of a byproduct than a actual goal. Aikido still works but you have to make it so. I doesn't happen overnight either.

I used to think that I could understand O Sensei's writings if I read them more often. Boy, was I wrong..

I used to think a hakama was a cool part of an aikido uniform. Now it's just a long skirt that gets in the way of things..

Before I started aikido I used to think I was fairly coordinated and could move my appendages at will.

I used to think if I ever fell down I'd never be able to get up again.

Used to think all martial arts required throwing punches and kicks.

Used to think I'd never train in any martial art because just the training in it would be too brutal to the (my) body.

... all wrong. :D

I was told, when I first started aikido training, that aikido was the gentlest, and so the least injurious, martial art around. Boy, was that a load of ----!

I used to believe a sensei or high grade would truely live the idea of harmony...

...until I learnt that when it´s about money or power and influence many will forget that concept completely.

I used to believe that aikido was a passive, gentle art only for weaklings who couldn't throw a real punch.

(still working on getting real power into my atemi)

In a demo a few years ago a capable karate instructor was assisting me. I was talking to the audience and he thought I wanted him to attack but I was not ready. His shoulder dislocated and my left forearm split from the wrist to the elbow. I believed Aikido was about not getting hurt!

As we were practicing against left jabs in close a student opened up my eyebrow. I believed Aikido was about not getting hurt.

Just as the sword slipped into my left arm I believed Aikido was about not getting hurt.

As my right knee dislocated when a wayward Uki rolled into it on a crowded mat I believed Aikido was about not getting hurt.

As my ribs snapped because I was a little to slow and not off line I believed Aikido was about not getting hurt.

Last week as the hamstring n my left leg gave way and turned it into Jell-O I believed Aikido was About not getting hurt.

As I woke up this morning I believed Aikido is about not getting hurt

Isn't This How It Works?
 

But Dennis, I thought that this was how the whole process works... By the time you get to our age you are so bunged up that you have to start doing your technique right because you can't do it wrong any more. I always thought there was an inverse relationship between how many of your body parts were dysfunctional and the level of skill you attained... it's true in your case anyway.

Re: bad to the bone
 

Oh great more snow to shovel!:disgust:

ho-hum
 

Based on the content of your posts, I think you must be shovelling loads of something else.

I used to think that politics and aikido made for an awfully silly combination.

Well, I still think that...

Let's just say I've met some people who surprised me with their disagreement.

I used to believe people would be decent to each other.

get real
 

I used to believe in Santa Claus.

If everybody in this world was "nice," we wouldn't need to learn martial arts to protect ourselves. Aikido and all the others would eventually disappear.

So we can thank all the bad, nasty people of the world for helping us to preserve the martial arts!

Mr Lee, open up the possibility to send you a private message and you'll recieve one. You do not need to expose our email address to do this.