I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

I was waiting in queue at a dining area to order some food when I noticed the person in front of me was the head of another aikido school. I did not know him personally but I had seen him at several overseas seminars... besides, he was wearing a t-shirt saying 'Hombu Dojo'

This got me thinking... and it's a fun question

After training for some time, do you think it's possible to pick out fellow aikidoka from a normal crowd? maybe from the way the person walks or moves? or perhaps we can sense something...:)

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

I think you can by certain mannerism's. I met someone and they seemed so confident and carried themselves in a particular way. I asked him if he ever did martial arts and he told me yes and wanted to know how I knew. :)

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

It's weird. For many seminars I'll help by picking up folks from the airport I've never met nor have ever seen and typically not even have a description beyond 'so and so from aikido of blah blah' and I can spot them instantly step up and introduce myself. Never got one wrong out of ~100.

To be fair lets drop the ~50 that wear aikido related garments - that still leaves an unmistakable trend.

I can't really say what it is but there is definitely something there to pick up on ...

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

"Aikidar"??

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

My fiance stands in homni ... then again he never was quite right.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

hanmi?
han - half
mi - "visible" sort of. "look" sort of... "exposed" sort of...

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

I've been asked a couple of times if I'm a ballet dancer!

It's the posture and the centred walk.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

The tutu always gives me away ...

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

I've been asked on several occasions whether or not I was a) a ballet dancer, b) a boxer, c) a wushu player, d) a doctor.

Usually though, they just ask if I'm crazy.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

Ah.......that could be it. :D

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

I can tell if someone has been trained in the martial arts by how they walk. I can also tell if someone is a grappler by their ears :D

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

I think after a long time in aikido you do end up becoming a bit of an energetic loud speaker (or broad caster). This can be good or bad. There are certain shihan that when they enter the room I actually feel a bit sick to my stomach. Others, that when they enter the room it almost feels like a sigh of relief - or some sort of unberdening experience. Maybe it's all in my head/guts. :)

Rob

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

You guys are better than me. I can only pick out grapplers cause of their build and ears. I can typically do the opposite though. That is I can look at the guy in the Tapout shirt and usually pick him our as a wannabe.

Aikdoka? no way am I that good.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

How's that, exactly? Clearly, I'm not a grappler.

I'm not enough of a people watcher at present to observe many of the subtlties that others have been able to catch. However, this thread makes me want to indulge my inner Sherlock Holmes.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

You're obviously picking up on something, not sure what exactly. Perhaps it's the experiences you've had with them on the mat, being reinforced by seeing them?

But whatever's going on it's causing you an emotional reaction.

Not in aikido, but there have been a few rare times where I've felt someone's "presence." Good and bad. It can be quite disconcerting for me, because I get an emotional response, seemingly from nowhere.

Sometimes on the bus, especially towards the end of summer, I feel a very tense vibe, as if everyone is hot and cranky and barely containing their rage.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

*ears*... hmmm... I can guess why, but that's a painful guess :D

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

My dojo has actually had problems because of this kind of thing. We can terrorise a room by sitting in corner reading a book, practically.
The first time we realised there was a problem was when we were in a bar one night and a bouncer came over and very calmly and politely said "You've not done anything lads, I have no problem with you but I have to ask you to leave because people are complaining about you."
Another night we were outside of a club and the bouncers were eyeballing us, giving us really suspicious looks and eventually one says "You four do something don't you?" We're were like "Yep" and he asks if he's going to get any trouble off us. We're like "no, mate" and he stands there just staring at us for a good half a minute and eventually he let us in.
We can walk into a bar and the place goes silent and everyone just stares at us. It's like a scene from a western when the gun slinger walks into the saloon.

It's become a running joke. The upside is that we never have any trouble with people, most guys wont even make eye contact with us.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

Next time I go bar crawling, I'm bring you mates.... :D
Best,
Ron :eek:

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

http://www.cauliflower-ear.com/cauli..._pictures.html

Most long term grapplers end up with some level of screwed up ears. Just like long term judoka end up with ugly looking fingers and toes.

But I notice a lot with how guys walk. It's hard to quantify, but I can tell if someone is able to handle themselves by how they walk.

My aikido teacher says you can tell a lot about the level of a martial artist by the way they stop.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

It might help to stop wearing the Gi to the bar.:p

I've noticed a lot of martial artists have a certain self carriage. Its a combination of things that most people will not consciously register but instinct picks out. I've had it for a long time, expect the Aikido will only refine it more. Geeze I intimidate people as it is I can only imagine what it will be like when Ive trained for a good while. Most people, when I ask them, cant even begin to tell me what it is about me that is so scary.

Someone (martial artist) picked me out of a crowd once too and that was long before I took up Aikido.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

I'll bet it's all that work you do with horses! :D

B,
R

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

LOL I'm pretty sure that is a large part of it. Horses are not just a part of life to me they are a way of life. Horsemanship and Aikido are amazingly close in nature that way. The person who found me is one of the people who got me on this path simply because he said it is already a part of me. He was right. ;)

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

Probably the spurs and Copenhagen. I doubt the bullwhip puts many people off though.

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

I'm not even sure the spurs would put many people off.;)

Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...
 

When I was driving through the parking lot of the venue where we had the Dan Harden Seminar earlier this month, I almost ran over two gentlemen (Mark Murray was one ) and I immediately said to myself that I believe these guys are part of the seminar - of course, the two bokens they were carrying might have been a clue :D

Greg