When will i learn this
 

I was watching a show a few weeks ago and it was called the ultimate top 10 martial arts and it said that aikido students can create a force field around them to protect them. I have just started to take aikido lessons 2 days ago and wanted to know when I would learn the force field? Do I have to be a black belt to do it?

Re: When will i learn this
 

Aikido is taught as a set of techniques.
These techniques may give you improved (maybe false but nonetheless) confidence, posture and awareness which may ward off some people who would've decided to attack you otherwise.

I know it works for me. I let them know that I am aware of their intent, and at the same time I don't directly challenge them... sort of like putting a barrier there.

I notice many shodans having a far more powerful and refined version of this, but mine works fine too. As long as its with strangers.

Either way... just stick with it and allow yourself to make your own discoveries.

force field
 

Yes, my force field is impenatrable!!! No life form can penetrate it! Not even phasers can break through. Only photon torpedos or a direct hit down the mine shaft (which will create a chain reaction in the main generator) can break through my force field!!!

Don't believe everything you see on TV. In fact I probably wouldn't believe most of it.

Re: When will i learn this
 

You could get the Buzz Lightyear belt (standard issue slotted pig), or the better yet get some Jedi training. You are probably too old to begin the training however. Once you get the force field down you start working on the tractor beam, so don't get too caught up in the old "force field" hype. They both have nothing on the concussion energy some Chinese guys can do though....

If you haven't guessed that this is all a load of crap, let me tell you now:

It is a load of crap.

Don't let Hollywood tell you what budo is about.

Jim Vance

Re: Re: When will i learn this
 

There could be some truth in this stuff.

I once trained with a 4th kyu who no one could get close to in class. I kid you not. We all tried, with no luck -- the closest we got was maybe within four or five feet, tops. Then we went flying across the dojo without even being touched. We finally figured it out ... get out your note book kids, this is it!

Apparently, he was running late for class and decided to grab a hamburger -- bad move -- it was laced with raw onions! Man, those things don't smell very good second hand! Anyway, his force field worked like a charm! I heard it eventually wore off, but by then he was away from any serious threat of bodily harm.

I'm now a believer.

Jim23

Hello,

I also watched the show in question. The narrator did not say that Aikido students learned how to create a force field around themselves. The narrator did say that Aikido students learn techniques which make it seem as though Aikido students are surrounded by a force field.

This notion is brought about by the fact that Aikido students learn to use the attackers energy (read: strength) to their advantage. So, when many techniques are performed (such as the Kokyunage and Kotegaeshi techniques in the show) it appears that the attackers are just "bouncing" off an invisible force field.

when will I learn this?
 

I also saw the program you described, and I remember them also describing Aikido as "the art that best preserves the spirit of the Samurai". In fact, that's what I remember the most about the piece they did on Aikido. Included in that was someone practicing Iaido.
The martial art I train in was also featured as the "most" something else, and personally wish they had left it out, so I presume there were lots of other discrepancies about the other martial arts they featured. For example, I believe they said the Kung Fu was the "most spiritual" if I'm not mistaken. Yes, these things on TV are usually very badly researched and should always be taken with a grain of salt - even when something positive is said.
janet dtantirojanarat
www.warriorwoman.org

One of my senseis told me he watched that show and he said the guy "representing" or portraying aikido in it weighed like 400 pounds, so there's another type of force field one can have...

news and facts ... or what sells
 

Having personally been involved in reported news stories by different News crews, basically as being privy to facts before during and after a News story, I have seen a minor local story inflated to raging crime waves, or a crush of holiday traffic never seen before ... These particular storys aired on the New York news media in the 1970s, let alone various local South Jersey stories in the Philadelphia news.

The problem with descriptive prose for a News Story is that the reporter is selling words to make his/her paycheck. Depending how important the Padding of the Story becomes is the relevence to the the Story becoming News and makeing AirTime verses finding a home in a garbage can?

Be careful of observing the padding in news.

Sometimes the comedy of a situation is funny just because of the irony of what happens, but corrections are more helpful than making fun of misquotes about "forcefields"? (come on guys, a little help?)

Please don't let the topic of Women in aikido degenerate into a heckling contest?

Back to the topic.

Reporters, depending upon their own education and marketability, will indeed turn a mediocre story into a crime wave, but the very next week report the drop in crime upon the same subject? I guess your own comparitive research and knowledge will have to be applied to each type of story depending upon how many facts you find matching the story upon other reports from different news agencys?

Kind of like Aikido practice. The more you learn what works, the easier it is to pick out the humor verses the reality of Aikido practice?

Umm, no. The person who represented Aikido in the documentary was Sensei Kensho Furuya. He is a very well respected and accomplished Aikido Sensei. 400 pounds is a bit of an exageration, probably closer to 275. But then, does that really matter?

Could Jun move this thread to the humour section?! :D I'm laughing my head off here... :D :D :D

Ki Ball and Force Field
 

I am offering the Ki Ball of energy and the Force field on e-bay now at the unheard of price $99.95. Buy now and I will throw in the anti-gravity do-gi for free.

I didn't like that "IrimiTom" wrote.
WHat does body weight has to do with the quality of a sensei?

Furuya Sensei is a great Aikido sensei and is very beloved by many.

Please read his book "KODO" and visit his web site.
Then you will show a bit more respect to the man.

Ze'ev
http://www.aikidocenterla.com

laughing skeptics
 

There is only one thought about the marketing or your humor for Ki ball ...

We have pooper scooper ordinances for such objects, maybe it should be for that kind of humor also?

Yeah, I know, you need more beer to make get that warm fuzzy feeling, and it ain't ki that you are making?

Not good Aiki, but beer do kill the braincells!

Send me the prospectus of your Ki ball?

Why?

If you make fun of it, then you believe it more than you realize?

Thanks.

Now how about making fun of Ki forcefields so that gets totally screwed up too?

In a way there is a positive / negative energy reaction of human bodies that has to do with Ki/chi? Maybe the static energy of this energy could be interpreted as force field?

I wonder what George Carlin would have to say on this subject?

The problem with that program Ze'ev was the entire program itself. I don't know if you saw the program, but the entire thing was pretty flighty, and very Hollywoodesq. One quarter of the program was very bad (Combat Ki?).

If you want to learn about The Force and to become a Jedi go to www.jediacademy.com (Yes, they really think they are). If you want to learn aikido stick with it and you will learn that you don't need to create a "force field" to be good at aikido.

America reaches a new depth of idiocy.

Patience, patience. Most dojos don't start you on force fields until 3rd kyu....:D

Re: news and facts ... or what sells
 

The news and the basic TV documentary seems good until you find something on a subject you really know. Every newspaper article I have seen on a subject that I knew on a professional level had at least a couple glaring factual errors and always a rather obvious slant. Makes you think twice about the articles on subjects you don't know.

As for forcefields. I honestly can't believe anyone, at least above a certain age, could possibly be that gullible. But then people are always surprising me with what they are willing to believe.