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Old 06-22-2008, 09:55 PM   #21
Kevin Leavitt
 
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Dojo: Team Combat USA
Location: Olympia, Washington
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Re: Aikido™ and Aiki…do. Where are we at?

Thanks Erick...I am hard headed mainly.

I personally think that there is nothing really that I have not been exposed to in aikido. Frankly just about everything that Mike showed us I have done at least ONCE in aikido as a warm up or exercise.

Same with irimi/tenkan...it is basic....move off the line and turn.

Irimi/Tenkan is the basis for ground fighting, and you see it in the UFC as well.

however, application of it, timing, and how you do it can be tremendously different.

Again, Mike didn't really show us nothing new..just told us alot of stuff about "HOW" to do it a little more correctly, and WHY you want to do it. and emphasized that you need to do it ALOT.

irimi/tenkan I have learned over the last few years is not just about moving off line, but more about energy you focus in and on your opponent. Today I try and move ever so slightly off line, but also try and have myself positioned with potential energy.

So, superficially, it may look the same or different. We communicate move off the line and turn....that is open for a HUGE discussoin about what it really means to do that. What I thought it meant has changed dramatically over the past couple of years.

So to me it is not so much the fact that I have been taught the wrong things, or the wrong methodology...it is simply a communication issue, or that emphasis was put in different areas than maybe where it should have been.

Who is responsible for it? Teacher or Student? Both I think. At some point the student has to start thinking for himself.

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