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Old 03-12-2008, 10:06 AM   #21
jennifer paige smith
 
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Dojo: Confluence Aiki-Dojo / Santa Cruz Sword Club
Location: Santa Cruz
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,049
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Re: Aikido without self-defense

Quote:
Stefan Stenudd wrote: View Post
I wonder, if you completely exclude the self-defense aspect of your aikido training, if you forget about it completely - will it still be meaningful to you?

In other words: Do you practice aikido in order to learn self-defense, or is that just part of the deal?

Myself, increasingly by each year, I tend to find that I practice aikido for what takes place inside the dojo - not outside of it. The dojo is sort of a budo world that might or might not have baring to the outside world - but whatever the case, I would be quite happy practicing aikido solely for learning how to deal with it in the dojo.

What about you?
At a point I made the observation of my own life that my REAL life was in the dojo. It wasn't like that was a fake part and the rest was somehow 'on'. I didn't use this as any kind of 'out' for my training practices, but I used it for a realization that my life wasn't fragmented it was whole. It was because of a decisionI made that my life was 'safe and whole' and that decision was to commit myself to training myself and others, eventually. In so doing, I removed myself from the environments where violence dominated and put myself in a place where focus was king.
You see, I came from a violent place to aikido. And while I now go to places where violence is present, I come as a person who has experienced something else.
I'll say more later.
Thanks,
jen

Jennifer Paige Smith
Confluence Aikido Systems
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