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Old 09-20-2012, 10:52 AM   #142
jonreading
 
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Dojo: Aikido South
Location: Johnson City, TN
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Don't waste your time practicing AIKIDO

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
For me, the phrase "non-resistance" goes in that bucket of useless, meaningless words that people use that offer little or no help to actually understanding what they are doing or trying to do. I throw "just move your hips", and "move from your hara", and such phrases in that same category. They sound good, everyone goes..yeah...I understand, but few can actually provide you the means to actually understand what is going on or what the phrase means or translate that into a physical practice.
I tend to agree here. Some of the new stuff we are experiencing in aikido requires some lexicon changes. "non-resistence" and "relaxation" are hitting the trash for me.

I think it is reasonable to conclude that many fights are intended to end up on the ground. Sometimes the ground work does not manifest itself before the fight ends, sometimes it does. Sometimes only one person ends up on the ground (this is actually advantageous to the fighter left standing). The simple fact is that it is easier to subdue and control someone on the ground. It is not coincidence that law enforcement control positions involve placing individuals on the ground (yes, they may also use vehicles as a substitute for the ground).

Grappling is both defense against someone skilled in grappling and offense. I think any art which teaches both defense and offense gives its practitioners an advantage in a fight (over being non-skilled). I think you can argue whether one art is better at teaching both offense and defense for given scenarios. I think it is fair to argue that modern aikido is light on our ukewaza; this seems to be a running comment from our sister arts that cross-train with us. I think projecting flaws in its practitioners onto the art as a whole is a poor argument.
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