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Old 10-14-2010, 09:42 AM   #72
NagaBaba
 
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Re: Real aikido is not just for the dojo

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
Jon, has summed up very well my personal thoughts on this thread as I read through them. Not that I disagree with things others have said, there is alot of good material.

A couple of things come to mind from my past experiences (and present right now as I am actively in a combat zone...not that that really matters much in the greater scheme of this discussion, nor does it make me an expert on this topic...but this has been a topic that is fresh on my mind).

1. Martial Arts or Aikido will make you "better" prepared. IME, sure, do a degree that logic is true, however, it can also make you "worse".

Studied for 12 years or so in traditional systems, then started met some guys in the Army that did not share the same paradigm of training than I did. The dissonance I experienced left me in utter defeat in the fetal position trying to figure out what I did wrong or why I could not beat a guy that had only been studying "martial arts" for 4 months.

Why? what I had studied had simply not prepared me to deal with the paradigm of more realistic fighting as I had thought it had. Sure I could have been more calm or understood maybe a slight bit better than someone that had not studied as long as I had, but given the two of us...the results would have been the same....fetal position on the floor getting pounded..but yet...sure...I might have been a little more a "one" with myself...but does that really matter if I am injured or dead?

Macroscopically, as far as a "budo" practice, I think maybe it might make a difference as a "life changing" practice. Maybe I am more at peace with myself and all is right with my life, family and friends, so I am prepared to "die a good death".

Maybe, as Josh pointed out, that it does allow us to think clearer and maybe we are less a "sheep" and more a "wolf". that is we are willing to take action vice not take action. I think that can be an important first step.

Our slogan in Army Combatives is "the definition of a warrior is one who is willing to close with and engage the enemy."

Note that we don't say "competent" to engage the enemy.

there is alot more to being Competent in the necessary skill sets to do "something about" an immediate action situation. As Josh points out, EMT, Police, Military...a Chef even.

So, I think that, do a degree, yes, Budo practices can (or should), instill an basic instinct of "willingness".

But, I think that Willingness is one thing and ability/skill quite another.

Also, we may think or rationalize that our training has prepared us in ways that it really has not. How much stress do we really train under in our daily lives to deal with highly stressful and potentially dangerous situations? From my experiences, most dojos do not prepare students in the least do deal with the horrors of violence or catastrophe.

2. We will always rise and fall to the level of our training. I have experienced this so much in my military career. Under stress, we will do the things that we have made habit. Things we don't even realize we may do. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

I train my guys in the basics, then I get them in Blauer gear as fast as I can and then put them under a great deal of "combative" stress and video tape them so they can see the "instinctive" baseline that they currently have. We then work to fix and reprogram those things and then go back into the stress training to make sure it "sticks".

We also do the same things with our weapons on the range introducing as much stress and as many variables as we can to closely approximate the conditions we will fight under. It is amazing how "stupid" and brain locked you become and then result to subconscious defaults!

Sorry to get so long winded.

Anyway, I think budo training can help in many areas of our lives, however, when you start looking at actual applications or it in our daily lives, the dojo is in my opinion much like Church. A great practice to remind us constantly about what we need to stay focused on...however, like going to Church on Sunday....it ain't reality, and applying our values and the lessons we learn in Church are a whole heck of alot harder to make a part of our daily lives, and requires a whole lot more than what we typically get in a couple of hours in the dojo a week.
This is one of the most interesting post I read recently. However ppl who are living in this McDonaldcivilisation don't understand a word what are you talking about.
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Nagababa

ask for divine protection Ame no Murakumo Kuki Samuhara no Ryuo
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