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Old 01-01-2008, 03:35 PM   #40
Jeff Sodeman
Dojo: San Diego Jiai Aikido
Location: San Diego
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 76
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Re: I'm Leaving Aikido

Just throwing my 2 cents out.

First, as others have mentioned I also don't think Aikido is for everyone.

That said, I'd hate anyone to judge a martial art, not matter what variety, by their experience under one teacher. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't still be doing Aikido if I'd started in a lot of the dojos out there. I got lucky and as much as I've learned from my teacher, seeing other teachers regulary opens my mind to whole new aspects of Aikido.

People have so many criticisms about Aikido, the way it's taught and practiced, things that aren't included. To most of those I say that they're in the wrong dojo.

I can't argue that Aikido doesn't take time to learn. It's a "-do", a way, and it's subtle on a level that you don't even realized without Years (with a big Y) of practice.

When people come into my dojo and ask me if Aikido works I tell them "I know it works". Why? Because I've used it in fights and it worked so well that I ended up frustrated at not making my attackers pay in pain for what they tried to do (which was an incredible personal lesson). [on a side note: one perk to using aikido was that the police didn't have any problem deciding which person went to jail and which got to go home]

So maybe Aikido is not for you, but after investing two years in something I'd take a look around a bit before leaving Aikido all together to see if maybe you're just not in the right school for your needs.
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