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Old 12-12-2006, 09:17 AM   #2
Nick Pagnucco
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 107
United_States
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Re: Everyone been training for 30+ years?

Similar to you, I've been practicing for just under 5 years.

There are several different kinds of people who post here, from what I can tell:
  1. You have the people who have been training for decades in aikido. Not everyone, but there are senior aikidoka out and about around here.
  2. You then have other people who have training in different martial arts. The names we hear about a lot right now are Mike Sigman, Dan Harden, Rob John, or Ellis Amdur, but there are others. We have people who post who train in Judo, BJJ, Jeet Kun Do, Sambo, and a few other things. And not all of them have aikido as their current primary art.
  3. Third, you have people who are "too big for britches." These are people who are in over their heads, and use terminology that they don't truly understand. Maybe they think they do, or maybe their trying to get some respect... who knows.
  4. Then you have The Clueless (tm), like me*. People who are very aware of what they don't know more than what they do know. Sometimes we make insightful posts, sometimes our posts are nothing but awkward. But the point is some people post just to ask questions.
These are not exclusive categories, but they're how I've started to see people.

As for the 'internal' stuff, I've begun to see it as being similar to discussions about 'philosophy' or 'effectiveness.' Independent of the value of the topic, threads tend to generate a life of their own, disconnecting from any and all other issues in aikido. This is a shame, because they should connect, but people are at their best and worst when we're discussing internal/kokyu/ki.

Now, as to why kokyu/ki/internal has become so important in the last few years... well, thats a whole different thread.


* I endeavor to avoid being in the too big for britches category, but I doubt I've been perfectly successful.

Last edited by Nick Pagnucco : 12-12-2006 at 09:19 AM.
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