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Old 12-08-2004, 08:23 AM   #11
rob_liberti
Dojo: Shobu Aikido of Connecticut
Location: East Haven, CT
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,402
United_States
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Re: Recommend a teacher?

I forgot to mention what I think makes a teacher good.

The first thing I used to look for was to see if their are any good students in the dojo. (Sometimes they move off to start their own dojo, so you need to investigate that as well.)

Then I look at the technique itself. If they are consistently directly pushing, pulling, lifting, cranking, yanking, paining, or threatening their partners I say run as fast as you can from that dojo.

Then I look at the collaboration - specifically the ukemi. If it looks artificial to me - like the uke goes there because the uke is supposed to do that and there isn't an honest dialogue between the partners, that concerns me greatly too. Uke should be learning to make judgments about when to continue to attack and when to abandon the attack and roll or whatever. Nage should be learning to make judgments about getting into the place of safety and do throws that are not at the expense of the uke.

Also, the teacher should be able to tell you the name of their teacher and that teacher's teacher back to O-sensei.

Lastly, please ask your teacher if their seminars are open to aikido people from all organizations. (Every once in a while I've been told that I may not attend a seminar because my teacher's current teacher had a big fight with their teacher's teacher like 25+ years ago and so I am not welcome because I teach in that system. Give me a break! The majority of people join dojos because the dojo is close to their house not because they agree with a particular side of a long forgotten argument.) I hope if enough new people ask teachers, maybe it will raise awareness to the idea that "the times they are a changing..." Regardless, a good teacher should not support such rules.

Rob
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