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Old 06-10-2013, 09:41 AM   #40
RonRagusa
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 824
United_States
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Re: 105) Aikido- Martial Arts Hidden Within: June 2013

Quote:
Gary Welborn wrote: View Post
Your choice of tools and how you choose to use them may effect less damage and the targets you choose may also......but you have to train that into the body/mind. As for myself these days I always target the body, I expect to have to fight the attackers weapons....his hand and feet....before I can physically enter...if I do.
I see Aikido as a subset of a much the larger collection of ideas, strategies and tactics that comprise "self-defense". Therefore, Aikido for self-defense is not a priority for me. Mary delved very deeply into self-defense in the fifteen years she spent teaching it and as a result we have both come away with a greater appreciation for the options available to us in the unlikely chance that we are ever assaulted.

The study she undertook has freed us from having to rely on Aikido as a primary tool for defending ourselves and enabled us to train with other goals in mind.

Quote:
Gary Welborn wrote: View Post
And in the end I would never set myself up before hand, in the moment, by saying to myself I choose not to harm this person........
Can't disagree with that sentiment.

Ron

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