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Old 02-24-2013, 01:44 PM   #12
Ellis Amdur
 
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Location: Seattle
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 934
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Re: No-one wants to practice with me

Michael - the OP wrote that there are no other aikido clubs in the area - hence the encouragement to keep training. I'm basing my perspective on my own experience - in Japan, as it happens. Some dojo I trained at were hostile to me, either as an outsider to the dojo or as a foreigner. In some cases, I stuck it out and became - eventually - a welcome member. In other cases, I did not - but in every case, I got stronger. With the exception of the rare case where someone tries to injure you (which was, more or less, my welcome in aikido as I write in Dueling with Osensei), it's more a matter of social unpleasantness.

So let's speculate the OP doesn't move for two years. In that time, they will be, if they really train hard, shodan level, and that's a much nicer skill level to start in a new dojo, that two years absencse and starting all over again.

Ellis Amdur

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