Quote:
John Dutch wrote:
Hello,
I currently study Muay Thai and Pekiti Tirsia. I live on Long Island am looking for an aikido school that emphasizes the self defense aspect. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
edit: I am also willing to travel into the Manhattan area as well
|
John,
From my own exploration of Aikido in NYC, Westcheester and Long Island, if you are looking for combat applications or even real-world practical effectiveness, you are pretty much out of luck. I haven't come across any Aikido with a true sense of practicality in any of the dojos that I chose to visit or train at. That doesn't mean they aren't wonderful places at which to train and augment your current skill sets. I would go as far as to say that going to a place that de-emphasizes the self defense aspects is important given the sole focus on combatives in the arts you are already studying.
It might also pay to clarify what you mean by "
emphasizing the self defense aspects" as that could mean that you simply
do not want to focus on the so-called spiritual aspects of the art of Aikido. In that case, I can only add, "Don't Worry!" There really aren't any schools that are emphasizing that to any degree of success either. Pretty much what you do have is various dojos that are practicing the technical syllabus as perceived within their own organizations. That said, doing so in a pure and selfless manner can lead to all sorts of collateral spiritual enhancement, but spirituality of any sort is most surely not something being taught at any school that I have come across.
Something that might augment your training well would be Krav Maga, as many of the movements are similar to ones found in Aikido. Two caveats to that statement, though...
1. Krav Maga is not Aikido, meaning that at the very basic level there is no Aiki. At a higher level, Krav Maga is not the martial art of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido.
2. Aikido is an art which implicitly is devoid of attacks for the mere sake of attacking. The emphasis is on developing a coordinated method of neutralizing the attack, not the attacker. This is self defense in its purist form, and may
not be how you define self defense for yourself.
If that is the case, and unless you are looking to expand your definition, Aikido is not for you at this time.
The best thing to do is visit various schools and watch a few beginner, and some advanced classes. Then take a free class to get a feel for the schools culture, If something feels off for your, move on to the next one. I visited about a dozen or so when I moved to NY before I realized that I was not going to find what I was looking for. That is my own experience and YMMV.
If you have any questions about specific Aikido schools or Instructors in the NY area, please feel free to contact me privately.
Best in training to you and all...
.