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Old 08-06-2014, 12:54 PM   #141
kewms
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,318
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Re: Demonstrating aiki, demontrating aikido.Same thing ?

Quote:
Mary Eastland wrote: View Post
Not sure what your reference to recreational fencer has to do with anything. I am not a recreational aikidoist so I am not sure how it apples.
People train (in anything) for a wide variety of different reasons, and with a wide variety of different goals. There are many different paths up the mountain, but advice relevant to one path may not be relevant to another.

So, if you don't value the particular skills that Dan teaches, that's fine. That's your path, and more power to you.

However, the people who *do* value those skills are on a different path, and one that they perceive as superior. (Of course. That's why they're on it.) They are likely to consider your experiences irrelevant to their training. As you are likely to consider theirs irrelevant to yours.

Which is where the question of goals comes in. The more you care what the rest of the world thinks of "your" aikido, the more important encounters with that world are going to be. Saying "we do that" isn't going to be as effective in shaping outside opinions as having someone put their hands on you and say, "Yeah, that's what Mary is doing, too."

A lot of people with a lot of experience have found what Dan is doing transformative. If you don't, that's fine. But if you haven't actually put your hands on him, don't expect people to value your opinions in the matter.

Katherine

Last edited by kewms : 08-06-2014 at 01:04 PM.
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