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Old 12-24-2003, 07:10 AM   #1
Paula Lydon
Dojo: Aikido Shugenkai
Location: Colorado
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 427
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Art of peace at war with itself

Hi All!

~~Many times I find the philosophical core of Aikido both intriguing and irritating. I have trained in other MA and they were fundamentally that, martial arts, nice and clean. My others schools taught us to use only the force necessary to control/end an attack, as does Aikido, and so all of that would appear similar. But the foundations that those arts and Aikido are built on feel, to me, strikingly different.

~~We rarely discuss any of O sensei's sayings or beliefs in my dojo, and yet the construct of the training itself, and tidbits dropped here and there, reflect a very divergent starting and ending point to a hypothetical agressive encounter than most other MA. It's like there's a schism, though, functional MA or philosophical study. You will all probably tell me to pursue both, which I guess is the ideal, but these two concepts feel quite different inside of me depending upon which one I am focused. It really alters my energy alignment and mindset in that instant of practice.

~~Training in Aikido to me is like trying to
understand a paradox. Or maybe the war is only in myself and these heavy concepts I'm dragging around. I am going on faith that there is a place where these two concepts can come together in peace, which also reminds me to hold faith that the world can. And maybe that's the real gift and truth of Aikido

~~Paula~~
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