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Old 01-30-2005, 04:06 PM   #8
Don_Modesto
Dojo: Messores Sensei (Largo, Fl.)
Location: Florida
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 1,267
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Re: Poll: Do you currently care what your aikido looks like?

Quote:
Tim Griffiths wrote:
If your (or my) aikido looks bad, it probably is. Relaxed, flowing movement, clean changes of power and direction, good posture and a lack of wasted motion - these are all things that make aikido look nice, as well as being hallmarks of good aikido.
Agreed.

I recall one teacher, though, who carried this concern into vanity. Not only would his head be off in the wrong direction when throwing so he could see himself in the mirror, he would sweep his hair into the proper place, too!

He was a pretty scary fellow, very powerful. I was training with him alone once when some passerby stopped to watch. The change in him was palpable and I worried that I would get hurt, not through intention but through distraction. He was so determined to show his strength that he lept ambitiously forward, stepped IN his HAKAMA, and face-planted. The observers tactfully departed.

Don J. Modesto
St. Petersburg, Florida
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