Self-defense, Wisdom, and the Way of Aikido

Katherine Derbyshire wrote: But what does "train like your life depends on it" actually mean, ...

Well, I strive for practicing and teaching in a way that heals body and soul. Because I think physical and mental health is what our life depends on. To put it simple: keiko should make people healthier and happier.

Katherine Derbyshire wrote: I bow to superior data... Pre-deployment training would be more comparable to day-to-day training among experienced students. Beginners have a much higher attrition rate, although it's hard to say how much of it is injury-related. I also don't know how many military recruits are lost to injuries during basic training. Toward the question of the relationship between training intensity and injury rates, it would be interesting to go back and see where your "high-incidence" dojos fall on the scale. Katherine

Pre-deployment training and recruit training are quite different. A commonality between the two, among injury cause, would be chaos and confusion. Much more so in the recruit training world, but also applicable to pre-deployment training. Injuries rarely come from fighting with one another, but traditional workplace accidents or general wear and tear on the body coming to a head.

Over the past two weekends my aikido training has come in very handy i potntially dangerous situations. Once to fend off an attack from slightly behind and to the left as a horse tried to bite me on the shoulder while I was working on another horse. And again this past weekend when the 2,000 pound Belgian I was trying to trim sent me flying into a full backward roll, narowly avoiding a 4x4 post. In both cases my traiig prevented a potential serious injury. Both times I was able to mater of factly continue my work without anyone getting excited about the incidents and without significat interruption in the procedings.

Personally I thnk aikido is very efective. Just maybe not the way some people expect.

Cherie Cornmesser wrote: Over the past two weekends my aikido training has come in very handy i potntially dangerous situations. Once to fend off an attack from slightly behind and to the left as a horse tried to bite me on the shoulder while I was working on another horse. And again this past weekend when the 2,000 pound Belgian I was trying to trim sent me flying into a full backward roll, narowly avoiding a 4x4 post. In both cases my traiig prevented a potential serious injury. Both times I was able to mater of factly continue my work without anyone getting excited about the incidents and without significat interruption in the procedings. Personally I thnk aikido is very efective. Just maybe not the way some people expect.

Kudos.

Ron

Katherine Derbyshire wrote: I found this quote in a political article, but it struck me as applicable to the ongoing self-defense debates, too. Everyone talks about how aikido needs to be a "real" martial art, with credible self-defense capabilities. I actually tend to agree with that. But it's also a "do," a Way, aimed at developing better human beings. Very few of us will ever actually need to use our martial training to protect ourselves or our loved ones. But I suspect we could all do with a little bit more wisdom. Katherine

Well said Katherine,

Perhaps an indication of an experienced Aikidoka or Martial Artist in general is the realization that you do not have to accept every invitation to a party that you are offered?

Katherine Derbyshire wrote: Situations where people really are training for combat tend to have fairly high injury rates. As do elite athletes, regardless of their sport. So, as with everything else, there are tradeoffs. Katherine

No doubt, trained full contact for years (BJJ,JUDO,KENPO) ,now have partially disabled left wrist and left leg, limited range of shoulder motion and can't stand in one place for more than a minute due to back pain.Was tough as nails at the time though,not so much now...still training just the same,in the blood I guess.