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Old 03-13-2011, 02:43 PM   #226
Basia Halliop
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Quote:
In the case of the prison incident the victim simply resorted to one of the two primal instincts when faced with danger. He chose Flight rather than Fight.
There are more than two instinctive fear reactions. There's also 'freeze'... e.g., as many animals do when they're afraid (the classic is the deer in headlights). Also 'shut down' which looks similar to freeze but feels different.

Not to suggest freezing as a 'strategy', just mentioning because I find it often gets forgotten since the phrase 'fight or flight' has such a nice rythme to it.
 
Old 03-13-2011, 06:25 PM   #227
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Quote:
Mark Ackrill wrote: View Post
The last thing you should worry about is being arrested for defending yourself.
If it is your life or his,it must be his!!
It happens.....more often than you think!!
 
Old 03-14-2011, 04:16 AM   #228
Hellis
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Attilio Anthony John Wagstaffe wrote: View Post
It happens.....more often than you think!!
Tony

"Much too often".
The yobs who give the police the most grief are the first to call them when they come unstuck.

Henry Ellis
History & Lineage
http://aikido-controversy.blogspot.com/
 
Old 03-14-2011, 10:05 AM   #229
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Henry Ellis wrote: View Post
Tony

"Much too often".
The yobs who give the police the most grief are the first to call them when they come unstuck.

Henry Ellis
History & Lineage
http://aikido-controversy.blogspot.com/
You are right there Henry, I have found that out much to my disgust!!
I believe it's called sour grapes!!
The time I've lost explaining myself when helping police with their enquiries is nobodies business, however when one of their lot gets attacked everything is hunky dori, you were helping the police in there efforts to arrest some yobo.... One can't win sometimes...
 
Old 03-14-2011, 12:00 PM   #230
jonreading
 
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Joe Curran wrote: View Post
Dear Jon,
While I agree with a few points in your blog I think that there is a place for the hobbyist in Aikido.If someone wants to use Aikido for fitness, health , emotional, meditative benefits why not?Aikido can also be used in a martial manner , but not everyone feels a need to be a top Aikidoka.Just the same as amateur boxers, not all of them want to be Mike Tyson for example.
Apart from that you need a core group of hobbyists to pay the bills.Thats why some dojos have children's classes or 'self defence/ conflict resolution class/or even therapeutic use of Aikido.
Personally I am happy if people find Aikido meaningful in their life however and whatever their motivation is for studying the Art
Joe.
Joe-

I also believe the hobbyist aikido person has a place in the aikido. I just don't believe that place should be leading curriculum or representing the art or the integrity of the art. Aikido was designed to provide a great deal of flexibility to include a variety of practitioners. I am more specifically criticizing those practitioners who are misrepresenting the art. I think aikido is a great source from which to find emotional benefits, likewise with physical and mental health benefits. But to me the argument boils down to individuals making collective statements about aikido who are not qualified to make such statements. In my opinion, hobbyists are not qualified to make collective statements about aikido... unless they stayed at a Holiday Inn Express...

I dunno. I have seen a lot of good aikido. It always is martially valid and those instructors also posess a knowledge about aikido that further validates what they do. This seems to me to be a stark contrast to the hobbyists who many times don't know enough about what they are discussing to validate what they are doing. And by no means I am slighting these people... The time, effort and resources to undertake such an endeavor are great. I would make a similar observation comparing a major professional baseball player to a collegiate player, or comparing a PhD to a undergraduate student. Better education should result in better understanding.

In this sense I think there is an element of distortion in dojos that allows for an abridged learning paradigm in class. But we have this smorgasboard teaching that allows students to pick and choose what they like about aikido. Now we are paying for those years of leaving out important things because we didn't like them. The hobbyists are most at risk because they never experience the unabridged education of the serious practitioners.
 
Old 03-15-2011, 09:25 AM   #231
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Jon Reading wrote: View Post
The hobbyists are most at risk because they never experience the unabridged education of the serious practitioners.
That's an excellent observation that also applies to karate and other martial arts.

"The state that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
 
Old 03-15-2011, 10:45 AM   #232
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

My father was an amateur boxer in his youth, he taught me a little in the back yard. I carried that on to a point within my voluntary service to my country... I had no intentions of becoming a pro, but the training and matches were great fun and a wake up or enforced sleep if you were unsuccessful!! I also did a bit of judo to, so found that of use in a grappling sense.
It taught a rudimentary form of effective self defence and no doubt saved me from many a drubbing whilst in service. It also spurned my interest in martial arts....
I didn't become a pro, but I can at least protect myself to a reasonable extent when needed.
Aikido to me is another form of martial art with subtle joint locks, which when mastered also adds another aspect to my experience.
All martial arts have movements in them that you will find in another, I have no doubt of that.
What does embarrass me about aikido is when you hear that a high grade in aikido gets a drubbing from a 16 year old yobbo and still carries on teaching that which he knows to be false not only of his art, but of his status to.... One should not call it a martial art if that is the case. That may come as somewhat controversial to many so called martial artists today, but that is the truth.....
Anything else is and has to be a fraud, nothing else....
 
Old 03-15-2011, 11:12 AM   #233
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Jon Reading wrote: View Post
The hobbyists are most at risk because they never experience the unabridged education of the serious practitioners.
A very cogent observation, and like Chris Evans points out above, it is applicable to other martial arts besides aikido.

Some MA teachers are in fact "hobbyists" in the sense of teaching a seriously abridged art, perhaps without being fully aware of how much of the original core of their art they've never experienced. This is certainly the case with taijiquan. It's one thing for a hobbyist student to explore the more serious and profound depths of training that their teachers and own limited practice have not exposed them to. It's another level entirely for a teacher to confront the limitations of their own teaching and training experience, and be willing to break out of their cocoon and become a better martial artist and teacher of a deeper art.
 
Old 03-15-2011, 11:58 AM   #234
Marc Abrams
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Attilio Anthony John Wagstaffe wrote: View Post
My father was an amateur boxer in his youth, he taught me a little in the back yard. I carried that on to a point within my voluntary service to my country... I had no intentions of becoming a pro, but the training and matches were great fun and a wake up or enforced sleep if you were unsuccessful!! I also did a bit of judo to, so found that of use in a grappling sense.
It taught a rudimentary form of effective self defence and no doubt saved me from many a drubbing whilst in service. It also spurned my interest in martial arts....
I didn't become a pro, but I can at least protect myself to a reasonable extent when needed.
Aikido to me is another form of martial art with subtle joint locks, which when mastered also adds another aspect to my experience.
All martial arts have movements in them that you will find in another, I have no doubt of that.
What does embarrass me about aikido is when you hear that a high grade in aikido gets a drubbing from a 16 year old yobbo and still carries on teaching that which he knows to be false not only of his art, but of his status to.... One should not call it a martial art if that is the case. That may come as somewhat controversial to many so called martial artists today, but that is the truth.....
Anything else is and has to be a fraud, nothing else....
Tony:

Your continued, narrow-minded perspective is simply that. By your own yardstick, I can say the same thing about many martial artists. I have had the "pleasure" of watching some black belts from karate, judo, and other arts get their asses handed to them by some good street fighters with NO martial arts experience. Aikido seems to be doing fine before you came sauntering in and I am sure it will continue to do fine after you are long gone. The art forms exists well beyond how people choose to implement what they know.

marc abrams
 
Old 03-15-2011, 05:31 PM   #235
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Marc Abrams wrote: View Post
Tony:

Your continued, narrow-minded perspective is simply that. By your own yardstick, I can say the same thing about many martial artists. I have had the "pleasure" of watching some black belts from karate, judo, and other arts get their asses handed to them by some good street fighters with NO martial arts experience. Aikido seems to be doing fine before you came sauntering in and I am sure it will continue to do fine after you are long gone. The art forms exists well beyond how people choose to implement what they know.

marc abrams
Precisely why what they do shouldn't be called a martial art anymore?
There was a craze came out a while ago called boxercise.....
I'm sure most will remember it....... Great for fitness but one didn't fight.....
Maybe what you do should be called aikidocise?
 
Old 03-15-2011, 05:45 PM   #236
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Quote:
Attilio Anthony John Wagstaffe wrote: View Post
Precisely why what they do shouldn't be called a martial art anymore?
There was a craze came out a while ago called boxercise.....
I'm sure most will remember it....... Great for fitness but one didn't fight.....
Maybe what you do should be called aikidocise?
Tony:

What I do? Nice try. My Aikido works just fine with me, even against those big, bad MMA guys. I seem to have no problems making my stuff work just fine. I consider it to be the result of good teachers and good training. What I do, and what I teach is Aikido. Narrow perspectives lead to fewer choices......

Marc Abrams
 
Old 03-16-2011, 01:19 AM   #237
Hellis
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Quote:
Attilio Anthony John Wagstaffe wrote: View Post
Precisely why what they do shouldn't be called a martial art anymore?
There was a craze came out a while ago called boxercise.....
I'm sure most will remember it....... Great for fitness but one didn't fight.....
Maybe what you do should be called aikidocise?
Tony

Aikidocise ...I like that ! you may well have found a more fitting name for what Joe describes as the ``hobbyists `` ,..... it could catch on..

Despite your critics Tony, tell me , has anyone ``ever `` called in your dojo to tell you what they think of you ??

Henry Ellis
Aikido Articles
http://aikido-articles.blogspot.com/
 
Old 03-16-2011, 02:25 AM   #238
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Henry Ellis wrote: View Post
Tony

Aikidocise ...I like that ! you may well have found a more fitting name for what Joe describes as the ``hobbyists `` ,..... it could catch on..

Despite your critics Tony, tell me , has anyone ``ever `` called in your dojo to tell you what they think of you ??

Henry Ellis
Aikido Articles
http://aikido-articles.blogspot.com/
Never..... But they have on the phone...
Strange thing is I have never seen them since
 
Old 03-16-2011, 02:37 AM   #239
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Marc Abrams wrote: View Post
Tony:

What I do? Nice try. My Aikido works just fine with me, even against those big, bad MMA guys. I seem to have no problems making my stuff work just fine. I consider it to be the result of good teachers and good training. What I do, and what I teach is Aikido. Narrow perspectives lead to fewer choices......

Marc Abrams
Were those big bad MMA' ers really resisting you? Or were they just going along with it and being kind to you Marc, as you say seem?
As for the narrow bit, I have practised against resistance all my life, I find it adds depth to my waza....
 
Old 03-16-2011, 02:40 AM   #240
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

" Now we are paying for those years of leaving out important things because we didn't like them. The hobbyists are most at risk because they never experience the unabridged education of the serious practitioners.[/quote]

Me thinks you have it about right Jon....
 
Old 03-16-2011, 06:29 AM   #241
Marc Abrams
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Quote:
Attilio Anthony John Wagstaffe wrote: View Post
Were those big bad MMA' ers really resisting you? Or were they just going along with it and being kind to you Marc, as you say seem?
As for the narrow bit, I have practised against resistance all my life, I find it adds depth to my waza....
Tony:

I do not ask people to hold back. I tell them to give it to me. I am an old karateka, wrestler, etc.... I was doing that stuff way before they called it MMA. You cannot seem to wrap your head around the fact that you do have a very narrow perspective. The only resistance that you seem to be engaged in is akin to banging you head again and again against the concrete wall. No holes in the wall yet. You should lift your head, look around and see that there are other ways to get around the wall in front of you. What you think that you know impedes with you learning more. You have been given countless opportunities to recognize your self-imposed limitations and the only thing heard are excuses as to why you won't explore some more effective alternatives to what you are doing.

On that note, maybe you should focus more on your Aikidocise for those overweight people who need to lose weight .

Marc Abrams
 
Old 03-16-2011, 07:13 AM   #242
seank
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Been enjoying reading this thread over the last couple of weeks...

I love the idea that to be a serious martial artist one must be prepared to be jumped at every corner and defend yourself in a life and death struggle against vastly superior aggressors (or at least something to that affect).

When you have had someone seriously try to kill you, and I'm talking someone who has taken lives before, you gain a different perspective and respect for the whole process. There is nothing martial in it at all, there is no distance or timing, there is no resistance or any of the guff we like to think is important. The aggressor is trying to gouge your eyes out whilst simultaneously kneeing you in the groin, whilst punching you repeatedly in the kidneys, tearing out hair, scratching skin. Its a wonderfully debased practice.

Your attacker does not let up because you've fallen to the ground or you've stopped resisting. There is no pause in the attack from the first time your head slams against the wall they have you pinned to.

Is this reality? Well yes, I've had this happen to me once. Is it likely to happen to most people in their lifetime? Probably not. Can I train to defend against this kind of aggression? Probably not.

Is my training up to reality? Sure. I avoid fights that I don't have to be involved in, I turn away from people goading me to attack them, I don't travel in areas where I'm likely to encounter such situations.

Can I depend on Aikido to protect me in all circumstances? Not sure. Would I fall back on my Kyokushin background? Possibly.

If only everything were so black and white. You train to suit your personal needs and requirements, you can be a weekend warrior if you want to be, you can practice all day every day.

Do most people stand post at night guarding for the intruder that might come? Do we even need to do this? Coming from an army family of three generations I know many members of my family stalked their respective homes at night and would hunt if they heard the wrong kinds of sounds outside. Despite the fact they knew they didn't encounter what they had expected (and dealt with during war-time) they still did it. Is this type of behaviour realistic?

I don't train with an expectation of being able to apply a technique or to perform in a certain way. My training is entirely centred around keeping moving if the proverbial hits the fan.

If you want to seriously train to reality, throw off the gloves, the style of martial art, the niceties, the rules, pre-conceived notions, everything. Have someone bigger and stronger seriously try and kill you and you have your answer to the OP of whether your Aikido as a Martial Art is up to Reality.
 
Old 03-16-2011, 08:30 AM   #243
Gorgeous George
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Attilio Anthony John Wagstaffe wrote: View Post
As for the narrow bit, I have practised against resistance all my life, I find it adds depth to my waza....
....this is you, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWCvq...layer_embedded
 
Old 03-16-2011, 09:36 AM   #244
RonRagusa
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Graham Jenkins wrote: View Post
Nice vid. Uke seems pretty compliant though for all the talk of resistance training in this thread. And just wondering, if this was a video of, say, some Ki aikido practitioner would there be a chorus of derisive comments regarding the cooperative nature of the demonstration?

Ron
 
Old 03-16-2011, 11:24 AM   #245
markyboy64
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Marc Abrams wrote: View Post
Tony:

What I do? Nice try. My Aikido works just fine with me, even against those big, bad MMA guys. I seem to have no problems making my stuff work just fine. I consider it to be the result of good teachers and good training. What I do, and what I teach is Aikido. Narrow perspectives lead to fewer choices......

Marc Abrams
During a real fight (self defence) only gross motor movements are possible!

This is why techniques are pretty much useless,and why many martial arts/artist fail.

Of all the pins, chokes,throws,projections,few are relevent.
Wrist locks or attempts at them only bind you to your opponent.

The internal arts of taiji,bagua,yichuan,aikido ect are all based on single leg balance,and natural reactions.
The single leg balance training gives you a very solid,grounded, mobile root(balance)which is your power source.
 
Old 03-16-2011, 12:05 PM   #246
Marc Abrams
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Quote:
Mark Ackrill wrote: View Post
During a real fight (self defence) only gross motor movements are possible!

This is why techniques are pretty much useless,and why many martial arts/artist fail.

Of all the pins, chokes,throws,projections,few are relevent.
Wrist locks or attempts at them only bind you to your opponent.

The internal arts of taiji,bagua,yichuan,aikido ect are all based on single leg balance,and natural reactions.
The single leg balance training gives you a very solid,grounded, mobile root(balance)which is your power source.
Really? I would say that I am sorry to disagree with you on your points, but I am not sorry. Can't vouch for how you train or who you train with, but I would say that if you come to those conclusions, I certainly would not train in the arts that you mentioned. Just my 2 cents

Marc Abrams
 
Old 03-16-2011, 01:56 PM   #247
mathewjgano
 
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Quote:
Mark Ackrill wrote: View Post
During a real fight (self defence) only gross motor movements are possible!

This is why techniques are pretty much useless,and why many martial arts/artist fail.

Of all the pins, chokes,throws,projections,few are relevent.
Wrist locks or attempts at them only bind you to your opponent.

The internal arts of taiji,bagua,yichuan,aikido ect are all based on single leg balance,and natural reactions.
The single leg balance training gives you a very solid,grounded, mobile root(balance)which is your power source.
Sure, we generally want to use the larger muscle groups (e.g. legs' muscles generate more power by themselves than fingers') but both seem pertinent to "real" self defense...particularly if you consider whole-body self-defense or defense involving firearms. While they're a small part of the overall force generation, the fingers and hands can add the needed edge in real self-defense and, I presume, can convey the whole-body force sought after in internals.
I agree that the simpler techniques are generally the most effective. The fewer operations needed to displace your attacker the better...and from what I've seen casually, at least in the one-on-one setting, I think MMA shows this tendancy toward a handful of basic self-defense maneuvers which typically win. This doesn't mean the other techniques are irrelevent though.
Also, I'm no expert so I'm probably missing something key, but my impression is the internal arts would describe themselves more as whole body balance, not single-leg balance.
...Now I'm curious if that's what is meant when describing one-sided weighting?
Basically just guesses, but there's my 2 bits.
Take care,
Matt

Last edited by mathewjgano : 03-16-2011 at 02:01 PM.

Gambarimashyo!
 
Old 03-16-2011, 02:41 PM   #248
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

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Matthew Gano wrote: View Post
Sure, we generally want to use the larger muscle groups (e.g. legs' muscles generate more power by themselves than fingers') but both seem pertinent to "real" self defense...particularly if you consider whole-body self-defense or defense involving firearms. While they're a small part of the overall force generation, the fingers and hands can add the needed edge in real self-defense and, I presume, can convey the whole-body force sought after in internals.
I agree that the simpler techniques are generally the most effective. The fewer operations needed to displace your attacker the better...and from what I've seen casually, at least in the one-on-one setting, I think MMA shows this tendancy toward a handful of basic self-defense maneuvers which typically win. This doesn't mean the other techniques are irrelevent though.
Also, I'm no expert so I'm probably missing something key, but my impression is the internal arts would describe themselves more as whole body balance, not single-leg balance.
...Now I'm curious if that's what is meant when describing one-sided weighting?
Basically just guesses, but there's my 2 bits.
Take care,
Matt
Matt, what you say is true, simple works!! It is possible to attain joint manipulation or locks when you have your opponent down and immobilized, trying to do joint manipulation when your opponent is up and fighting you with full resistance is almost impossible unless you get lucky. techniques such as shomen ate, aigamae ate, gykugamae ate, gedan ate, ushiro ate do work as they are irimi or quick entry or precursor techniques. These can be quickly translated to atemi waza which they essentially are....
Joint manipulation or locks are secondary....
The techniques I mention I have actually used in real self defence and they worked....
 
Old 03-16-2011, 03:08 PM   #249
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Quote:
Marc Abrams wrote: View Post
Tony:

I do not ask people to hold back. I tell them to give it to me. I am an old karateka, wrestler, etc.... I was doing that stuff way before they called it MMA. You cannot seem to wrap your head around the fact that you do have a very narrow perspective. The only resistance that you seem to be engaged in is akin to banging you head again and again against the concrete wall. No holes in the wall yet. You should lift your head, look around and see that there are other ways to get around the wall in front of you. What you think that you know impedes with you learning more. You have been given countless opportunities to recognize your self-imposed limitations and the only thing heard are excuses as to why you won't explore some more effective alternatives to what you are doing.

On that note, maybe you should focus more on your Aikidocise for those overweight people who need to lose weight .

Marc Abrams
No walls in my life Marc, I'm just saying it as it is with no bullshit or otherwise. It seems to you that I have a narrow aspect, but believe it or not I am trying to listen to what you have to say, but it seems that maybe you have a narrower aspect than I ?
Nothing wrong in aikido for health, but you already know my slant on that one.
Aikido is either a martial art or it is not. Martial means martial not playing, praying it might happen, but knowing it will happen .....
As for my limitations, I happen to live in the real world and know the truth which in it's way is far more liberating than you can imagine......
My dojo is outside in the real world. My inside dojo is where we experiment, find out what will work and will not work, discard that which does not. That is not to blindly repeat a lie until the truth hits you so hard you will realise that you have trained in vain and wasted an awful lot of time as many are beginning to find out.
Aikido will work, but it will be adapted to look like nothing you do in the dojo. It is as rough as a Badgers Bum as Joe Curran has said, bless his cotton socks!!
Kata practice is not enough. All those that think so, I'm sorry but you are just deluding yourselves and your students......period!!
 
Old 03-16-2011, 03:49 PM   #250
Tony Wagstaffe
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Re: Is your Aikido as a Martial Art up to Reality?

Quote:
Graham Jenkins wrote: View Post
Yes it is, doing the soft 'trick' stuff that the students from the film & media department wanted to put up. I didn't produce or edit the video as it was nothing to do with me other than the request to do it at no notice. Everything you see in the video is off the cuff....
I found out later the randori was omitted because it looked to rough!!?
It turned out that 'elf & safety didn't want it in the video as it was a promotional for the university students union for martial arts.
Not one of my best performances, which is too bad, but that's life....
What you see is not the whole picture, just a very small part of it...
 

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