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Old 08-24-2009, 09:42 AM   #1
kokyu
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I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

I was waiting in queue at a dining area to order some food when I noticed the person in front of me was the head of another aikido school. I did not know him personally but I had seen him at several overseas seminars... besides, he was wearing a t-shirt saying 'Hombu Dojo'

This got me thinking... and it's a fun question

After training for some time, do you think it's possible to pick out fellow aikidoka from a normal crowd? maybe from the way the person walks or moves? or perhaps we can sense something...
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Old 08-24-2009, 10:14 AM   #2
ninjaqutie
 
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

I think you can by certain mannerism's. I met someone and they seemed so confident and carried themselves in a particular way. I asked him if he ever did martial arts and he told me yes and wanted to know how I knew.

~Look into the eyes of your opponent & steal his spirit.
~To be a good martial artist is to be good thief; if you want my knowledge, you must take it from me.
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Old 08-24-2009, 10:57 AM   #3
Rob Watson
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

It's weird. For many seminars I'll help by picking up folks from the airport I've never met nor have ever seen and typically not even have a description beyond 'so and so from aikido of blah blah' and I can spot them instantly step up and introduce myself. Never got one wrong out of ~100.

To be fair lets drop the ~50 that wear aikido related garments - that still leaves an unmistakable trend.

I can't really say what it is but there is definitely something there to pick up on ...

"In my opinion, the time of spreading aikido to the world is finished; now we have to focus on quality." Yamada Yoshimitsu

Ultracrepidarianism ... don't.
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Old 08-24-2009, 01:10 PM   #4
K. Abrams
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

"Aikidar"??
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Old 08-24-2009, 01:15 PM   #5
RED
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

My fiance stands in homni ... then again he never was quite right.
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Old 08-24-2009, 02:29 PM   #6
Walter Martindale
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Maggie Schill wrote: View Post
My fiance stands in homni ... then again he never was quite right.
hanmi?
han - half
mi - "visible" sort of. "look" sort of... "exposed" sort of...
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Old 08-24-2009, 06:14 PM   #7
Ketsan
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

I've been asked a couple of times if I'm a ballet dancer!

It's the posture and the centred walk.
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Old 08-24-2009, 06:43 PM   #8
Rob Watson
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Alex Lawrence wrote: View Post
I've been asked a couple of times if I'm a ballet dancer!

It's the posture and the centred walk.
The tutu always gives me away ...

"In my opinion, the time of spreading aikido to the world is finished; now we have to focus on quality." Yamada Yoshimitsu

Ultracrepidarianism ... don't.
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Old 08-24-2009, 08:17 PM   #9
Sy Labthavikul
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

I've been asked on several occasions whether or not I was a) a ballet dancer, b) a boxer, c) a wushu player, d) a doctor.

Usually though, they just ask if I'm crazy.


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train as if the tengu will never visit, execute as if they already have
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Old 08-25-2009, 07:34 AM   #10
Ketsan
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Robert M Watson Jr wrote: View Post
The tutu always gives me away ...
Ah.......that could be it.

Last edited by Ketsan : 08-25-2009 at 07:44 AM.
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Old 08-25-2009, 08:10 AM   #11
DonMagee
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

I can tell if someone has been trained in the martial arts by how they walk. I can also tell if someone is a grappler by their ears

- Don
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" - Albert Einstein
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Old 08-25-2009, 08:32 AM   #12
rob_liberti
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

I think after a long time in aikido you do end up becoming a bit of an energetic loud speaker (or broad caster). This can be good or bad. There are certain shihan that when they enter the room I actually feel a bit sick to my stomach. Others, that when they enter the room it almost feels like a sigh of relief - or some sort of unberdening experience. Maybe it's all in my head/guts.

Rob
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Old 08-25-2009, 09:03 AM   #13
Kevin Leavitt
 
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

You guys are better than me. I can only pick out grapplers cause of their build and ears. I can typically do the opposite though. That is I can look at the guy in the Tapout shirt and usually pick him our as a wannabe.

Aikdoka? no way am I that good.

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Old 08-25-2009, 09:20 AM   #14
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
I can only pick out grapplers cause of their build and ears.
How's that, exactly? Clearly, I'm not a grappler.

I'm not enough of a people watcher at present to observe many of the subtlties that others have been able to catch. However, this thread makes me want to indulge my inner Sherlock Holmes.
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Old 08-25-2009, 09:29 AM   #15
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Rob Liberti wrote: View Post
...certain shihan that when they enter the room I actually feel a bit sick to my stomach. Others, that when they enter the room it almost feels like a sigh of relief - or some sort of unberdening experience. Maybe it's all in my head/guts.

Rob
You're obviously picking up on something, not sure what exactly. Perhaps it's the experiences you've had with them on the mat, being reinforced by seeing them?

But whatever's going on it's causing you an emotional reaction.

Not in aikido, but there have been a few rare times where I've felt someone's "presence." Good and bad. It can be quite disconcerting for me, because I get an emotional response, seemingly from nowhere.

Sometimes on the bus, especially towards the end of summer, I feel a very tense vibe, as if everyone is hot and cranky and barely containing their rage.
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Old 08-25-2009, 10:21 AM   #16
kokyu
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
You guys are better than me. I can only pick out grapplers cause of their build and ears.
*ears*... hmmm... I can guess why, but that's a painful guess
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Old 08-25-2009, 12:40 PM   #17
Ketsan
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Rob Liberti wrote: View Post
I think after a long time in aikido you do end up becoming a bit of an energetic loud speaker (or broad caster). This can be good or bad. There are certain shihan that when they enter the room I actually feel a bit sick to my stomach. Others, that when they enter the room it almost feels like a sigh of relief - or some sort of unberdening experience. Maybe it's all in my head/guts.

Rob
My dojo has actually had problems because of this kind of thing. We can terrorise a room by sitting in corner reading a book, practically.
The first time we realised there was a problem was when we were in a bar one night and a bouncer came over and very calmly and politely said "You've not done anything lads, I have no problem with you but I have to ask you to leave because people are complaining about you."
Another night we were outside of a club and the bouncers were eyeballing us, giving us really suspicious looks and eventually one says "You four do something don't you?" We're were like "Yep" and he asks if he's going to get any trouble off us. We're like "no, mate" and he stands there just staring at us for a good half a minute and eventually he let us in.
We can walk into a bar and the place goes silent and everyone just stares at us. It's like a scene from a western when the gun slinger walks into the saloon.

It's become a running joke. The upside is that we never have any trouble with people, most guys wont even make eye contact with us.
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Old 08-25-2009, 01:18 PM   #18
Ron Tisdale
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Next time I go bar crawling, I'm bring you mates....
Best,
Ron

Ron Tisdale
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Old 08-25-2009, 01:33 PM   #19
DonMagee
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Carolyn Parkinson wrote: View Post
How's that, exactly? Clearly, I'm not a grappler.

I'm not enough of a people watcher at present to observe many of the subtlties that others have been able to catch. However, this thread makes me want to indulge my inner Sherlock Holmes.
http://www.cauliflower-ear.com/cauli..._pictures.html

Most long term grapplers end up with some level of screwed up ears. Just like long term judoka end up with ugly looking fingers and toes.

But I notice a lot with how guys walk. It's hard to quantify, but I can tell if someone is able to handle themselves by how they walk.

My aikido teacher says you can tell a lot about the level of a martial artist by the way they stop.

- Don
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" - Albert Einstein
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Old 08-25-2009, 01:48 PM   #20
Shadowfax
 
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Alex Lawrence wrote: View Post
My dojo has actually had problems because of this kind of thing. We can terrorise a room by sitting in corner reading a book, practically.
The first time we realised there was a problem was when we were in a bar one night and a bouncer came over and very calmly and politely said "You've not done anything lads, I have no problem with you but I have to ask you to leave because people are complaining about you."
Another night we were outside of a club and the bouncers were eyeballing us, giving us really suspicious looks and eventually one says "You four do something don't you?" We're were like "Yep" and he asks if he's going to get any trouble off us. We're like "no, mate" and he stands there just staring at us for a good half a minute and eventually he let us in.
We can walk into a bar and the place goes silent and everyone just stares at us. It's like a scene from a western when the gun slinger walks into the saloon.

It's become a running joke. The upside is that we never have any trouble with people, most guys wont even make eye contact with us.
It might help to stop wearing the Gi to the bar.

I've noticed a lot of martial artists have a certain self carriage. Its a combination of things that most people will not consciously register but instinct picks out. I've had it for a long time, expect the Aikido will only refine it more. Geeze I intimidate people as it is I can only imagine what it will be like when Ive trained for a good while. Most people, when I ask them, cant even begin to tell me what it is about me that is so scary.

Someone (martial artist) picked me out of a crowd once too and that was long before I took up Aikido.
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Old 08-25-2009, 01:51 PM   #21
Ron Tisdale
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

I'll bet it's all that work you do with horses!

B,
R

Ron Tisdale
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"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind."
St. Bonaventure (ca. 1221-1274)
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Old 08-25-2009, 02:02 PM   #22
Shadowfax
 
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

LOL I'm pretty sure that is a large part of it. Horses are not just a part of life to me they are a way of life. Horsemanship and Aikido are amazingly close in nature that way. The person who found me is one of the people who got me on this path simply because he said it is already a part of me. He was right.
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Old 08-25-2009, 04:22 PM   #23
Michael Hackett
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Probably the spurs and Copenhagen. I doubt the bullwhip puts many people off though.

Michael
"Leave the gun. Bring the cannoli."
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Old 08-25-2009, 04:47 PM   #24
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

Quote:
Michael Hackett wrote: View Post
Probably the spurs and Copenhagen. I doubt the bullwhip puts many people off though.
I'm not even sure the spurs would put many people off.
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Old 08-25-2009, 05:42 PM   #25
gregstec
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Re: I sense something.. a presence I've not felt since...

When I was driving through the parking lot of the venue where we had the Dan Harden Seminar earlier this month, I almost ran over two gentlemen (Mark Murray was one ) and I immediately said to myself that I believe these guys are part of the seminar - of course, the two bokens they were carrying might have been a clue

Greg
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