Aikido's true use

I believe Aikido to be the worlds most effective self-defense mothod ever concieved. True many Martial Arts can create great fighters. I have never meet anyone as though as some of those Maui Thai folks, as fast kicking as Tae Kwon Do, as dojo serious as some of the Karatekai, and there are very few martial arts that can match the beauty of Chinese Kung Fu. Aikido however can best all of this by simply being appliable to everyday situations. A few hours ago I was hit while driving my motorcycle by a drunk driver who had run a red light. I was throw off my by bike. After a very good 4.0 Ukemi I dusted myself off, said a prayer. Then went to try and speak the best chinese possible. I smiled ask if he was okay, and he paid for the repair on my motorcycle. Bringing harmony to a situation with broken harmony is why Aikido is so great.

Okay enough of my nonsense.. Does anyone else have any cool everyday life stories about Aikido training really came in to play?

Cheers
Ryan

personally, i don't have any exciting ones to share.

but terry dobson is/was renowned for his stories on aikido in day to day life. he's got a few books out there you might enjoy!

Today I got up and took a shower, then I drank some coffee. I woke up my wife, opened the door and walked to work.

The training helped.

I was thinking that the other day. I was lifting heavy fridges with my dad and thought of trying some Aiki principles.

Although I didnt manage to float the fridge threw the dorr with my mind, I did lift it using less strength.

How about ukemi's true use? All those stomach crunches i do when I get up from being thrown makes my gut rock hard. (well almost) and the repetitious movements helps cardio too. I think the ukemi develops spirit better and faster than the techniques, kinda.

Hi ALL!

Believe it or not, I have had several occasions where real life Aikido prevailed. One of which was when I was visiting an offshore medical school on the island of st. kitts/Nevis. I was on the beach of St. Kitts walking up to a shack to purchase a coke while my Dad was still floating around out in the ocean. There were people playing vollyball, hanging out, etc. ONe of the natives had a machete and took off running toward everyone shouting, "Who wants some, who wants some" in a jamaican type accent. Althought I felt he was only being playful I viewed this demeanor as insane. The native ran toward me and I was not going to take a chance. I dropped my expensive $2.60 10 oz can of coke in the sand and burriend him in the sand with a kote-gaeshi variation. He repeatedly said with his accent, "Just playing man, just playing". I told him that running at people with a machete was not viewed in good spirit. I swung and stuck the machete in a side post of the hut and returned to the ocean.

Well, probably not worth posting but I thought I would share. Have a great day.

Brad

I nearly flattened two women at work by opening a door with noticebly more power and speed that is usually warranted for opening a door.

Recently a co-worker's 7-year-old son was running amok around the place.

It was end of the workday, so I took him to our giant empty kitchen, and he started doing various Karate Kid impersonations and "attacking" me. He also insisted on bowing first.

I spent a while showing him how to do a highly bastardized sankyo ("... and in the end, just duck. No, don't lean forward, just duck straight down.").

Anyway, even though he did a bunch of fast, disorganized and uncommitted strikes, they were fairly predictable and I used the opportunity to try Steven Seagal's method of one-arm deflection of two incoming strikes.

Also I made him run in circles a bit with a pre-kotegaeshi "on top of arm" thing. Inertia is fun.

He also started running after me trying to headbutt me in the stomach, so I just started swirling around out of the way, over and over.

After a while I found the easiest way to keep someone so small away from me is by their neck.

When he started really getting out of hand and running behind me as I was trying to leave, and kicking me in the a##, I put him into a little ikkyo and told him to stop.

Yes, just like Bob S., I too like to abuse little kids.

--

Also probably 1.5 years ago some homeless guy raised his fists at me (and that's after I gave him a dollar !) and I instinctively continued his raising motion in an ikkyo-type movement which made him stumble away.

Drunk inertia is fun too.

A friend threw a light, arcing-from-the-side punch at my head for some reason on New Years. There was a problem: I had a delicious hot pocket in my left hand, that I was loath to sacrifice (unlike the reckless Mr. Medling and his cast-aside coke!). However, I reflexively did a sort of circling-up deflection, which redirected him rather smoothly into an ikkyo-nage position. It seems remarkably effective, since I didn't push much but he still almost fell into the table a few feet away. (Fortunately, he caught himself).

This probably wouldn't have worked if he was /really/ coming at me...

...but the important thing is, I was able to enjoy my delicious hot pocket.

Brad Medling (ikkitosennomusha) wrote: I was on the beach of St. Kitts walking up to a shack to purchase a coke while my Dad was still floating around out in the ocean. There were people playing vollyball, hanging out, etc. ONe of the natives had a machete and took off running toward everyone shouting, "Who wants some, who wants some" in a jamaican type accent. Althought I felt he was only being playful I viewed this demeanor as insane. The native ran toward me and I was not going to take a chance. I dropped my expensive $2.60 10 oz can of coke in the sand and burriend him in the sand with a kote-gaeshi variation. He repeatedly said with his accent, "Just playing man, just playing". I told him that running at people with a machete was not viewed in good spirit. I swung and stuck the machete in a side post of the hut and returned to the ocean.

Interesting.

Ki/disposition/attitude sensitivity training is an important aspect of aikido in my book. Many times its the only thing that allows us to make the right decision when an attack is not as easily and clearly defined as it is in the dojo. Sometimes a tricky/undefined attack can make Tori place himself off balance by reacting too soon and not maintaining self control.

I have often found myself in a similar situation to Brad (being an island man myself). The attacks are usually with beer bottles or machetes, by folks who may "appear" crazy and up until the last instant one is not exactly sure whether the aggression is real or feigned (unless one is accustomed to that sort of foolery).

I guess that phrase about staring death right in the face to illuminate the path has some application here. Its at the point where things can go terribly awry or perfectly correct that the most suitable technique presents itself in my humble opinion.

In my life I think this is the most common manifestation of my training - the practice of feeling out/sensing the intent of the other person, whether friend, client, lover or business associate- while maintaining the tenets of aiki to protect the other as you apply technique.

Just some rambling thoughts on a Friday evening .

Arigato Gozaimashita

L.C.

Aleksey S (shihonage) wrote: ...they were fairly predictable and I used the opportunity to try Steven Seagal's method of one-arm deflection of two incoming strikes.

Can you tell me what is this SS's method? It sounds pretty interesting and it would be great if you can describe how it works.

Kalle Koskinen wrote: Can you tell me what is this SS's method? It sounds pretty interesting and it would be great if you can describe how it works.

Well, first you get a large payroll. Then, you get many thousands of dollars of lighting, camera equipment, sets, set designers, gaffers, grips, and extras. Now - this is the important part - you get yourself of hollywood action choreographer and a few seasoned stuntmen. Then, after you okay everything with the producer, you....

Kalle Koskinen wrote: Can you tell me what is this SS's method? It sounds pretty interesting and it would be great if you can describe how it works.

Go to http://www.bugeisha.ru/ , they have DiVX clips from Steven Seagal's demonstrations at Russian seminars.

One of the clips shows the above.

Kalle Koskinen wrote: Can you tell me what is this SS's method? It sounds pretty interesting and it would be great if you can describe how it works.

Why, I do believe you can see it in person here -

http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/marcvanriet/martialarts/

Thank you Aleksey and Bob for those links, I'll check those as soon as my network connection works properly. And Kevin, that wasn't the answer I was looking for, but I have to admit it, it's also an interesting method...

Awesome stories on this thread!

A recent real-life situation where aikido saved my butt bigtime: I was walking out from a great aikido class, and my dojo abuts a really noisy street. Walking along the sidewalk, I heard a tiny bling-bling behind me. I turned around, and it was from my wedding ring, which had fallen out of my rolled-up jacket pocket.

I really felt like my post-aikido-class zanshin enabled me to hear it, above the din of the cars and trucks going by. Most other times during the day I would have been too wrapped up in my own world to notice it, at least over all that noise.

Aleksey S (shihonage) wrote: I nearly flattened two women at work by opening a door with noticebly more power and speed that is usually warranted for opening a door.

That always happens with me as well! I don't open the door with my arm, but my hip and shoulder aligned automatically. I broke a window latch (slides up) at work in the morning by accident, automatically using thigh muscles/horse riding stance! Oooops!