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Old 02-12-2011, 09:20 PM   #126
dps
 
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post

So with his Bo style, he chose to treat the knowledge more like a koryu.
No George he does not.

He has made his art very public and treats it not at all like a koryu.

Does a koryu offer the following:

From the Aikibojitsu website;

http://www.aikibojitsu.com/RankingAndLicensing.html,

"Thus a minimum of 100 registered hours must be accrued to qualify for the black belt rank examination."

These hours can be accrued by;
Private Lessons,
Video series on DVD,
Distance Learning over the internet,
Seminars

Does a person whom purchases the DVDs from the website's book store or uses the distance learning have to sign an agreement not to share the information with anyone else.

Tenyu made a may have made a mistake in how he did what he did but not necessarily in teaching his own variation of another style.

dps

Last edited by dps : 02-12-2011 at 09:29 PM.
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Old 02-12-2011, 09:27 PM   #127
dps
 
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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Oisin Bourke wrote: View Post
The points brought up in this thread RE integrity and permission to teach propriatry knowledge are excellent, but a lot of Aikido (and Koryu) people are attending seminars given by Dan Harden and Minoru Akuzawa, both of whom are teaching material based on teachings received from Daito Ryu groups. They may not have taken Keppan, but ,to the best of my knowledge, All Daito Ryu groups teach their members on the assumption that they will not teach non-members without permission and/or appropriate certification..

Akuzawa and Dan both have undeniable skills, but, in principle, how is what they are doing different from Tenyu is doing? Of course if they have received the appropriate license/permission, this is a non-issue, but it's probably worth clarifying.
If so what does that say about the integrity of those who go to Dan and Akuzawa or support what they are doing but not wanting anyone to go to or support what Tenyu is doing?

dps
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Old 02-13-2011, 01:11 AM   #128
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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Mary Eastland wrote: View Post
Okay, I am done ranting. Thanks George, that was very interesting. I am planning to attend Friday night at Bedford Hills. Ron and I don't get out to other seminars much but I am interested in seeing what you are doing with Aiki and connection.
Mary
Wow! That's great. I had no idea it was close enough for you to get to without major inconvenience. It will be fun... Can Ron come too or is he tied up> I'd love to meet him sometime as well.

I'll look forward to seeing you... thanks for letting me know. Does Marc know you'll be there? Anyway, see you then!
- George

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
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Old 02-13-2011, 06:45 AM   #129
graham christian
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
Wow! That's great. I had no idea it was close enough for you to get to without major inconvenience. It will be fun... Can Ron come too or is he tied up> I'd love to meet him sometime as well.

I'll look forward to seeing you... thanks for letting me know. Does Marc know you'll be there? Anyway, see you then!
- George
Congratulations George. It's a pleasure to witness good endings and progress.
I feel this scene about Tenyu is maybe an issue to some but in the great scheme of things it's more of a non issue. As you say often Karma. If Tenyu breaks the rules, ie: uses or portrays his art in a way that gives the impression he is an Aikibojitsu practitioner he will no doubt suffer the consequences.

If he is, as it seems, far too short of experience to teach then life has a way of kicking you in the teeth. I'm sure you've met many who go around saying they are this and that and unerringly bump into someone who gives them lets say 'a lesson' they won't forget.
If he happens to be excellent then he has plenty of work to do and eventually people will be surprised and he will have learned much. I find anyone who is misguided as to their ability is not really a danger to others but only to themselves on the whole and thus they learn the hard way.

May I say while I'm here I loved your reply to Mary as it also helped me with my view on Ip and indeed those of you who use it.

Up to now I have held the view it's all in Aikido anyway and for me and some others it is. However for many it appears it is missing from their particular curriculum and so they have a right to seek it wherever they find it.

In your reply to Mary I finally realized that it wasn't a case of being led into other arts as superior to Aikido. I thought it was a case of people being led away from what I could see they loved doing. This indeed was my misconception. So thank you for that.

When I think about it it's no different from what O'Sensei did himself, if he wanted to learn some aspect or other he went out and did so.

On this matter my cup is now empty.

Regards. G.
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Old 02-13-2011, 10:46 AM   #130
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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Graham Christian wrote: View Post
Up to now I have held the view it's all in Aikido anyway and for me and some others it is. However for many it appears it is missing from their particular curriculum and so they have a right to seek it wherever they find it.

In your reply to Mary I finally realized that it wasn't a case of being led into other arts as superior to Aikido. I thought it was a case of people being led away from what I could see they loved doing. This indeed was my misconception. So thank you for that.

When I think about it it's no different from what O'Sensei did himself, if he wanted to learn some aspect or other he went out and did so.

On this matter my cup is now empty.

Regards. G.
Hi Graham,
Your worries about people being led away fro Aikido are not misplaced... I have a number of good friends who have quit because they couldn't find what they wanted in the art and didn't feel they could find a way to train to get it.

This is most likely to happen when the person involved really sees himself or herself as a martial artist, i.e. the Aikido as Budo side of things is important to them. In may ways Aikido has become the home for all those folks who, if they weren't doing Aikido, wouldn't be doing martial arts at all.

I don't know how it is i Britain, but the MMA world has virtually siphoned off the young men from traditional arts. Aikido memberships are down all over here and I have heard from teachers like Doran Sensei who teach internationally that the same is true in Europe. Twenty-something males provide the bulk of the new students in the martial arts. In Aikido you see the average age increasing and you see the proportion of women growing steadily. This changes the art...

Folks now typically come into my dojo already past the age when they can train crazy hard like we did when we started. Their bodies are already "past peak". Women, in general, and please everyone, don't take this wrong, usually have a different set of concerns regarding their training. And without doubt their smaller stature and reduced just plain muscular strength changes how they need to train too.

This is not my imagination... I have talked to Ikeda Sensei about it. He says it is almost impossible to find dojos where folks can train hard the way we did when we were young.

Getting Aikido back on track is important for a number of reasons. First of all, we shouldn't be losing people because they correctly feel that Aikido isn't good martial arts. In all honesty, how many dojos would there be if the folks running the dojos had to actually be able to do their stuff if a martial artist from man other style came through the door and wanted a challenge?

For reasons that are not quite clear to me, young men want to fight these days. An art in which so many dojos and so many practitioners are clearly doing some sort of dance with little content cannot attract these people. In O-Sensei's time, it was the martial stuff that served as "the hook". Young men came to train because they wanted to be able to do what they saw the Founder do, what the senior Shihan could do. Now, in most dojos, a young man with a few years of decent martial arts training often knows that he could take the Chief Instructor any time he chose. Everyone else knows too, and it creates an uncomfortable situation until he decides to leave and then everybody is happy again.

So, in order for Aikido to grow, we need to get our house in order with regards to making Aikido a respectable martial art again. Further, we have to do this while working with older, smaller stature students.

As far as I can see, this requires a great deal of attention on the issue of getting "aiki" into Aikido. Big boys can always do the "bop and torque" version of the art. Most older people can't take the ukemi and most women simply aren't strong enough to muscle folks that way. The solution is to make the Aikido being taught better. Since, as we've discussed, I think that most Aikido around is either poor Aikido or great Aikido poorly conveyed, I think teachers need to look around for any source of better information.

This is coming totally from my own personal experience. Saotome Sensei is still the best Aikido teacher I have ever put my hands on. There are others whom I think are extraordinary as well... I love Imaizumi Sensei, Endo Sensei, I'd have died to train with Yamaguchi when he was alive. The are people like Mary Heiny and Tom Read who represent top level Aikido. No one of any of these folks, "has it all" although for most folks it would be a life's work to be as good as any one of them.

But Saotome Sensei still represents the gold standard in my own personal experience. He has been over here for going on 40 years. I am sure he has done his level best to teach us to understand what he is doing. Yet, in my personal opinion, most of us didn't get it without help. That would include Ikeda Sensei. It was there all along but the methodology that worked for Sensei training in small groups on a daily basis with the Founder. being on the mat 6 - 8 hours a day, did not work for us, training in larger groups, daily for a couple of hours.

So, the various people doing the IP skills, the wonderful teachers of aikijutsu we mention here, and the systema folks each offer far better instruction on certain targeted areas than what I have ever experienced in Aikido. These are all important ares for us to figure out so that Aikido can be better. "Aiki" is what lets a small woman drop me to the ground at 250 lbs. It is what keeps me from effective use of my own power when attacking someone else. Knowledge of how other martial systems work is crucial for fixing the whole lack of martial effectiveness that plagues Aikido. In the old days you could even do Aikido unless yo had a substantial martial background. Now, I will teach a seminar and ask how many people have done another martial art and maybe ten percent raise their hands. And few of them had very extensive experience.

I talk about fixing the martial side of the art but I don't see this as different from fixing the spiritual side. Aikido, as an investigation into the nature of reality and a form of personal transformation, must involve the discovery through training of the essential principles that govern reality. "Wishful thinking" Aikido lacks the grounding in reality required. It might be fun, it might be a great way to get in shape, meet people, have a sense of community, etc But as spiritual practice, it's nothing very deep or broad.

The martial paradigm is what makes Aikido as a trans-formative practice unique. It is the martial paradigm that provides the feedback about what one does and does not understand. It is precisely what keeps you from going off into la la land. Once we lose that sense of martial reality, no one has any idea any more what they know and do not know. This is precisely what I find myself focusing on in many of my seminars... how to train so that that training provides a clear reflection of what you understand and how to deepen that knowledge. The way many folks currently train, they have no real idea if they can do what they think they can do.

Anyway, looking around for help is nothing new to folks who trained with Saotome Sensei. From day one he encouraged us to get as much experience as possible. I have never, ever heard him tell someone they shouldn't do some particular outside training. I think this is reflective of an essential confidence in his own ability and in the depth of Aikido. He never worried about you finding something else that you'd leave Aikido for. As far as Sensei is concerned, it potentially has it all. But the people from his generation trained outside the art, many extensively, and he told us to do the same.

This is also an issue for the folks doing Aikido today. We had that discussion about "is two times a week enough" in which I pissed off a bunch of folks by saying it wasn't. In a world in which folks can't even get to Aikido enough to get past a basic level of practice, training i other arts is a moot point. They can't train enough on just one art... forget doing additional training. This too will effect the future development of Aikido. The future teachers are in the pipeline right now. You have but to look around. If they can't find a way to exceed or at least match the experience of the generation that went before, more knowledge will be lost and Aikido will continue to degenerate.

So, for me, I think that we as teachers have an obligation to be the best we can be. Regular students can do what they want but teachers are OBLIGATED to train and better themselves. With folks from outside who are making themselves available to help us do that, it's crazy not to take advantage of this fact. Ten years agio there simply was not this kind of thing easily accessible. You would have had to work really hard to find some of it and others were simply not available at all. Now we are like kids in the candy store. If I'd had this kind of stuff available when I was young. I think I could have been giving the best Aikido folks out there a run for their money. But I didn't get this assistance until I was way past peak in terms of my ability to train hard physically. But I can see how it's helping my students. They really are decades ahead of where I was at the same time. And none of them have quite Aikido. They seem to get more committed and more excited as they gain more knowledge.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
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Old 02-13-2011, 11:39 AM   #131
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
Women, in general, and please everyone, don't take this wrong, usually have a different set of concerns regarding their training. And without doubt their smaller stature and reduced just plain muscular strength changes how they need to train too.
Which is both good and bad, IMO. In my experience, women seem to be more open to the idea that good aikido offers alternatives to the "bop and torque" approach. Often, that's why we came to aikido in the first place, and certainly women come in with less "strong is good" conditioning than men do.

The downside of which is that sometimes women go too far to the other extreme, and the martial content is lost.

Katherine
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Old 02-13-2011, 12:23 PM   #132
graham christian
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Hi George.
Thank you, that's quite a reply. I cannot disagree with anything you say in it.

As to the memberships being down I don't know but I assume that must be the case over here. I have visited some other dojos out of curiosity and where for instance one was a bit airy fairy yet had quite a number there, the other also had quite a number and was more martial if thats the right word.

The martial one was from my view much better in comparison but was run by a very descent teacher, very old school, and yet I could see that the training the students were doing probably was nowhere near how he would have been trained. Having said that it was very disciplined as though he had geared it to the modern youth. His name was Kanetsuka Sensei.

The reasons for dropped numbers would probably be worthy of a thread in itself and probably has been but as I have said in past posts that the answer lies with where you are and what you yourself are doing I also see that times have changed.

People are into image and thus follow what the latest trend is and whats shown on t.v. etc. and that must be one factor. Then there is the fact that in this day and age the youth are in a drug culture to a greater degree than the past, a computer age, a follow the sport that could bring fame and money age, and probably many other factors too.

On the draw being the super hard training to be like O'Sensei and that equating with martial in the samurai sense I'm not convinced that is or was the main attraction.

For me and the others I started with that wasn't what attracted us. My friend who still trains with me now at the time was a dedicated boxer, a very good one at that. The training they did and boxers still do today would put many a martial arts to shame. However, I can still hear him now, when we were discussing our lives and where we were going, saying 'look, I'm good at this and I can fight and take blows and find it's easy to hurt people but that can't be IT.' It was the fact that Aikido offered more than that as to why we were attracted to it.

We had no illusions though, we expected to go through hard training, we expected to learn the harsh discipline, we expected to learn the samurai martial way in order to get through to what we saw this little old man could do. We could see even then he had that quality of Harmony and actually cared for his opponent in a martial way. That was our hook.

I still believe that's what other in the wide public equate Aikido as, well until Seagal came along anyway. I see him as an excellent exponent of the art but feel his films give the wrong impression, but maybe that's just me.

However, if I'm correct in my view then when more people have learned the 'missing' elements and how to teach it better and show it better then people will see the difference Aikido offers.

Let me run this by you as a thought. If someone was to make a movie or even a series on t.v. where the 'hero' was a hard training Aikidoka of immense skill and sorted out the bad guys with such ease and skill and yet never maimed or killed anyone. This hero would always explain the way to those in need.

So it becomes a popular series and attracts many to investigate Aikido. How many do you know who could show this and demonstrate it.? How many are ready?

I may be wrong in my views but if the scene is as you say then I do agree that it needs more teachers teaching in a better way.

Regards.G.
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Old 02-13-2011, 01:17 PM   #133
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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Graham Christian wrote: View Post
On the draw being the super hard training to be like O'Sensei and that equating with martial in the samurai sense I'm not convinced that is or was the main attraction.
I am pretty sure it was in Japan with O-Sensei. Most of the deshi admit to practically dozing through his spiritual stuff while waiting to get back to the good stuff.

Quote:
For me and the others I started with that wasn't what attracted us. My friend who still trains with me now at the time was a dedicated boxer, a very good one at that. The training they did and boxers still do today would put many a martial arts to shame. However, I can still hear him now, when we were discussing our lives and where we were going, saying 'look, I'm good at this and I can fight and take blows and find it's easy to hurt people but that can't be IT.' It was the fact that Aikido offered more than that as to why we were attracted to it.
I think we are "of an age"... When I started Aikido Viet Nam had just ended. Most of us had been actively anti-war and political. I think the non-violent philosophy of the Founder as we understood it was a big draw. In some ways we were a bit naive but I really think that the perceived spiritual component of Aikido was the major factor in spreading Aikido.

Quote:
We had no illusions though, we expected to go through hard training, we expected to learn the harsh discipline, we expected to learn the samurai martial way in order to get through to what we saw this little old man could do. We could see even then he had that quality of Harmony and actually cared for his opponent in a martial way. That was our hook.
I think you're right... it was for me and most of the folks I started with...

Quote:
I still believe that's what other in the wide public equate Aikido as, well until Seagal came along anyway. I see him as an excellent exponent of the art but feel his films give the wrong impression, but maybe that's just me.
You know, if you talk to anyone who is familiar with his films, the single favorite scene in all his movies was the original dojo scene in Above the Law. It was the only scene in any of his movies in which Aikido was shown simply as Aikido. Matsuoka Sensei's ukemi was stunning and there was a flavor of something running deeper than just fighting. It is too bad that the folks making these movies didn't understand that.

Quote:
However, if I'm correct in my view then when more people have learned the 'missing' elements and how to teach it better and show it better then people will see the difference Aikido offers.
I think this is the hope for the art in the long run. We might not have a huge number of newbies but we have a huge community of folks who have been training for years and years. It would only take a few years of work to get folks doing their Aikido in a completely different way. There's the interest... just look at how folks flock to train with someone like Ikeda Sensei. They just don't quite understand it enough to retool their training to produce the change they want in their own skills. That's why it is so important that, as some folks do start to figure it out, they need to be immediately turning around and passing that knowledge on. Escpecially to the instructors out there.

When I work with some up and coming young student, I am making an investment that may take years to develop. And not until they start teaching will that pay off by positively influencing the larger community. But when I can pass something on to an instructor or someone who actually runs a dojo, I am almost immediately influencing thirty or forty people. Do that enough times and things really start to shift.

Quote:
Let me run this by you as a thought. If someone was to make a movie or even a series on t.v. where the 'hero' was a hard training Aikidoka of immense skill and sorted out the bad guys with such ease and skill and yet never maimed or killed anyone. This hero would always explain the way to those in need.

So it becomes a popular series and attracts many to investigate Aikido. How many do you know who could show this and demonstrate it.? How many are ready?
I have no doubt that a show like that would actually appeal. It could do for Aikido what Kung Fu did for the martial arts. Folks loved the philosophy, teachers talked about the show in class. It was amazing at the time how influential the show was. But it was the Viet Nam era and things were different. I was studying in Taiwan at the time and my Chinese friends didn't actually like the show... too much talking, not enough fighting, and they hated the slo mo fighting depictions. I think nowadays the martial arts depicted would have to be far better quality. Folks are far more sophisticated today than they were then. But I think a show like that would give a huge boost to Aikido's popularity.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
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Old 02-13-2011, 01:55 PM   #134
graham christian
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Thank you George. Keep up the good work. Don't get embarassed but maybe you are already inspirational to some.

Regards. G.
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Old 02-13-2011, 03:21 PM   #135
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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That does remind me of that religious saying about 'don't judge lest you be judged' though. Or even people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Graham, have you ever heard the saying, "You have the right to your own opinion, but you don't have the right to your own facts"?
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Old 02-13-2011, 03:57 PM   #136
Howard Popkin
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Graham,

Ledyard Sensei is inspirational to most people he meets.

When I met him he was a giant of a man, now he is 1/3 less then he was. Even at his biggest, his Aikido was amongst the softest technique I had felt from ANY Aikido person.

People can't imagine that a big guy can be that fast AND soft.

That just the first reason.

Reason #2 -

He is a perpetual white belt !!!!! Many of his student have excelled at other martial arts and Ledyard Sensei always invites them back and puts on his white belt or whatever else is necessary to empty his cup. For someone with his level of experience, that is amazing.

Reason #3 Ledyard Sensei might be one of the nicest people on the planet

I could go on for a very long time, but I do't have to. Everyone who knows Ledyard Sensei knows what I am talking about.

Its an honor to call him my friend.

Howard
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Old 02-13-2011, 04:57 PM   #137
Tenyu
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Addressing a quote earlier in the thread:

In the good old days, issues like this in a martial context could be life & death issues

One of the first topics in Aikido Aikibojitsu and the Structure of Natural Law is the concept of primal fear, fear of the absolute unknown and death itself. I have had three involuntary life and death situations in my life. The first one I'll talk about because it was my first one. I was around 12 years old, in seventh grade here in the states, when I caught an unknown illness. For one whole month I literally threw up everything I ate usually within five minutes. I was still going to school and I would usually throw up walking between classes right in the middle of the hallway. I would dry heave after any activity in gym class. My teacher was claiming I was faking it for a couple weeks until my body really starting showing signs. She let me out as long as I took an "F" grade, I was a straight A student, not important but slightly amusing to note. By then the prolonged flu idea had disappeared and the doctors were telling us they had no idea what it could be. I distinctly remember none of them acted as if they really cared all that much not being able to diagnose me. I felt bad for my mother seeing her worry in a way I never saw before. I became near bed-ridden, having to throw up in a bowl for not making it to the bathroom in time. I lost almost 20lbs that month, by the fourth week I had to come to grips that this was it, I wouldn't last much longer. I surprised myself how quickly I came to peace with it, it only took a few hours of imagining death before I got the picture. I was probably wrong about the picture but it was sufficient for my curiosity. The only pain I felt afterwards was the pain I knew my mother and brother would feel after I was gone. Within a few days of accepting death I started a gradual recovery, where I would be able to hold down maybe 10% of what I ate better than the near 0% I was at until about a month later I completely stopped throwing up. In a few months I was back to a healthy weight.

After I accepted death there was nothing grave about being on a death bed, which was a cot in the living room. I joked around a lot, had fun, and really enjoyed the time with my family. It was not motivated, even though I was conscious to make sure my family didn't feel uncomfortable about the probabilities of my future. I've rarely thought about the experience but I think it had a lot of impact on me in the sense I never really feared death afterwards. Resist death and you resist life, resist uke and you resist Aikido. Resist absolute decontracted power and you resist absolute contracted power. Much of the fighting, anger, jealousy and destruction we see in the world can be attributed to this ever present yet rarely acknowledged primal fear that prevent people from becoming a healthy nage.

In my early 20's I voluntarily put myself in a life and death situation almost every day for about a year and came out every time without a scratch. It's not a big deal to me but any notion I haven't put myself ‘to the test' can be laid to rest. I'll reserve to tell this story in person because I'd rather not share it publicly.

Graham and David, I appreciate the supportive comments you've both made throughout the thread.
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Old 02-13-2011, 07:58 PM   #138
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Quote:
Howard Popkin wrote: View Post
Graham,

Ledyard Sensei is inspirational to most people he meets.

When I met him he was a giant of a man, now he is 1/3 less then he was. Even at his biggest, his Aikido was amongst the softest technique I had felt from ANY Aikido person.

People can't imagine that a big guy can be that fast AND soft.

That just the first reason.

Reason #2 -

He is a perpetual white belt !!!!! Many of his student have excelled at other martial arts and Ledyard Sensei always invites them back and puts on his white belt or whatever else is necessary to empty his cup. For someone with his level of experience, that is amazing.

Reason #3 Ledyard Sensei might be one of the nicest people on the planet

I could go on for a very long time, but I do't have to. Everyone who knows Ledyard Sensei knows what I am talking about.

Its an honor to call him my friend.

Howard
Howie, How can I strike fear into the hearts of my enemies if you go around telling folks how nice I am?

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
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Old 02-13-2011, 08:21 PM   #139
Tenyu
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Here's the aerial tracking image of the Tengu Short Form's implicit line which appeared in my mind out of nowhere as I was falling asleep one night. I had never seen it before, but I got out of bed, went outside, and the form came out perfectly on its own. I did it about ten times to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

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Old 02-13-2011, 08:25 PM   #140
Mike Sigman
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
I think it is important to remember that five years ago or so. No one in the Aikido community had even heard of Mike Sigman, Dan Harden or Akuzawa. It's taken them a very long time to establish the fat that they have something to offer.
Don't take this as serious conversation, George, because it's simply an observation. If you take a look at Mark Reeder and Ron Meyer's book Center you'll see that I'm mentioned and did a review of the book. Not to mention that I also did Aikido, although I don't make any claims about Aikido because as I learned what internal strength was and what its relationship to Aikido was, I realized that those 7+ years of Aikido I spent really didn't teach me anything about real Aikido but about something else.

Having said that, I think a lot of these frank discussions are good, but IMO there should be more and deeper discussions with people *inside* Aikido like Saotome Sensei, Ikeda, and others of the shihans from Aikikai, etc. My *impression*, now that I know the lay of the land better, is that there are a lot of nuggets of information within the knowledge of people like Yamada Yoshimitsu and others if they can be persuaded to discuss things.... and their viewpoints would help a lot in terms of the current developments in Aikido. Outsiders are good for foot-in-the-door stuff, but ultimately Ueshiba's Aikido is going to have to be examined more from the inside, once the basics are understood.

2 cents.

Mike Sigman
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Old 02-13-2011, 08:38 PM   #141
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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Mike Sigman wrote: View Post
Don't take this as serious conversation, George, because it's simply an observation. If you take a look at Mark Reeder and Ron Meyer's book Center you'll see that I'm mentioned and did a review of the book.
Hi Mike, I wasn't being literal... I knew you worked with Mark years ago. He was one of the first people I heard mention you. He and I go back before the flood, so to speak. However Mark is another great largely undiscovered gem of Aikido. Not many folks have trained with him and more's the pity. You have to actually go train at the Boulder Aikikai to have that pleasure.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
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Old 02-13-2011, 08:56 PM   #142
Janet Rosen
 
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
However Mark is another great largely undiscovered gem of Aikido. Not many folks have trained with him and more's the pity. You have to actually go train at the Boulder Aikikai to have that pleasure.
Over the yrs I've found there seem to be more than a few folks here and there just like that - maybe not a chief instructor or maybe in a quiet backwater, but amazing folks to get on the mat with.

Janet Rosen
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"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
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Old 02-13-2011, 10:55 PM   #143
graham christian
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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Mary Malmros wrote: View Post
Graham, have you ever heard the saying, "You have the right to your own opinion, but you don't have the right to your own facts"?
Mary, no, never heard that one before.

However, it looks quite zen, you can contemplate it both ways around. Interesting. (is that an opinion or a fact?)

Regards. G.
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Old 02-14-2011, 02:03 AM   #144
Demetrio Cereijo
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
Howie, How can I strike fear into the hearts of my enemies if you go around telling folks how nice I am?
Howie saying you're a nice guy is what puts fear in the hearts of your enemies.
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Old 02-14-2011, 04:28 AM   #145
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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Howard Popkin wrote: View Post
Ledyard Sensei is inspirational to most people he meets.
Total agreement,

Lynn Seiser PhD
Yondan Aikido & FMA/JKD
We do not rise to the level of our expectations, but fall to the level of our training. Train well. KWATZ!
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Old 02-14-2011, 06:43 AM   #146
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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Graham Christian wrote: View Post
Mary, no, never heard that one before.

However, it looks quite zen, you can contemplate it both ways around. Interesting. (is that an opinion or a fact?)
Clearly it's an opinion, and clearly it's a Graham-flavored opinion, naturally You seem like a kind soul, in general, but I think you do have a tendency to over-mystify things -- to see all kinds of mysterious meanings and layers where they may not exist. The statement isn't Zen, isn't a Buddhist teaching of any flavor, and really is quite the opposite of a Zen koan. It is, if anything, anti-mystery, or at least anti-obfuscation. There is a difference between opinion and facts, and it's a big mistake to confuse the two.

In this thread, you've been advocating a fair and even-handed approach, and that's all good; however, just because your approach is fair and even-handed doesn't mean that the facts you discover will weigh equally on both sides. When that happens, honesty demands that you recognize that the facts favor one side. If you refuse to do so, you're no longer being even-handed, you're just creating false equivalences.
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Old 02-14-2011, 07:53 AM   #147
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote: View Post
Clearly it's an opinion, and clearly it's a Graham-flavored opinion, naturally You seem like a kind soul, in general, but I think you do have a tendency to over-mystify things -- to see all kinds of mysterious meanings and layers where they may not exist. The statement isn't Zen, isn't a Buddhist teaching of any flavor, and really is quite the opposite of a Zen koan. It is, if anything, anti-mystery, or at least anti-obfuscation. There is a difference between opinion and facts, and it's a big mistake to confuse the two.

In this thread, you've been advocating a fair and even-handed approach, and that's all good; however, just because your approach is fair and even-handed doesn't mean that the facts you discover will weigh equally on both sides. When that happens, honesty demands that you recognize that the facts favor one side. If you refuse to do so, you're no longer being even-handed, you're just creating false equivalences.
Amen, Mary....
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Old 02-14-2011, 09:07 AM   #148
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote: View Post
Clearly it's an opinion, and clearly it's a Graham-flavored opinion, naturally You seem like a kind soul, in general, but I think you do have a tendency to over-mystify things -- to see all kinds of mysterious meanings and layers where they may not exist. The statement isn't Zen, isn't a Buddhist teaching of any flavor, and really is quite the opposite of a Zen koan. It is, if anything, anti-mystery, or at least anti-obfuscation. There is a difference between opinion and facts, and it's a big mistake to confuse the two.

In this thread, you've been advocating a fair and even-handed approach, and that's all good; however, just because your approach is fair and even-handed doesn't mean that the facts you discover will weigh equally on both sides. When that happens, honesty demands that you recognize that the facts favor one side. If you refuse to do so, you're no longer being even-handed, you're just creating false equivalences.
Mary, What I love about you is that you are willing to get on these forums and "mix it up" with the boys. Most of the women I know, and a number if them would be wonderful contributors here, simply flee when they see how much "in your face posting" there is here. You just go to the center, dish it out with the best of them and hold your own. Anyway, thanks for putting up with the boys...

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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Old 02-14-2011, 09:28 AM   #149
Mark Freeman
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
Mary, What I love about you is that you are willing to get on these forums and "mix it up" with the boys. Most of the women I know, and a number if them would be wonderful contributors here, simply flee when they see how much "in your face posting" there is here. You just go to the center, dish it out with the best of them and hold your own. Anyway, thanks for putting up with the boys...
Hi George,

Isn't that just a little bit sexist? The 'little lady' is able to hold her own intellectually with the boys, wow, I think I just slipped back to the early 20th century I normally admire your postings, but that one smacks of a pat on the head for the fiesty young lass.

Mary what do you think, am I being too sensitive on behalf of the sistas or are you happy to be held up as unusual for one of your gender to be mentally tough?

regards,

Mark
p.s. I'm sure it wasn't meant as being patronising but you can't be too careful these days, can you?

Success is having what you want. Happiness is wanting what you have.
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Old 02-14-2011, 09:34 AM   #150
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Re: New Internal Style of The Wooden Staff

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Howard Popkin wrote: View Post
Graham,

Ledyard Sensei is inspirational to most people he meets.

When I met him he was a giant of a man, now he is 1/3 less then he was. Even at his biggest, his Aikido was amongst the softest technique I had felt from ANY Aikido person.

People can't imagine that a big guy can be that fast AND soft.

That just the first reason.

Reason #2 -

He is a perpetual white belt !!!!! Many of his student have excelled at other martial arts and Ledyard Sensei always invites them back and puts on his white belt or whatever else is necessary to empty his cup. For someone with his level of experience, that is amazing.

Reason #3 Ledyard Sensei might be one of the nicest people on the planet

I could go on for a very long time, but I do't have to. Everyone who knows Ledyard Sensei knows what I am talking about.

Its an honor to call him my friend.

Howard
All well and good but it does not make him right.

dps

Go ahead, tread on me.
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