AIKIDO

[martialman101]

Well recently I started aikido at a rather good dojo near my home in San Rafeal CA. Now i know having been doing it for only a month doesnt seem like a long time, not near long enough of course to give imput on it, but I have(not to brag). Tending to be insightful on these things i decided to begin picking out all the pros and cons of my dojo and aikido in general, and here are my discoveries:

1.) No matter how good the sensei, the class mates can affect your training greatly, esspecially because in the beggining the other students are usually the ones teaching you the basics any way. IF that student is ever unsure of himself or a bad partner, it actully hinders your learning, since you cant asist in making the technique better, it all lies in the other students conductor skills. Be warry of this, because of this, privae leassons are always good when starting out so you can master the basics quicker and a lot better. Unfortunately, most dojos dont offer this, so it is often hard to catch up or get the material all together. All instructors out there pay attention to this, it may help to know this for your school.

2.)Aikido is a graceful art, meant for those with pacients and an interest in the culture behind the art, not for the brutal warrior types, though it may have benifits for those too hot headed for their own good.

3.) Aikido has little visible aplication at first, after reheasing many of the moves on my sparring partner at home, who does varios hard style arts, ive learned only 1/3 of the techniques taught are affective, but also you must take into account that when enough skill is aquired then most techniques are probably more aplicable. Also, aikido is a very good booster for other martial arts, like health based tai chi is. It also helps pratitioners implore a new method of thinking when sparring or in a fight, i have noticed more creative thinking while sparring my partner, as if a whole new door of opertunity has been opened by this unique art.

4.)It also implores weapon training (depending on which variation you practice) like the jo, and even kendo (samurai sword fighting).

5.) but aikido is not a competitive art, and cannot be used very affectively on its own, it can be, but it just requires a llittle more work. Even so, i dont nessisarily suggest aikido as a primary art, but it might be worth mastering to you. Even so, its a great booster. You may love it and want to learn it to its full extent.

That is all I have to say about aikido, well all that aplies universally that is, this next segment is about my experience in my aikido dojo so far.

-Im searching for a new dojo, since i was tired of my prior art and felt i had mastered it to a reasonable degree, and was doing extensive research on the next art i would want to take on. And aikido sounded like a good choice. So i looked for a dojo near me, and found one pretty easily. The dojo even had a great teacher with over 30 years of experience. So i went to do a trail lesson. What i got was basic but fact filled info taught in a small class of 4 students, the teacher carefully observed us and was active in participating with us also. I like this, the enviornment was good and the atitude seemed ajusted towards learning. So i signed up. The next class i went to, the room was full of about up to 10 students( a lot for this one room) and most of them a good amount of ranks higher. Some were also new to the school, which seemed comforting at the time, to have others to learn with is always a good thing. But when he told us to pair up, i was stuck with another novice... OK no big deal. He came around and instructed us on how to do the form. Problem being neither of us had a good feel for aikido, big deal we worked it out and got through it pretty easily, he was a good partner. But then my next partner was a higher rank, like a 8th kyu. I thought I was getting a good deal here, i could master the forms easier with someone who already knew the art fairly well... Not so, for some reason he didnt get the form either, to my anoyance it was the same for the next two partners, none of them were used to teching forms and found it difficult to teach me, since as mentioned above, you are truely in your partners hands when youre new to the art. This was disapointing and embarasing. I felt weird at messing up so often and totaly out of place. I was always used to being a good student, one who always knew his material and was used in almost all the demos at his old classes. Any way, it went on like this for 3 more classes, but then i finally got the hang of it. I wish the teacher there wuld offer private lessons so new students could get a grasp faster. Any way, now im more confident and getting it easier, but the transition was hard, and still my partners feel weird helping me straighten out a technique.

-i guess the reason im posting this is for some input, any would be nice, some advice, what do you think of this? have you experienced something simular before, whatever. Go ahead and discuss, im all ears!

[JusticeZero]

If the head instructor doesn't offer private lessons, why don't you try finding a senior student who seems pretty insightful and ask him for help after class?

[isshinryu5toforever]

The instructor has his reasons for pairing you up the way he does. You will learn some things from these lower ranked students, just as you will eventually learn things from higher ranked students. You have only been there a few times. Aikido is a very demanding martial art. It takes a very long time to get the hang of it, and to even be able to apply it. Since you are new to Aikido, just do what your sensei tells you to for the time being. Put doubts in the back of your mind, and eventually you will see what he has been doing.

[martialman101]

actually, since this post i went to a class, it was an inspiring event. I found myself finally grasping the material. Its an amazing art and i am beging to see the woth in it. Many practitioners say that it takes more work to master and aply, but once you reacht hat level, its one of the best martial arts around!

[Azula]

I just started Aikido a week ago actually. btw martialman do i know you from another karate forum?

[ps1]

... i was tired of my prior art and felt i had mastered it to a reasonable degree...

I realize this is off thread a little. But how do you "master" something to a "reasonable degree." You've either mastered it, or you haven't. Not trying to be cocky or rude here. Just wondering what you mean here.

[bushido_man96]

It sounds like what you have experienced is the typical frustration inherent in learning anything that is new. Keep plugging away, and it will all come to you.

[Bluetulipx]

As the original post was more than a year ago, I'm wondering if martialman101 is still doing Aikido and still enjoying it?

I study 3 martial arts and gain much from it, one of them is Aikido. I am happy to go at my own pace and have found that Aikido teaches me distance, reactions, ability to move out of the way quickly as well as familiarity with an attackers body movements.

All in all I am very pleased that I am able to do this art and I hope that martialman101 is still doing it also.

[koryu]

A good friend of mine is an Aikido instructor. After working out with him several times, I saw a lot of the positive application of this beautiful art. Although I have not studied it myself, it has a lot of good theory and practical application. Stick with it and you will get it down.

[atalaya]

for myself, i can say that i had practiced first a style that made strong emphasis on the go(hard) aspect of karate and then i practiced goju ryu which is hard/soft. aikido was even more soft. much more friendly and leaving me with new options so that i didn't have to break an opponent's body apart to defeat him.

 

unfortunately my first aikido school was run by a tight-knit group of friends, the youngest of which was into her mid fifties and the oldest was eighty something. they were all nice people, but very exclusive and classes were always slow and turned into the others all talking about their lives. when i changed schools i was immediately impressed. competent teachers, a very hard routine and a new wealth of techniques.

 

aikido focuses heavily on distance and timing (as was mentioned before). also, aikido provides strong tools for defeating a larger or more powerful opponent. although you'll probably never see kicking in class, if you take your previous experience and apply what you know about aikido, you'll find that it has answers for everything. the rest is up to you if you like those answers.