Tired of hearing “it doesn’t work”

[Aiki Lee]

Why do you say that? This seems counter to what you and everyone was saying to me in other threads

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What I mean is that aikido on its own is not always self-defense oriented. Many schools I've seen don't practice atemi, but even if all the training is well done and ideal, aikido is an art that that teaches you to go against the natural instinct to push back. Its a normal respons when someone grabs you and shoves you to resist it. Aikido teaches you to not to resist and go with it. Aikido requires that you train long enough and diligently enough to make such movements second nature.

Because of the dedication it takes to train in aikido, i wouldn't recomend it to someone only looking for self-defense. I would recomend it to anyone willing to take the time to study martial arts. If i didn't think it was effective, it wouldn't make up such an intregal part of my school's system.

Its not that it can't be used alone, I just think it is extremely difficult.

Is this not true of most styles? It's all about muscle memory and drilling things so you don't have to think about it while sparring or in combat. How is Aikido different from any other in that regard?

I think muscle memory is very important, but as a person becomes more skilled I think initiative takes place of reaction. I agree that you shouldn't have to think about the details of a technique, but i think people can take that too far sometimes and take their brain completely out of the equation.

 

[pgsmith]

I teach a class for a college. The students are always quick to ask me questions on all of the what ifs. What if I grab you like this? WHat if the attacker does that? What if............?

I always have an answer.

I have run a Japanese sword arts dojo for a number of years, and I hear the 'what ifs' quite a bit also. The difference is that I never have an answer. I tell them that the kata are taught in a particular manner. You perform them in that manner without any 'what ifs'. If they stick with it long enough, they learn that 'what if' is an irrelevant question. Aikido is taught in the same manner as the sword arts. Anyone that has taken aikido classes has heard that 'aikido comes from the sword'. This is in the manner of training.

I would imagine that if you are high level Aikido, or high level Bjj, or high level TKD, it doesn't matter how awesome your awareness and such are. You will be hit by something you have never imagined before.

The sword arts, and aikido since that is where it came from, are taught in such a way that once you are at a high level, you are never hit by anything. When your opponent has a sword, to be hit is to die. That's the idea anyway.

 

[Aiki Lee]

The principle of mushin should do away with what ifs. The reason for that is when you learn the principles of the art and integrate them into your movement naturally then you start to instinctly udnerstand where you should move to when new situations present themselves.