A very nice way of putting it! I did Akido for 12 years and slowly moved away from it to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu precicely because I felt like I was just sanding down a ceremonial dagger with finer and finer grit to get it pretty. I decided to sharpen a tomahawk with a piece of granite instead. All that fine sanding certainly made me a better at sharpening the axe but would have been useless in self defense against anyone of substance.
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CSB
Met the guy out in Tanglewood after a summer concert. I was a dishwasher at Boston University Tanglewood Institute so I got free tickets all summer. Really funny guy, but he was surrounded by others so it was more of a hand-shake. The Goat Sessions is an amazing album to relax to, especially nowadays.
(also got to see Dylan same summer '97)
/CSB
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I’ve always wondered how much people who deal in phony martial arts/spirituality/whatever actually believe what they’re saying. Do palm readers/psychics/reiki/etc… really believe what they’re telling you? Do they have to, at some level, to be able to live with themselves?
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My interpretation is that its both. They believe in whatever mystical woo they buy into but that they are also aware that they are “embellishing the truth” but likely see it as a necessary evil to make a living and doesn’t hurt anyone because ultimately they think they are somehow improving people’s lives. For the people that are more scam artists i’m sure their mentality is much more different because they’re just trying to make money.
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Truly a music god and one of my heros - but not much of a martial artist it appears. Can’t take much of a punch.
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Same here. I did aikido for 10 years and at that time would have self-assessed myself as at least being able to handle myself in a fight. One month of judo was more than enough to disabuse me of that fantasy. Four years of judo later I’m probably in better physical condition and more capable of handling myself in an actual fight than I ever have been before, yet I still feel like I would get my ass handed to me in a fight because I’ve experienced for myself how much stronger and more skilled people can be compared to me.
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Well said, same here. In the beginning years of aikido, you had to already be an accomplished martial artist and have a letter of recommendation from a recognized instructor to even be invited to train aikido with Ueshiba. So all these 1st generation aikido guys were already very accomplished judoka, karateka, or something else (a few kendo and at least one sumo). They already knew how to fight, so aikido was more like a finishing school for them. Very different from what aikido has become today.
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Just watching this “tai chi” person walk, I could have told you he knows very little about tai chi. No center, no balance, no connection with the ground.
I’ve watched people with decades of dedicated practice and been taught by some of them. You don’t need to see a fight to know who has done the work and who is faking IF you have enough experience and the eyes to see.
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At my most skilled in Karate i also would have never thought myself capable of handling myself in a fight despite being one of the top students in my dojo, i’m also very non-confrontational so i’m more than glad i’ve never had to defend myself.
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Tai Chai Master 101.
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If he was a real master, he’d know how to load the dishwasher by now.
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and put the seat down, FFS.
Can we just talk about how poor his block form is? It’s like he expects the punch to stop because his arm’s generally in the neighborhood. That first strike he takes, he almost seems surprised that it could connect.
Forget stylistic differences and what makes a master or not: this is the basic skill of preventing someone from repeatedly hitting you in the head, which I should think is universal in any self defense concept.
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This video is the equivalent of a hypothetical remake of My Dinner with Andre starring The Joe Rogan Experience.
This pairing is fundamentally wrong and people recorded it.
I’m on the sidelines booing it.
I´d wager that it involves the same thought patterns that makes you susceptible to conspiracy theories / cult worship / pyramid schemes / what have you.
Once you do away with Ockham’s razor as a tool to make sense of the world, magical thinking will sneak in in places where you least expect them to.
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I think it is–the disconnect here is what is actually a martial art and what is a series of slow, methodical poses aiding in meditation.
Aikido is more a sport (I know that’s a poor descriptor) as compared to Aikijutsu, which is a martial art or combative. Every martial art is ultimately about principles; most practitioners get hung up on techniques. A dangerous street fighter, soldier or other person involved in potential life and death confrontations doesn’t care about techniques - they just use principles they’ve trained into their responses without consciously thinking about footwork, hand position, correct distance or timing.
I think this was what MMA was developed to make use of. I know it’s a sport, but it’s all about “getting the job done”.
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I had hoped he would be able to maintain his balance better after years of tai-chi. He tipped over after every contact. If all he has been doing over the years is breathing and coordinating movements, then his tai-chi is kind of garbage.
Not even in the context of fighting but if you’re aware of your body you should be able to step backwards instead of falling over, or if you’re prepared, shift your weight to keep your center of mass over your feet.
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