There was a dude in ancient Greece that was called Melanchomas it is written he was able to beat everybody out of frustration and by making them tired, he was dodging, parrying, blocking and deflecting all the opponent's attacks like he was making fun of them without throwing a single punch , maybe aikido can be that style , the style of fighting without fighting, using athleticism, mind , and will. Also άκρο χειρισμός , which means manipulation of the limbs more often the arms like wrist locks can be the specialty of aikidokas in order to keep the art alive with a new fresh prospective and keeping the beliefs of Morihei ueshiba using some new training methods and cross training .
Interesting idea. There are stories of Morihei Ueshiba evading attacks until the other side would lose motivation. I would pose some counter-arguments such as that it may take a very high level of athleticism/skill, the question of tight/limited spaces or multiple attackers (multiple attackers though are a pain to any fighting/self defense style), but all in all, once more, I find your idea very interesting and I'll dwell on it :) Thanks
@@Rokasleo Well test it out and make a video of what you learned, it will need time to train for that to be able of achieving true results. Evading so much that the opponent doesn't really know where you are and at the same time use humane one strike kill - knock out techniques (either striking or grappling ones) theoretically can be done, also when you parry deflect or block you can strike in a way the opponent's attacking limb hurts, like elbowing punches, hit the soft tissue of the kicking leg or under the knee etc and at the same time use standing and ground wrist and elbow locks . But the main art sould be at evading-dodging, maybe if you or one student of yours achieve through his Talend good MMA fighting results you can put aikido back in combat sports map and help it evolve and not getting really outdated and forgotten, I don't know though if the old masters of aikido let you do it and call that aikido I guess if you bring results they will . Also the religious aspect must go out of world aikido and remain only to the practitioners of that religion in Japan etc. I am sure a lot of ppl like me doesn't even try aikido out cause of that.
This is probably your best take on talking about the issues in Aikido. Very respectful and full of interesting facts coming from your experience or reliable sources. Well done!
Thank you! 😊 I am glad as well that I'm slowly starting to be able to have a somewhat positive ability to talk about Aikido again 😁 I'll be interested to see if or where that positiveness could lead further 🙂
I honestly thought this was gonna be more bashing of Aikido, but this was a good analysis of the gaps! And the view of you’ll get Aikido better if you are already a martial artist was one I have held for a while as well. In fact, most of my early training partners were practitioners who were already experts in other “fighting” arts. But we all agreed with exactly what you said, you have to know other martial arts along with Aikido to better understand the techniques and philosophy. That’s why I continue to cross train from day 1 to now. Back then it was cross training with Karate guys, kickboxing guys, wrestlers, etc. Nowadays it’s working in the parts of MMA: BJJ, boxing, Muay Thai, etc. It makes you keenly aware of the gaps in the soft Aikido, and also the strengths of soft Aikido. But as you said, the philosophy has value and potency, IF you stage it correctly. Nowadays I do think BJJ and Aikido cross training is a must for anyone practicing Aikido. You are right, it has more effective techniques to handle violence without being violent, and Aikido also adds the layer of spirituality that is missing in combat arts. It adds more layers to keep going beyond the combat/violence and makes martial arts a lifetime practice. But as you said, combat/violence is something you must go through. Can’t skip it. Last note, I saw a video interview with Soshihan Kobayashi and he said a lot of what you said, O-sensei was not understood much and even his core techniques were ignored in favor of more “flashy” techniques. Specifically, O-sensei felt that pinning and restraining someone was the core of Budo, yet his students loved to do more of the throwing aspects of Aikido and minimized pinning. Add that, and earlier photos of Aiki-budo having elements of ground restraints, I think O-sensei held some similar ideas to BJJ. Especially in the idea of control using you body weight over pain compliance. Which makes sense from a historical perspective considering the roots of BJJ being Judo, Judo being Jujitsu...there’s common ground at some level. But that’s just IMO. Last one for sure, my friend, you have to live the philosophy off the mat. There’s more layers to the concepts than just the physical training, and for sure a lot of people miss out on that. In both the mental and spiritual levels of Aikido. I was fortunate to have a good foundation and missed a lot of the issues you had, I had teachers who valued both the martial art sharpness of training as well as the Zen teachers who challenged the thinking of practitioners. Thanks for sharing!
It seems a pretty reasonable theory,i i wondered that too. Morihei Ueshiba was one of the most skilled martial artists of his time,he was very insightful,i don't he was the type of guy that sells quack, and it makes more sense that he would create a system for other fighter that would be put on top of their preexistent training, to give a new purpose and spirit. Kinda like the New Testament is a complement put on top of the Old Testament,in order to give a more spiritual and less aggressive method. It also makes sense that in those times martial arts were not as common among normal people,so there was no need to explain this,it was from a master to other masters.
loved the video. i am a martial arts enthusiast with a fun short story. i spent my whole twenties as a delusional mess with a bit of a drug problem, i used to train even while being a homeless person for up 8 hours a day. i thought i would be a world champion. i have fought in real fights and from the point of view of how can i do the least damage and aikido did give me a chance to think about that. i wanted to change the world in a large way. i had it in my head i could create a better form of the common mma mix (boxing, muay thai, bjj and wrestling) by adding aikido and wing chun with some jkd but that i could do it all on my own with no dojo or coach, just a library card, 24 hour fitness membership and all the time i could want. now days i am 5 year sober and live in a house, i train but because i love to train and i am happier for it. i was glad to hear you come to a place of conscious recognition of the value of empathy taught in aikido by the end of the video. i have found a lot of personal growth from aikido, i wouldn't call my self a bad ass but i think your logic about the short comings in aikido are sound. i just wanted to let you know that what you were talking about within the influence of aikido on hard stylists had happened in some small compacity. maybe one day i will actually take some classes. until next time, thank you for your work.
Hello Rokas, Im a two years-aikido practicioner, and has been following your channel since then. It's great as always, and i've learnt lot of things from you, thanks for that. Aikido has helped me through the most difficult times in life, and you've been part of that, so, again, thank you. I've always thought that after your crisis and desilusion from aikido training, you were passion-driven at some degree against aikido, and you were disconnected from the positive aspect that it does rationally have. Some kind of "fury" or "resent" of a converted man who now see how much has invested in vain. Maybe someway you still feel passionately-driven against aikido, because you were hurt ,especially by your Aikido's community, and i think that's natural and understandable. But in this video I see something different, something that i was expecting to happen and gives me hope: the rediscovering, the fair judgement, the non passional and encompassing process of embracing your past experience and aikido itself as a part of your present self. That's maturity, thats evolution. Maybe it wasn't that vain the effort, and through dispair and hurt you learnt something special. Maybe you're still an aikidoka somehow, maybe a pretty curious one, without a Hakama, and without kote-gaeshi. Welcome to the next step on your journey, an aikidoka novice salutes you and wish you well!
It's very interesting to hear about your journey. I started practicing aikido a year ago and my journey was very different then yours. In my journey i was not disappointed by it, quite the opposite it delivered exactly what I was expecting and more. First of all I did not start practicing it for self defense, I work as a stage technician, which is very physically demanding so I'm a pretty big and strong guy, and i'm also a very smooth talker, I've always been good at it, my whole family is good at it and I've been taking acting lessons for 9 years which only increased my skill with words and more subtle means of communications so i don't usually get into any sort of conflicts. People who might be dangerous on the street avoid me because i'm intimidating at first glance and once they get to know me I usually sort out conflicts pretty easy. I practiced it to ease my mental distress, my frustration and my aggressive nature. I was always very aggressive and irritable. I mostly manifest it by being an active person and by hitting things with a hammer at work, or putting it on stage, but it got to a point where it was very damaging on me mental and physical health. I wanted to do MMA, Kickboxing or Muay Thai to help me manage my anger but my Psychotherapist suggested I try Aikido or Tai Chi. I found an Aikido club close to me and since then I've had a wonderful journey. I've been feeling a lot calmer the more I practiced aikido, i really thought me a new way of thinking and approaching problems, the non resistance way, the gentle way, and it let me practice this philosophy with my body. I learned to manage my stress a lot better, I'm far less anxious, more present, I can accept things that come at me much more easier and with way less effort. And my body and mind feel great. I found a lot of great health benefits too, other then the mental clarity. My cardio and flexibility are much better, and yes I know there are better ways to train them out there but this is a very enjoyable method for me. I also found individuals in this community who have a very healthy way of thinking and are very mature. And they embody the principles of aikido to great extent (They are not perfect being, they make mistakes and they cant always be perfect, but they accept that and they try to do their best) My Sensei is also a very down to earth person who made no crazy claims about aikido. She didn't promote it as being very effective form of fighting, she told me to go do some other thing if that is what I'm after. She said that a high level aikido practitioner could probably win a fight pretty easy, but you need a lot of time to get there. ( i dont know how true this is cause i'm not there and I didnt test it, but honestly i dont really care, i wont rely on aikido for self defence, if i want self defence i will go to a self defence class) She insisted that a high level aikido practitioner would not get into any conflict because their personality de escalates most conflict anyway and that we live in a society in which we are very unlikely to get into conflict anyway. I think the type of aikido you do is very important ( because not all branches have the same philosophy ), the reasons you go into it matter a lot, your teacher matters a lot but the most important thing that i can see is managing expectations. If your aikido teacher knows what aikido is, what it can do and what it cannot and is communicating that from the start, then i think the aikido experience would be very pleasant, if they make false claims and are confused about what aikido is then you can get extremely frustrated. I had a great journey in aikido but I was lucky. I know there are a lot of people out there who become very confused about the art and I thank you for doing this videos and throwing some light over it... Even if many times people don't even get you and what you are trying to say.
Hello there I have seen your videos for years. First, you inspired me to start Aikido again (I practiced for two years when I was a little kid) with your first videos, tutorials and so on Then, the Aikido vs MMA video went out. And you motivated me to question Aikido, look at the big picture of things. Your true humbleness and honesty is what stuck with me at the time I continued to practice Aikido for 6 months, passed my first test and loved it, but now being aware of many things and conflicts within it Anyway, I just want to thank you. Thank you for going all the way to find, or try to find, the truth of things. Many of the things you spoke about here I have wondered and given much thought as well. Thank you for sharing your experience and insight I hope I can continue to accompany you on your journey. Good luck always
Aikido and its deepest meaning its an ideal that maybe cannot be achived but that its worth attemped. I think thats a very good way to invest a lifetime. Just in my opinion
Interesting to listen to your opinion. It really reminds me of a part of Kendo philosophy ; Satsuninto and Katsujinken. The sword of killing, and the sword of life. Satsuninto is the basis of the way of the sword, you cannot learn the principles of the sword without learning skills that are used for taking one's life. As such, the most fundamental level of mastery of Kendo was considered to know the technique, know how one can kill an opponent. That is the symbol behind the first Kendo kata, uchidacshi defeats the opponent by killing him through a shomen-uchi, cut to the head. Yet at that stage what you are learning is jutsu, victory through technique. Then comes the second kata, where you defeat the opponent with a kote nuki kote, with a cut to the forearm. Though he will be injured, you could defeat him through superior skills in jutsu without killing him. It is katsujinken. The life-giving sword's first step. Finally, the third kata. Though the opponent tries do kill you with tsuki, you absorb his blows with nayazashi. You take control of his central line, chu-shin leaving him open to a deadly thrust. You keep strong seme -threatening- and presence -kigurai-, you keep threatening him strongly at the center line repeatedly without lacking zanshin. Yet you show benevolence, and do not kill him. If your opponent is skilled, he know he is defeated, he knows you could kill him repeatedly, yet you showed benevolence and did not. His heart is defeated, and he accepts his defeat, life spared. Certainly, the third kata shows the very ideal, in a sense perfection. Not something one can be expected to reach. Furthermore, Kendo is not a practical martial art anymore. Even in the Edo period jutsu became less and less useful, no wars, and most samurai never even had to draw a real sword in their lives! Then, why practice the art of the sword? Though we spar a crazy amount, no one in their right mind fights with a sword. We do not care anymore about fighting. We practice to improve our heart, our mind, to be strong, yet keep a calm mind in adversity. Constant sparring teaches seme, teaches what is pressure in combat, what is tempo, what are the weaknesses of one's mind. It gets you used to great adversity. We also practice because it is great fun :) The Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei said that Katsujinken is a double-edged sword. One edge is toward your opponent or ennemy, which symbolically you learn to defeat mercifully - giving him life. The second is toward yourself. You defeat your own weakness, and make your life better, therefore giving yourself a better life.
I disagree - Kendo can be a practical martial art when you even have little knowledge of how to punch or grapple, becauce Kendo as well as sport fencing is a charging sport that trains also timing, distance and coup d´oeil. Even so I admit that most people that in the west practive Kendo are hopeless cases.
@@najed23 In UK and France the level of Kendo is pretty good currently. It is very common to have sensei who are 6th or 7th dan, and have visits from Japanese hachidan. So I can't fully agree that Kendo in the west is hopeless. I don't know about Central and Eastern Europe though, and I didn't hear good things. The US does have a strong national team though. Otherwise, yes, Kendo has what I'd call partial effectiveness. I had practiced Karate years back, when I was still 1st dan in Kendo. I noticed that eventhough I didn't know striking technique at all, in kumite I did really well against opponents who trained karate for years, including yudansha just because I had a lot of sparring experience. With good Kendo you will get explosive footwork, learn how to manage distance, a good sense of timing, and at high levels seme - constant pressure on your opponent giving you effectively initiative. No point in being delusional though - most kenshi are clueless about grappling and completely defenseless against someone who has a clue about it.
Hi Rokas! There, you made it - you made me write a comment for the first time in my life here. I found out about your videos somehow - the way you discover anything on YT, I guess. The reason I find your videos great is because I was in Aikido (the Serbian version of it) for 8 years: during all that time I was pointing out that it needs adaptation and that it doesn't work the way it is now. After some time, I eventually quit. Not like you, with a peaceful mind, though, but was furious due to the lack of will, guts and honesty in the closed community to admit that some things don't work. The main "argument" that the "real" aikidoka (I prefer the term Serbian, the translation is bad, it should have been Realistic and there is nothing real about it) here is that, unlike the traditional aikido that does things that way, we do them this way, which is much better. In general, the difference is this: there is absolutely no mention of spirituality, no sticks and swords (sorry, don't know the word for the stick), the techniques are done faster and the leverages are done in a bit different way, not so much to protect the opponent, or at least they should be done that way, with much pain involved. Over the years, Ljubomir Vracarevic taught his students the techniques that he was performing great, but he didn't train them to be as strong as he was to be able to perform them the same way. He would be giving out black belts to people that do not deserve it just to make the art more popular and so he could count the number of black belts proudly in front of whomever. My trainer weighted ~140kg at that time. No, he was not all muscle. And he was not alone in that. I witnessed black belt exams where people were after 5th Dan with a belly bigger than my fridge is. People that couldn't do the falls because they lacked strength to do it. And they would all justify it by saying that over the years you learn to master those moves and that you do not need strength to perform them. Not once did it happen that I would object during the training when a trainer would show something. I would stand up and say that it doesn't work that way and was willing to come forth and prove it. It wasn't a rare case where I would have been told after they would fail to do so on me, I'm not exaggerating here: "Trust me, this works". And they would leave after that. I was constantly trying to make people start defending against real punches, not the ones that end at their peak and just remain lingering there. "That will be taught once you get the 1st Dan.". But I've seen exams for higher Dans, and nowhere did I see anyone defending against a real punch. I found it embarrassing, honestly, to watch people that are not children, that are over 30 years old, defending against shomen uchi. It's ridiculous. Whenever I would suggest bringing in a boxer to teach us to throw punches, to bring a taekwondoka to teach us how to kick, a judoka to show us their ways of throwing, I would have been told that it's not the right time for that. Later on I realised what it really was about - the cult mentality that you are talking about as well. Enclosed in the circle of their own dojo and the community that acts the same way, they are all far away from reality. Most of the masters that we have here in Serbia do not know how to punch. And are not even aware of it. They consider yokomenuchi to be a punch. They honestly believe that you can grab that wrist that is trying to stab you with a knife. They all believe that your whole body will move faster than someone's hand while being overweight. They all keep telling stories about how it works and how it is far too dangerous to be used in reality, so choose your opponents wisely, because you will most probably damage them beyond repair. And they all believe that all the other martial arts are inferior to aikido. Including the traditional one. In a way, it is a beautiful play with human body - all the ways you can manipulate with it and the small differences between angles that you make that make a whole different outcome. On the other hand, it's useless in a real fight. And had they been honest and just said - this is not for self defence, it is for self-discipline, motor skills, movement co-ordinance, physical well-being - I would have said ok, fair enough, and probably continued training aikido. This way - well, what can I say... In the end, I must thank you for the simplicity and honesty that you approach this problem with, and I must say I envy you for being able to do so calmly. Even now, after 4-5 years away from aikido, I am still angry at them. Which, as any other anger, bothers me, of course. It is interesting for me to see that you still love aikido and are still trying to make something out of it, even from the distance that you made. I guess I didn't have any point to prove here, just needed to share my story. Once again, I thank you for sharing your thoughts, as I found some comfort in knowing that my brother and I are not the only ones out there that share the thoughts.
Let me start by saying I like you and I like your thinking :) Not everyone is capable of it. Secondly it took me a long time to get past the anger. I definitely felt it too and I do sometimes still feel angry about some aspects of Aikido or especially my former teachers who are still living in their ego driven illusions. Meanwhile I've spoken and thought so much about Aikido, that yes, some of that anger has passed and now I'm starting to have a chance to look at it with more love and care like a caring parent who is talking with his child who misbehaved. And one more thing I wanted to share with you: trust me, there are A Lot of people who went through the same path and feel exactly like you (and me for that matter). Just few went on record to say it. Basically what I'm saying is: you're not alone :) Far from it
I don't know if you're going to read my comment, but what I saw from many martial arts creators, they began everyone like fighters from Miyamoto Musashi to Bruce Lee. Morihei Ueshiba and their earliest students maybe are the only ones with an effective version of Aikido, because were the fruits of a long journey of fighting and training. I believe that every martial art practitioner needs to create their own style at the end of his journey. Maybe in that moment, you can incorporate some principles of some aikido techniques, but from now I find it more productive to learn from their philosophy than from their arts. I recommend you to read the book "The Five Rings" from Miyamoto Musashi thank you for share your journey with everyone
Interesting and thoughtful video. I have some doubts though about the safety of choking people out. You state at 18:15 that this is the best option, but in my country we have had a lot of media coverage about police agents using some kind of neck choke against an arrestant who subsequently died. Moreover, I learned from a GP that it is very dangerous to prevent blood stream to the brain in two arteries at both sides of the throat at the same time. I had to visit a GP after practicing a choke and felt awkward and lightheaded for at least a week. The problem is a lack of oxygen for the brain causes many problems in the body quickly. So please revisit this issue, perhaps in another post. I would like to hear your opinion on it, preferably based on some science as well.
As far as my knowledge goes, the choke should be released at the moment of loss of consciousness, since every second after it may eventually lead to brain damage or eventually death. I have never heard of any damage when the choke would be released as soon as loss of consciousness, but of course, looking at the science behind it would be good. I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.
It's not a lot of damage, you might get a headache after but it is not a big deal, infact, it's the same headache you get when you drink something really cold or something like that, it is just your body telling you "I don't want to experience that"
I don’t always agree with your videos but I respect the journey you are on. I’ve trained aikido since 2004 and have cross trained in other arts including some BJJ (but will admit my bjj training is limited). I have two questions that I’ve always kind of wondered about and would like to hear your thoughts on them if you don’t mind answering. 1. What is the definition of “hurt”? I agree that throwing someone to the ground can hurt them but doing a takedown to choke them is also going to hurt them on some level. My philosophy, and maybe it really doesn’t match up with aikido, is that I never want to hurt someone but if the need arises I will hurt someone but my goal is to hurt them as little as possible. If someone attacks me aren’t they essentially choosing to hurt themselves? 2. Why do people limit aikido to ikkyo, nikyo, sankyo, etc? If aikido is about blending and harmony and energy then why do people feel they are limited to a specific set of techniques to achieve that. If you use a single or double leg takedown to end a fight without hurting someone then why can that not be considered aikido.
By hurt I guess I simply meant "injure". And in a way that's contextual, since many Aikido schools and instructors that I've met would claim that Aikido will teach you to defend yourself without hurting (so presumably injuring) the attacker (hence: the art of peace). In the end I think it's almost unrealistic to do it and not even worth it in a potentially life or death situation, but that's where I feel Aikido people who do promote the message of "not hurting" are doing a disfavor. And maybe not everyone says that or thinks that way, but there are some for sure. Now hurting someone as little as possible is another subject. 2) It's a good question and one I'd wish many Aikido instructors would answer publicly in an intelligent way. Personally I think more along the lines of what you said. But my honest answer of why people limit Aikido to techniques, I honestly think it's a fear of losing identity. Aikido is already struggling not to become a dead martial art and instead of evolving, I think that many take the route of: if I can only keep it the way it is. Have you ever heard stories of Saito saying it's his mission to preserve Aikido exactly the way it is? And then other Iwama people saying the same? It seems to almost be coming from a belief that if I will lose the original techniques - I will lose the art. Personally I don't think that's 100% true, but at the same time, if you make a martial art effective - most of it will most likely start to look like already effective martial arts (most of the stuff that's included in the MMA package) and I think for many Aikido people this notion is threatening. If I would see someone doing MMA (let's say) but with an Aikido perspective, I think that would be awesome :)
One idea, if I may. There is a Sensei out there that is considered as a maverick in the aikido community: Andre Cognard. There are some videos of his about space and time in aikido. I would be interested in knowing your opinion about his work and philosophy.
Very nice thoughts. I want to give my five cents if I may. 1. Most aikido training can be seen as kata with a partner. Lacking application training. 2. If you cannot choose not to use violence, it’s not a choice, meaning that if you cannot hurt him, you can’t be moral and chose not to hurt the person. There you could say the “dangerous techniques” could be to have the choice. 3. I would very much encourage you to look up nishio sensei. He’s using strikes in, for me, a very efficient way. 4. I would not follow a sensei I didn’t feel is a “threat” to me. Sensei has been challenged a couple of times and actually proved the techniques. Me being one of them. I totally agree with your main points! For me you could basically use any techniques and it’s “aikido”. It’s all about the mindset and philosophy, and you could use any techniques, it’s about how you applicate the techniques. The techniques need to develop along with the evolution of society, or it becomes old and outdated, and that was also the viewpoint of Nishio sensei. But it’s sad that it’s almost forgotten today.
21:49 Rokas Sensei, your impression that "Osensei wanted to create bad ass warriors who can fight yet choose not to hurt aggressors is not correct". from where did you get that? Aikido is for purely cleansing of heart of all necessity /love for destructive conflict, through muscle memory-consensual techniques and thus conserve/supply endless energy to be able to think peaceful response to end conflict , giving training/refining/cleansing continuously forever without harm to ones self and partner. It was never meant to create a superior fighting warrior through its Aikido techniques, Osensei knowing full well there is no greater martial art over another except one that is best according to situation. He let practioners become effective fighters by training in other styles of martial arts. His Aikido is the martial art that will heal a soul from decay brought by self glorification of fighting skills , of being able to beat crap out the bad guys, the highs of being able to protect your love ones/strangers from harm and haughtiness that comes from being physically strong and skilled as sure as he knows that each day, a person gets weaker and skills get dumber till senility. If he would see you now, he will be very happy about the journey you took towards improvement of your self -fighting/spiritual and which results also in improving his Aikido to be what is now your own Aikido. Please dont take offense from others like me who is showing [not ordering] you a path towards enlightenment as like Aikikai yudanshas or other Aikido main houses do, Because of their rank, they only believe they should always be the only one defining what Aikido is about and not the practitioner himself. Blessings and Peace be with you,,,Cheers !...Osu !!
I like Asian martial arts, because of their tradition and focus on discipline, however if it tries to sell me religion, that's a big no. I also think that When protecting yourself or your loved ones, you should be able to use any means necessary to stop the assailant. If he dies to it, it's tragic, but not really your fault. I don't mind deadly techniques if used strictly for self defense.
There should be some books out there about people discussing the way they tried to apply the "aiki" principle (at least what they thought they understood about it) in their daily lives. It would be interesting to hear about your point of view on their writings. Incidentally, the format of the video is nice since it is relaxed and colloquial. Nevertheless, even somebody like me who is interested in the topic tends to lose his attention as minutes go by. What you are saying is important since it reflects many years in the MA world and it is somewhat a pity to see it "loosely" produced.
Thanks :) I am still very much in a process of exploring myself and we could consider this partly a "live" documentation. I think there is a big chance that once I will clarify things to great detail, I might then go on to make more detailed and concentrated videos
I believe the founder of Aikido wanted to help former samurai or world war veterans find their purpose of life again and the art is meant to be somewhat a meditation to help the practitioner gain some soberness to help them ponder on their next step in life, maybe.
But there's never any guarantee's MMA fighters are still afraid of a street fight, you even see them get knocked out and there are videos of grapplers being stabbed when going to the ground. Geoff Thompson talks so much about this I recommend checking him out, he's so honest about this topic and trained very closely with Peter Considine.
@@jwhippet8313 head butt and a right cross has worked once and didn't work another time because I had a phone in my hand but cos of adrenaline forgot I was holding it. Nothing works :( haha
I’ve read almost every book published in English on Aikido and I think the best book explaining what Aikido truly is is the one called “The Heart of Aikido. The philosophy of Takemusu Aiki’. It is a compilation of O’Sensei lectures, and in my mind it clearly explains why Aikido is not a fighting art but a spiritual practice emerged from a fighting art, similar to Yoga and Tai Chi. Even just reading the preface of the book is enough to understand the essence of Aikido. I will quote part of it below: . Sounds like Bible, doesn’t it? And there are many other quotes throughout the book showing that the Founder wanted Aikido practitioners not to view Aikido as a fighting art, but to view it as a path for building one’s spirit in order to “bring Heaven to Earth”. The Founder insisted on daily meditation and purification of spirit rituals as part of this development. Having said that, I also believe that Aikido techniques came from the real battle techniques, which once were effectively used to deadly harm an opponent in the fastest way possible. They came straight from samurai training, who were the best fighters in the country, who were engaged in real battles and were fighting for life and death. Remember that the Founder grew up in time when Japan was torn apart internally, flooded with crime, gang clans, and violence. He was in an army, later worked as a bodyguard, and trained in very violent times. He would most likely be not able to survive among all that violence if his training was completely ineffective. So I believe that one can “reverse engineer” Aikido back into a fighting art, with “70% atemi (strikes) and 30% throws”, as the Founder described it himself when comparing battle techniques with spiritual techniques. The result would probably become something like Daito Ryu, which is where Aikido came from, nevertheless I think it is possible to make Aikido (or Aiki-Jitsu) effective again if one wants to use Aikido for self defence. He would just need to forget about peace and make it as bloody and as violent as possible.
I used to love "“The Heart of Aikido". I might pick it up again in one of these days. With this sentence I think you define quite well the very dilemma of Aikido: "He would just need to forget about peace and make it as bloody and as violent as possible." Sometimes if you want everything - in the end you get nothing.
The Journey Well, believe it or not, I recently experienced the “enlightenment” moment and now I feel deep compassion to every person, even to the worst criminal out there. I feel I cannot hate people anymore, not to mention fight them. And I realized that love and kindness is the only way to make this world better. Every person, even the most vicious criminal is capable of love. But this love hides deep in our hearts behind walls erected when we are being hurt. Any fighting only makes these walls stronger. Only kindness can break these walls and make people feel love instead of hate. Maybe O’Sensei came to the same realization. He realized that traditional self defence only takes us further away from opening our hearts. And he wanted to change it. From where I am right now, I cannot blame him. Just wish he could make his message clearer so that people understood what the goal of Aikido is.
I have defended myself successfully once but it was weird. I was once attacked while carrying a child... BUT I had people I could rely on to defend us, I was also almost twice the weight of my attackers and much stronger, they were also completely frantic and untrained... I basically grabbed my attackers wrist to release their grip and pushed them away, giving other people the chance to protect us without being violent while we escaped. It was quite scary and I was lucky in this specific scenario, my muscle memory made me go for the wrist rather than punching someone or risking a child’s life through being aggressive and going to jail. Definitely not your typical self defence scenario though... 😅basically I outclassed my opponents and had to use every advantage I had.
Interesting video. I agree with your point that a man who is uable to fight may hide it into non violence philosophy only to escape his weakness. What my aikido instructor told me is that aikido is all about raising up your integrity control your emotions and train your qi = strenght, vital force. Yes the philosophy is about non violence. But if you have a powerful body you know in a fight one kick with power is enough to destroy someone. Or one click on a gun and its done. So aikido to not be full of shit, must bring the best out of you while strenghtening your whole body power. Otherwise it is just some gymnastics. Im nit sure if i make any sense to you. Don not hesitate to ask or challenge me about anything or make contact in continuing this conversation.
...just curious, have you looked into Ed Parker Jr.'s Paxtial arts approach? (...son of Ed Parker, American Kenpo founder) ...after looking at the overkill results of kenpo in actual on-the-street fights, Ed Parker Jr. tried to come up with an approach somewhat akin to what Ueshiba was trying to do.
Of course Aikido is an incomplete Art for modern Self-Defense. I still like it though, but I already learned Strikes and Kicks from my Karate and Ninjitsu Training (my Trainer was a Tang Soo Do / Hapkido / Karate / Jiu Jitsu black belt). Aikido techniques are similar to what I learned in Ninjitsu, just a bit less brutal (eg. in Ninjitsu we locked the Arm of the oppenent on the ground with our knee instead of the hand, so we had hands free and could roll over the arm and break it if needed). Now I train Aikido because it's good, but I know I need to also know the missing parts (strikes/kicks/wrestling).
Yeah I struggle with feeling of zero confidence in defending myself. I've trained in karate and a little bit of judo, but I know if someone knew what they were doing better than me stronger than me or if I was caught by a haymaker I wouldn't make it. Knives guns and multiple people will get you too. I'm a strong believer that anyone can defeat anyone it's just the percentage of that happening changes drastically with proper training.
I think it's absolutely true that anyone can be defeated by anyone, given the right circumstances (add knives, multiple attackers, etc.). At the same time even when harboring this recognition, after I trained MMA and BJJ and when I got used to dealing with people trying to hurt me who know what they are doing, being attacked by someone else became much less scary :)
It depends a lot on vital energy my friend. Then also grounding and then focus, speed of movement. Technique come after these all elements. And are useful of course. So work on your emotions, your expansion, your inner blockage, walk in nature, do any exercise regularly, eat healthy, sleep well. Then do some self confidence challenges with yourself, shout in the forest, face your fears, all of this will increase your chi. For speed, practice fast handed precision activity table tennis is a must. It is a whole whole. For learning how to fight if you scared punching a bag everyday can help a lot. Peace
Imagine if Ushiba-sensei intentionally made Aikido ineffective, so that when you break peace and harmony (by fighting), you get beat up(as punishment). And as you practice the art for a long time and realize this, you start to understand you shouldn't be fighting in the first place and then you reach enlightenment.
It's an interesting theory :) Interestingly enough I've heard a similar theory more than once circulating in Aikido circles that Ueshiba indeed made Aikido ineffective, simply since - it's not meant to be a form of fighting. Even if this would be true though, trouble is that many Aikido schools present Aikido as a means of self defense.
@@Rokasleo Ahahaha really? I was just typing the stuff that popped out of my mind while listening to your story. Maybe they should have listened more to Ueshiba-sensei more when he was alive. Or maybe they realized it too but they don't want to admit that they got one upped by an old man. Or maybe because it still makes money.
First of all Rokas, let me say how much I admire what you are doing. You are literally examining, questioning and even losing your faith in front of a live audience. It's a brave thing to question things you held to be sacred. It's an enlightened thing to acknowledge that you were wrong. But it's freed you to grow which is more than 99% of the worlds population can say. Ok now to the Aikido. So there are two perspectives by which we can look at Aikido. The first is "O Sensei's Aikido" which is a collection of the philosophies and ideals espoused by the founder. The second is Aikido as a collection of techniques and tactics that make up a martial art. I have absolutely no interest in the former as it was built on a false foundation. For example, the idea that you can use your fighting ability to control someone else without hurting them can only happen (regardless of the style) if you have achieved mastery. I believe that Mike Tyson can diffuse a potentially violent situation without hurting his opponent (block and clinch??) simply because he has achieved mastery in boxing and has practiced so much that he instinctively knows what do to. O sensei's students can never achieve this because their training methods will never allow them to attain true realistic mastery of those techniques. It's a false foundation. The second perspective of Aikido is more interesting. Aikido as a collection of throws and controls can work. The only way we will really know is by testing a style of Aikido that actively practices against resisting opponents. The only style that does that is Sport Aikido (Tomiki) which is a growing style with a rules set and international competition. This is seen as "weird" but it just looks different because it is practiced in a live environment. How did Gracie JJ look to practitioners of traditional Jujitsu? A test of Tomiki would give us real insight into whether or not Aikido as a budo can ever be effective. As Aikidoka we should not consign a whole martial art to the junk yard just because our own training methods were not effective. Many styles of Aikido are in crisis, yes, but the sport style is quietly growing. This is despite total derision from the rest of the Aikido community and the overall negative impression of Aikido in the greater martial arts world. Why is that? This needs to be investigated by people seeking the truth about Aikido.
🙏 I'd love to try out Shodokan Aikido one day, try the sparring and also see how a high level Shodokan practitioner would be in a full on grappling sparring
@@Rokasleo I think that's a great idea. I think that episode would break the internet. 😊 Check out the member list www.wsafaikido.org/members incase you are ever in those areas. Keep up the awesome work!
Haha 😄 I guess it would. Unfortunately there's none in my country where I am now located and I couldn't say it is a priority enough for me to travel somewhere just for it, but I will keep it in my list and will drop by if I'll find something on the way 😉🙏
I think part of the problem is that you have one side saying Aikido is useless in a fight, when you have the other side saying it's not made for fighting and you're supposed to reach some mental plane of existence or something else mystical. The truth is probably somewhere in between it's good for wrist locks and simple stuff like that,but not for the cage, and as for as the mystical mental plane of existence crap, it's something that can be put into layman's terms, like "Aikido is a good workout that gives you strong mental focus by perfecting your techniques." That's all it is. and it does very well what it is made for, which is a good workout and having fun throwing your partner around. All the fancy stuff that you see in demonstrations is not for real applications, it's nothing more than playing around with your skills, and seeing how far you can take them. Those complicated throws and stuff are not made for combat, just playing around with your skills, nothing more. Think of it as the martial arts version of Tony Hawk doing all the crazy skateboard stuff in the 90s instead of just using his skateboard to get to and from home. Real Aikido is what you saw on COPS the first two seasons before it turned into Talking Cops.
"All the fancy stuff that you see in demonstrations is not for real applications, it's nothing more than playing around with your skills, and seeing how far you can take them. Those complicated throws and stuff are not made for combat, just playing around with your skills, nothing more. Think of it as the martial arts version of Tony Hawk doing all the crazy skateboard stuff in the 90s instead of just using his skateboard to get to and from home." I would like to agree but I would follow with a question if such purpose as you described is being communicated to the students in the way you've explained it.
I love to see someone Be so honest with themselves. I think the point that is so often missed, Aikido was created to be a path to enlightenment and an art of Living , more so then a martial art. I don't know if Aikido was ever meant to be a stand-alone martial art. I was taught that Aikido was just one aspect of budo. When O-sensei created Aikido he selected what he thought were the most spiritually harmonious techniques from Dai itto Ryu jiu jitsu and combined them with kenjutsu footwork. The opponents that Aikido study has best help me defeat are my own ego and gravity. I have successfully used Aikido techniques to defend myself against and number of industrial accidents including falling off ladders, garage door attacks and falling objects. We spend more time Fighting Gravity then this imaginary attacker we're all preparing to Face. Aikido has numerous self-defense applications, just maybe not the way most people understand.
I like to say that Ukemi is the most useful part of Aikido :) Definitely helped me in a number of situations and saved some of my students too from serious injuries
I want to know how to defend myself but don't want to be harm phisocologically broke during the process as it has happened to me while I was practicing karate. I don't know which martial art or training to follow that doesn't demand from me things as a cult or that don't broke my mind. In that case do you recommend BJJ? Do they have practices similar to cults as in other martial arts Dojos?
Most BJJ Dojos are far from being cults, one of the reasons I love BJJ. They tend to be casual, friendly and non-dogmatic (unlike many traditional martial arts schools). It's also very useful in knowing how to defend yourself from grips and stronger people trying to hold you or take you down. I'd definitely recommend BJJ. If you can choose one gym from a few I'd recommend visiting them all and choosing the one which is most friendly and has a great atmosphere. BJJ is difficult to learn at the beginning, but becomes very fun once you start getting it.
Aikido is more an art than a reliable complete self-defence system. It gives the practisioner a false sense of confidence to be able to protect itself. In perfect dojo circumstances the art works, not in real life combat situations.
Would be fascinating to understand how one could live the philosophy of o sensei but with everyones own individual choice of which martial art to complement it. That could easily be aikido but equally something else or no martial art at all.
I think that’s actually the point. Aikido is not the techniques. Aikido is the way. It’s a “do”, meaning a way. You could use any techniques:) at least in my opinion :)
@@Rokasleo Well you talked about knowing you have the skills to finish but choosing not to. Each part of the Ki Musubi No Tachi is a finish in its own right but the "defender" choices not to. It ends with the control of the partner. This is probably more obvious in the old partner practice which isn't practiced at distance. To me this shows that you should have the skills in the first place. Once you do you chose whether to use them or not. A lot of what you talk about is more apparent in the weapons rather than body techniques. The problem with practice nowadays its more like a dance routeen with predefined steps and a lack of genuine intention to hit the person. There needs to be purpose behind what is done, rather than doing it just for the sake of it.
I don't have a big need for O'Sensei's spirituality, because I am Roman-Catholic and I already know to serve and gain favor from God, the Saints, Guardian Angels, and Mary the mother of God. O Sensei may have known some good spiritual practices or effective prayers without being a Christian. Hopefully he didn't get help from Demons though, who are fallen Angels.
I wonder what would happen if someone mixed the methods and pholisofy of aikido and bjj... We know that tomiki aikido came from a mix between judo and aikido concepts... Btw... If you ever try tomiki aikido, could you give us your opinion om the system and the sparring?
That's a good question and something I am considering to look at as well. I'd love to try out Tomiki and will definitely make some videos about it as soon as I do :)!
I like Burno's approach. I was even supposed to meet him in Mexico last year, but at last moment I had to change my flight due to Visa issues and didn't have a chance to see him that time. You know, he lives on the other side of the globe in a country/place I have no other connections is :) It's easier to say that someone should train with someone than to figure out the logistics of it. Other than that, I personally don't seek anymore to make Aikido into a practical self defense system. There are plenty of practices which are already capable and I personally don't see a good enough reason to try to re-invent the bicycle so to speak. But I am interested to consider and explore the practical value of Aikido's philosophy which is quite unique.
If you really want to create a peaceful outcome without hurting the other person; study boxing! Just smack 'em around a bit until they come to their senses. Like the Three Stooges or something!
The fact that O Sensei would actually preach long sermons instead of actually teaching martial arts seems quite wierd especially if you look at martial arts school today.
When everybody revere you as a demi god, you may start to believe it if you don't get out and test yourself. When we spend our time preaching without confrontation, we may start to believe our own words/thoughts are the reality when they are only words and thoughts. Sorry to be that blunt, but when I went to learn aikido a long time ago I ended in a cult-like dojo where the master was constantly preaching and the students were revering him like a religious figure. I quickly quited and went to the boxing gym where I learned what fight means.
It's a combination of three things: 1) The video was filmed a few weeks ago, so it was still colder 2) It's Lithuania, which is colder than most countries 3) I hate cold and like to overdress 😂
From my 15 years experience I'd say it's more complex than that. Tai Chi is also soft, but it doesn't have a bad reputation. I explored this subject in more detail here: th-cam.com/video/loXqgWXSUUI/w-d-xo.html
I agree with you. Especially if we are talking about how Morihei Ueshiba perceived it. But for example, what about Chiba Sensei, who's Aikido is famous for being a combative style and infamous for having dozens of injured students during each seminar regularly? How about Yoshinkan being taught to Japan's riot police? If Yoshinkan (one of the biggest Aikido styles) would not promote itself as a combative style, would it really be teaching the riot police? Wouldn't it be their responsibility to say: "Oh, sorry, we are not teaching an effective form of combat. Please refer to a better martial art.". Also, what about many Aikido Dojos that promotes their Aikido as self defense? Check Google search on "Aikido Self Defense" and you'll see. If these schools don't claim that it's an effective form of combat, that it's not about fighting, why would they promote themselves as teaching self defense then? You see, that is the issue of Aikido's community. Because what one school/teacher claims, the other school/teacher counter-claims. That being said, am I the one who really has a misunderstanding of Aikido? And do you know me well enough to be so bold to say that it's a "profound" misunderstanding?
@@Rokasleo Chiba Sensei, Yoshinkan, and all the self defense schools are just examples of Aikido being the most misunderstood art. I believe Morihei Ueshiba only created the physical aspect of the Art mostly as a way to demonstrate the philosophy of Aikido. He never promised anyone it would be the ultimate most effective form of combat. If anything Aikido would be a complimentary skill set for an already skilled warrior, and perhaps to use in less violent situations. If I wanted to defend myself Aikido would be the last thing I would study. If I wanted to become a better person and improve the world around me Aikido is great.
@@deceptakon77 So then wouldn't a more precise statement had been: "Most of the Aikido world has a profound misunderstanding of Aikido" than saying that specifically about me? :) Also, this statement suggests that you know and understand Aikido much better than most of Aikidoka and famous teachers and styles. I wonder where the humility is in such a statement.
maybe you can one day sitt down and reevaluate your thoghts and not just say aikido is bad all of the time... i am not subscirbed anymore to your channel
I don't say that Aikido is only bad all the time, but yes, I agree, I tend to talk more negatively about it though. Did you watch this video till the end though? At the end of it I focused on a very positive note.
I stopped watching your videos when you bought that uniform with the hood with the intention of checking back every so often and naybe watch again if you figure it out and have something to teach or show. Are you back into aikido? Or are you full time into philosophy. I really hope you havent gone back to aikido because i have never had the slightest thought that aikido was worth being dedicated to. There might have been something to learn from O Sensei himself, like "How to create a martial arts following without gaving an effective martial art". Its about marketing, not martial arts. Have you been sucked back in because of your 10 years of training and the level you reached. Its as if you tried a couple of things and decided it might be better to return to what you invested most in. Which is it?
Hey man. Don't worry, I have no interest in trying to make Aikido work as a martial art. I am interested to take a look once more at it's philosophy/mindset which had a positive impact on me personally throughout my life, but even that won't be my main priority. I am still exploring and slowly finding what are the best things are that I could offer to others :)
The Journey i know you are a good guy. Its obvious. I am no guru by any means but i will say that the most anyone can do for others is to FIRST become financially successful or to get a profession like a doctor where you can save lives and makeva decent living. I have no idea if your aituation financially. Maybe you have a wealthy family, in which case it doesnt matter. I always say that there is enough excess wealth in the world to feed everyone but there is no way to manage that money. Only a small percentage of money given to charity actually reaches those who need it. The seflishness in the world is insane. People only care about themselves. Anyway i am rambling. My feeble advice is to first become reasonably successful and then go help people once you have enough to not worry about money. On your way towards financial independence, you will find things to help others.
🙏 I do agree with you! It is also a part of my philosophy that it is best for us to first become successful before trying to help others. Also, what you said about first establishing a financial base works in well with Maslow's hierarchy of needs and makes sense. As far as my journey is concerned, I don't speak much about it, but I'm actually already making a passive income living to support me each month. I'm not a big spender and Martial Arts Journey (TH-cam channel) earns me enough money on its own for me to make a living. I also do some editing work once in a while which ends up being extra cash that these days I'm mostly putting into saving. Funny part is, if I would want to be rich, I easily could :) By just pumping popular content on Martial Arts Journey (MAJ). If that was my priority I would be making a lot of money to be honest 😂 But money was never a motivating force for me. And since I am earning enough money one way or another, I am all the more encouraged to pursue this path/journey that I am on now :) So in a way, what you spoke about - is happening. And with all of the injustice. I'm with you there too. And that's all the more reason why I am interested to invest more time into embodying and hopefully spreading an effective philosophy which would make people less self-centered and more reasonable :)
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There was a dude in ancient Greece that was called Melanchomas it is written he was able to beat everybody out of frustration and by making them tired, he was dodging, parrying, blocking and deflecting all the opponent's attacks like he was making fun of them without throwing a single punch , maybe aikido can be that style , the style of fighting without fighting, using athleticism, mind , and will. Also άκρο χειρισμός , which means manipulation of the limbs more often the arms like wrist locks can be the specialty of aikidokas in order to keep the art alive with a new fresh prospective and keeping the beliefs of Morihei ueshiba using some new training methods and cross training .
Interesting idea. There are stories of Morihei Ueshiba evading attacks until the other side would lose motivation. I would pose some counter-arguments such as that it may take a very high level of athleticism/skill, the question of tight/limited spaces or multiple attackers (multiple attackers though are a pain to any fighting/self defense style), but all in all, once more, I find your idea very interesting and I'll dwell on it :) Thanks
@@Rokasleo Well test it out and make a video of what you learned, it will need time to train for that to be able of achieving true results. Evading so much that the opponent doesn't really know where you are and at the same time use humane one strike kill - knock out techniques (either striking or grappling ones) theoretically can be done, also when you parry deflect or block you can strike in a way the opponent's attacking limb hurts, like elbowing punches, hit the soft tissue of the kicking leg or under the knee etc and at the same time use standing and ground wrist and elbow locks . But the main art sould be at evading-dodging, maybe if you or one student of yours achieve through his Talend good MMA fighting results you can put aikido back in combat sports map and help it evolve and not getting really outdated and forgotten, I don't know though if the old masters of aikido let you do it and call that aikido I guess if you bring results they will . Also the religious aspect must go out of world aikido and remain only to the practitioners of that religion in Japan etc. I am sure a lot of ppl like me doesn't even try aikido out cause of that.
This is probably your best take on talking about the issues in Aikido. Very respectful and full of interesting facts coming from your experience or reliable sources. Well done!
Thank you! 😊 I am glad as well that I'm slowly starting to be able to have a somewhat positive ability to talk about Aikido again 😁 I'll be interested to see if or where that positiveness could lead further 🙂
I honestly thought this was gonna be more bashing of Aikido, but this was a good analysis of the gaps! And the view of you’ll get Aikido better if you are already a martial artist was one I have held for a while as well. In fact, most of my early training partners were practitioners who were already experts in other “fighting” arts. But we all agreed with exactly what you said, you have to know other martial arts along with Aikido to better understand the techniques and philosophy. That’s why I continue to cross train from day 1 to now.
Back then it was cross training with Karate guys, kickboxing guys, wrestlers, etc. Nowadays it’s working in the parts of MMA: BJJ, boxing, Muay Thai, etc. It makes you keenly aware of the gaps in the soft Aikido, and also the strengths of soft Aikido. But as you said, the philosophy has value and potency, IF you stage it correctly. Nowadays I do think BJJ and Aikido cross training is a must for anyone practicing Aikido. You are right, it has more effective techniques to handle violence without being violent, and Aikido also adds the layer of spirituality that is missing in combat arts. It adds more layers to keep going beyond the combat/violence and makes martial arts a lifetime practice. But as you said, combat/violence is something you must go through. Can’t skip it.
Last note, I saw a video interview with Soshihan Kobayashi and he said a lot of what you said, O-sensei was not understood much and even his core techniques were ignored in favor of more “flashy” techniques. Specifically, O-sensei felt that pinning and restraining someone was the core of Budo, yet his students loved to do more of the throwing aspects of Aikido and minimized pinning. Add that, and earlier photos of Aiki-budo having elements of ground restraints, I think O-sensei held some similar ideas to BJJ. Especially in the idea of control using you body weight over pain compliance. Which makes sense from a historical perspective considering the roots of BJJ being Judo, Judo being Jujitsu...there’s common ground at some level. But that’s just IMO.
Last one for sure, my friend, you have to live the philosophy off the mat. There’s more layers to the concepts than just the physical training, and for sure a lot of people miss out on that. In both the mental and spiritual levels of Aikido. I was fortunate to have a good foundation and missed a lot of the issues you had, I had teachers who valued both the martial art sharpness of training as well as the Zen teachers who challenged the thinking of practitioners. Thanks for sharing!
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It seems a pretty reasonable theory,i i wondered that too. Morihei Ueshiba was one of the most skilled martial artists of his time,he was very insightful,i don't he was the type of guy that sells quack, and it makes more sense that he would create a system for other fighter that would be put on top of their preexistent training, to give a new purpose and spirit.
Kinda like the New Testament is a complement put on top of the Old Testament,in order to give a more spiritual and less aggressive method. It also makes sense that in those times martial arts were not as common among normal people,so there was no need to explain this,it was from a master to other masters.
I enjoyed hearing your perspective. By discussing your challenges, you are already helping others!
Thank you 🙏☺️
Motorcycle go brrrrrrrr
I legitimatly love how unedited this is. It's quite cool; genuine! :D
Haha! Thanks! 😁 I really wanted this video to be as authentic as possible
loved the video. i am a martial arts enthusiast with a fun short story. i spent my whole twenties as a delusional mess with a bit of a drug problem, i used to train even while being a homeless person for up 8 hours a day. i thought i would be a world champion. i have fought in real fights and from the point of view of how can i do the least damage and aikido did give me a chance to think about that. i wanted to change the world in a large way. i had it in my head i could create a better form of the common mma mix (boxing, muay thai, bjj and wrestling) by adding aikido and wing chun with some jkd but that i could do it all on my own with no dojo or coach, just a library card, 24 hour fitness membership and all the time i could want. now days i am 5 year sober and live in a house, i train but because i love to train and i am happier for it. i was glad to hear you come to a place of conscious recognition of the value of empathy taught in aikido by the end of the video. i have found a lot of personal growth from aikido, i wouldn't call my self a bad ass but i think your logic about the short comings in aikido are sound. i just wanted to let you know that what you were talking about within the influence of aikido on hard stylists had happened in some small compacity. maybe one day i will actually take some classes. until next time, thank you for your work.
Hello Rokas, Im a two years-aikido practicioner, and has been following your channel since then. It's great as always, and i've learnt lot of things from you, thanks for that. Aikido has helped me through the most difficult times in life, and you've been part of that, so, again, thank you. I've always thought that after your crisis and desilusion from aikido training, you were passion-driven at some degree against aikido, and you were disconnected from the positive aspect that it does rationally have. Some kind of "fury" or "resent" of a converted man who now see how much has invested in vain. Maybe someway you still feel passionately-driven against aikido, because you were hurt ,especially by your Aikido's community, and i think that's natural and understandable. But in this video I see something different, something that i was expecting to happen and gives me hope: the rediscovering, the fair judgement, the non passional and encompassing process of embracing your past experience and aikido itself as a part of your present self. That's maturity, thats evolution. Maybe it wasn't that vain the effort, and through dispair and hurt you learnt something special. Maybe you're still an aikidoka somehow, maybe a pretty curious one, without a Hakama, and without kote-gaeshi. Welcome to the next step on your journey, an aikidoka novice salutes you and wish you well!
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It's very interesting to hear about your journey. I started practicing aikido a year ago and my journey was very different then yours. In my journey i was not disappointed by it, quite the opposite it delivered exactly what I was expecting and more.
First of all I did not start practicing it for self defense, I work as a stage technician, which is very physically demanding so I'm a pretty big and strong guy, and i'm also a very smooth talker, I've always been good at it, my whole family is good at it and I've been taking acting lessons for 9 years which only increased my skill with words and more subtle means of communications so i don't usually get into any sort of conflicts. People who might be dangerous on the street avoid me because i'm intimidating at first glance and once they get to know me I usually sort out conflicts pretty easy.
I practiced it to ease my mental distress, my frustration and my aggressive nature. I was always very aggressive and irritable. I mostly manifest it by being an active person and by hitting things with a hammer at work, or putting it on stage, but it got to a point where it was very damaging on me mental and physical health. I wanted to do MMA, Kickboxing or Muay Thai to help me manage my anger but my Psychotherapist suggested I try Aikido or Tai Chi. I found an Aikido club close to me and since then I've had a wonderful journey.
I've been feeling a lot calmer the more I practiced aikido, i really thought me a new way of thinking and approaching problems, the non resistance way, the gentle way, and it let me practice this philosophy with my body.
I learned to manage my stress a lot better, I'm far less anxious, more present, I can accept things that come at me much more easier and with way less effort. And my body and mind feel great.
I found a lot of great health benefits too, other then the mental clarity. My cardio and flexibility are much better, and yes I know there are better ways to train them out there but this is a very enjoyable method for me.
I also found individuals in this community who have a very healthy way of thinking and are very mature. And they embody the principles of aikido to great extent (They are not perfect being, they make mistakes and they cant always be perfect, but they accept that and they try to do their best)
My Sensei is also a very down to earth person who made no crazy claims about aikido. She didn't promote it as being very effective form of fighting, she told me to go do some other thing if that is what I'm after. She said that a high level aikido practitioner could probably win a fight pretty easy, but you need a lot of time to get there. ( i dont know how true this is cause i'm not there and I didnt test it, but honestly i dont really care, i wont rely on aikido for self defence, if i want self defence i will go to a self defence class) She insisted that a high level aikido practitioner would not get into any conflict because their personality de escalates most conflict anyway and that we live in a society in which we are very unlikely to get into conflict anyway.
I think the type of aikido you do is very important ( because not all branches have the same philosophy ), the reasons you go into it matter a lot, your teacher matters a lot but the most important thing that i can see is managing expectations. If your aikido teacher knows what aikido is, what it can do and what it cannot and is communicating that from the start, then i think the aikido experience would be very pleasant, if they make false claims and are confused about what aikido is then you can get extremely frustrated.
I had a great journey in aikido but I was lucky. I know there are a lot of people out there who become very confused about the art and I thank you for doing this videos and throwing some light over it...
Even if many times people don't even get you and what you are trying to say.
Hello there
I have seen your videos for years.
First, you inspired me to start Aikido again (I practiced for two years when I was a little kid) with your first videos, tutorials and so on
Then, the Aikido vs MMA video went out. And you motivated me to question Aikido, look at the big picture of things. Your true humbleness and honesty is what stuck with me at the time
I continued to practice Aikido for 6 months, passed my first test and loved it, but now being aware of many things and conflicts within it
Anyway, I just want to thank you. Thank you for going all the way to find, or try to find, the truth of things. Many of the things you spoke about here I have wondered and given much thought as well.
Thank you for sharing your experience and insight
I hope I can continue to accompany you on your journey. Good luck always
Thank you for sharing this 🙏 Knowing about such experiences means a lot to me
Aikido and its deepest meaning its an ideal that maybe cannot be achived but that its worth attemped.
I think thats a very good way to invest a lifetime.
Just in my opinion
Interesting to listen to your opinion. It really reminds me of a part of Kendo philosophy ; Satsuninto and Katsujinken. The sword of killing, and the sword of life.
Satsuninto is the basis of the way of the sword, you cannot learn the principles of the sword without learning skills that are used for taking one's life. As such, the most fundamental level of mastery of Kendo was considered to know the technique, know how one can kill an opponent. That is the symbol behind the first Kendo kata, uchidacshi defeats the opponent by killing him through a shomen-uchi, cut to the head. Yet at that stage what you are learning is jutsu, victory through technique.
Then comes the second kata, where you defeat the opponent with a kote nuki kote, with a cut to the forearm. Though he will be injured, you could defeat him through superior skills in jutsu without killing him. It is katsujinken. The life-giving sword's first step.
Finally, the third kata. Though the opponent tries do kill you with tsuki, you absorb his blows with nayazashi. You take control of his central line, chu-shin leaving him open to a deadly thrust. You keep strong seme -threatening- and presence -kigurai-, you keep threatening him strongly at the center line repeatedly without lacking zanshin. Yet you show benevolence, and do not kill him.
If your opponent is skilled, he know he is defeated, he knows you could kill him repeatedly, yet you showed benevolence and did not. His heart is defeated, and he accepts his defeat, life spared.
Certainly, the third kata shows the very ideal, in a sense perfection. Not something one can be expected to reach.
Furthermore, Kendo is not a practical martial art anymore. Even in the Edo period jutsu became less and less useful, no wars, and
most samurai never even had to draw a real sword in their lives! Then, why practice the art of the sword? Though we spar a crazy amount, no one in their right mind fights with a sword. We do not care anymore about fighting.
We practice to improve our heart, our mind, to be strong, yet keep a calm mind in adversity. Constant sparring teaches seme, teaches what is pressure in combat, what is tempo, what are the weaknesses of one's mind. It gets you used to great adversity. We also practice because it is great fun :)
The Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei said that Katsujinken is a double-edged sword. One edge is toward your opponent or ennemy, which symbolically you learn to defeat mercifully - giving him life. The second is toward yourself. You defeat your own weakness, and make your life better, therefore giving yourself a better life.
I disagree - Kendo can be a practical martial art when you even have little knowledge of how to punch or grapple, becauce Kendo as well as sport fencing is a charging sport that trains also timing, distance and coup d´oeil. Even so I admit that most people that in the west practive Kendo are hopeless cases.
@@najed23 In UK and France the level of Kendo is pretty good currently. It is very common to have sensei who are 6th or 7th dan, and have visits from Japanese hachidan. So I can't fully agree that Kendo in the west is hopeless.
I don't know about Central and Eastern Europe though, and I didn't hear good things. The US does have a strong national team though.
Otherwise, yes, Kendo has what I'd call partial effectiveness. I had practiced Karate years back, when I was still 1st dan in Kendo. I noticed that eventhough I didn't know striking technique at all, in kumite I did really well against opponents who trained karate for years, including yudansha just because I had a lot of sparring experience.
With good Kendo you will get explosive footwork, learn how to manage distance, a good sense of timing, and at high levels seme - constant pressure on your opponent giving you effectively initiative. No point in being delusional though - most kenshi are clueless about grappling and completely defenseless against someone who has a clue about it.
I always enjoyed the Satsujinken and Katsujinken principle and ideology :)
I think that part of the reason why Aikido is in a crisis is because Aikido has either forgoten or it simply doesn't know what it's supposed to be.
The short story is The egg by Andy Weir.
Thanks!
Hi Rokas! There, you made it - you made me write a comment for the first time in my life here. I found out about your videos somehow - the way you discover anything on YT, I guess. The reason I find your videos great is because I was in Aikido (the Serbian version of it) for 8 years: during all that time I was pointing out that it needs adaptation and that it doesn't work the way it is now. After some time, I eventually quit. Not like you, with a peaceful mind, though, but was furious due to the lack of will, guts and honesty in the closed community to admit that some things don't work.
The main "argument" that the "real" aikidoka (I prefer the term Serbian, the translation is bad, it should have been Realistic and there is nothing real about it) here is that, unlike the traditional aikido that does things that way, we do them this way, which is much better.
In general, the difference is this: there is absolutely no mention of spirituality, no sticks and swords (sorry, don't know the word for the stick), the techniques are done faster and the leverages are done in a bit different way, not so much to protect the opponent, or at least they should be done that way, with much pain involved.
Over the years, Ljubomir Vracarevic taught his students the techniques that he was performing great, but he didn't train them to be as strong as he was to be able to perform them the same way. He would be giving out black belts to people that do not deserve it just to make the art more popular and so he could count the number of black belts proudly in front of whomever.
My trainer weighted ~140kg at that time. No, he was not all muscle. And he was not alone in that. I witnessed black belt exams where people were after 5th Dan with a belly bigger than my fridge is. People that couldn't do the falls because they lacked strength to do it. And they would all justify it by saying that over the years you learn to master those moves and that you do not need strength to perform them.
Not once did it happen that I would object during the training when a trainer would show something. I would stand up and say that it doesn't work that way and was willing to come forth and prove it. It wasn't a rare case where I would have been told after they would fail to do so on me, I'm not exaggerating here: "Trust me, this works". And they would leave after that. I was constantly trying to make people start defending against real punches, not the ones that end at their peak and just remain lingering there. "That will be taught once you get the 1st Dan.". But I've seen exams for higher Dans, and nowhere did I see anyone defending against a real punch. I found it embarrassing, honestly, to watch people that are not children, that are over 30 years old, defending against shomen uchi. It's ridiculous. Whenever I would suggest bringing in a boxer to teach us to throw punches, to bring a taekwondoka to teach us how to kick, a judoka to show us their ways of throwing, I would have been told that it's not the right time for that. Later on I realised what it really was about - the cult mentality that you are talking about as well.
Enclosed in the circle of their own dojo and the community that acts the same way, they are all far away from reality. Most of the masters that we have here in Serbia do not know how to punch. And are not even aware of it. They consider yokomenuchi to be a punch. They honestly believe that you can grab that wrist that is trying to stab you with a knife. They all believe that your whole body will move faster than someone's hand while being overweight. They all keep telling stories about how it works and how it is far too dangerous to be used in reality, so choose your opponents wisely, because you will most probably damage them beyond repair. And they all believe that all the other martial arts are inferior to aikido. Including the traditional one.
In a way, it is a beautiful play with human body - all the ways you can manipulate with it and the small differences between angles that you make that make a whole different outcome. On the other hand, it's useless in a real fight. And had they been honest and just said - this is not for self defence, it is for self-discipline, motor skills, movement co-ordinance, physical well-being - I would have said ok, fair enough, and probably continued training aikido. This way - well, what can I say...
In the end, I must thank you for the simplicity and honesty that you approach this problem with, and I must say I envy you for being able to do so calmly. Even now, after 4-5 years away from aikido, I am still angry at them. Which, as any other anger, bothers me, of course. It is interesting for me to see that you still love aikido and are still trying to make something out of it, even from the distance that you made.
I guess I didn't have any point to prove here, just needed to share my story. Once again, I thank you for sharing your thoughts, as I found some comfort in knowing that my brother and I are not the only ones out there that share the thoughts.
Let me start by saying I like you and I like your thinking :) Not everyone is capable of it. Secondly it took me a long time to get past the anger. I definitely felt it too and I do sometimes still feel angry about some aspects of Aikido or especially my former teachers who are still living in their ego driven illusions. Meanwhile I've spoken and thought so much about Aikido, that yes, some of that anger has passed and now I'm starting to have a chance to look at it with more love and care like a caring parent who is talking with his child who misbehaved. And one more thing I wanted to share with you: trust me, there are A Lot of people who went through the same path and feel exactly like you (and me for that matter). Just few went on record to say it. Basically what I'm saying is: you're not alone :) Far from it
I don't know if you're going to read my comment, but what I saw from many martial arts creators, they began everyone like fighters from Miyamoto Musashi to Bruce Lee. Morihei Ueshiba and their earliest students maybe are the only ones with an effective version of Aikido, because were the fruits of a long journey of fighting and training. I believe that every martial art practitioner needs to create their own style at the end of his journey. Maybe in that moment, you can incorporate some principles of some aikido techniques, but from now I find it more productive to learn from their philosophy than from their arts. I recommend you to read the book "The Five Rings" from Miyamoto Musashi thank you for share your journey with everyone
Haven't read The Five Rings for a long time :) Maybe I should read it again some day
@@Rokasleo You should definitely do it and more now that you have more combat experience, I'm sure now you will find more meaning to his words now
Interesting and thoughtful video. I have some doubts though about the safety of choking people out. You state at 18:15 that this is the best option, but in my country we have had a lot of media coverage about police agents using some kind of neck choke against an arrestant who subsequently died. Moreover, I learned from a GP that it is very dangerous to prevent blood stream to the brain in two arteries at both sides of the throat at the same time. I had to visit a GP after practicing a choke and felt awkward and lightheaded for at least a week. The problem is a lack of oxygen for the brain causes many problems in the body quickly. So please revisit this issue, perhaps in another post. I would like to hear your opinion on it, preferably based on some science as well.
As far as my knowledge goes, the choke should be released at the moment of loss of consciousness, since every second after it may eventually lead to brain damage or eventually death. I have never heard of any damage when the choke would be released as soon as loss of consciousness, but of course, looking at the science behind it would be good. I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.
It's not a lot of damage, you might get a headache after but it is not a big deal, infact, it's the same headache you get when you drink something really cold or something like that, it is just your body telling you "I don't want to experience that"
I don’t always agree with your videos but I respect the journey you are on. I’ve trained aikido since 2004 and have cross trained in other arts including some BJJ (but will admit my bjj training is limited). I have two questions that I’ve always kind of wondered about and would like to hear your thoughts on them if you don’t mind answering. 1. What is the definition of “hurt”? I agree that throwing someone to the ground can hurt them but doing a takedown to choke them is also going to hurt them on some level. My philosophy, and maybe it really doesn’t match up with aikido, is that I never want to hurt someone but if the need arises I will hurt someone but my goal is to hurt them as little as possible. If someone attacks me aren’t they essentially choosing to hurt themselves? 2. Why do people limit aikido to ikkyo, nikyo, sankyo, etc? If aikido is about blending and harmony and energy then why do people feel they are limited to a specific set of techniques to achieve that. If you use a single or double leg takedown to end a fight without hurting someone then why can that not be considered aikido.
By hurt I guess I simply meant "injure". And in a way that's contextual, since many Aikido schools and instructors that I've met would claim that Aikido will teach you to defend yourself without hurting (so presumably injuring) the attacker (hence: the art of peace). In the end I think it's almost unrealistic to do it and not even worth it in a potentially life or death situation, but that's where I feel Aikido people who do promote the message of "not hurting" are doing a disfavor. And maybe not everyone says that or thinks that way, but there are some for sure. Now hurting someone as little as possible is another subject.
2) It's a good question and one I'd wish many Aikido instructors would answer publicly in an intelligent way. Personally I think more along the lines of what you said. But my honest answer of why people limit Aikido to techniques, I honestly think it's a fear of losing identity. Aikido is already struggling not to become a dead martial art and instead of evolving, I think that many take the route of: if I can only keep it the way it is. Have you ever heard stories of Saito saying it's his mission to preserve Aikido exactly the way it is? And then other Iwama people saying the same? It seems to almost be coming from a belief that if I will lose the original techniques - I will lose the art. Personally I don't think that's 100% true, but at the same time, if you make a martial art effective - most of it will most likely start to look like already effective martial arts (most of the stuff that's included in the MMA package) and I think for many Aikido people this notion is threatening. If I would see someone doing MMA (let's say) but with an Aikido perspective, I think that would be awesome :)
One idea, if I may. There is a Sensei out there that is considered as a maverick in the aikido community: Andre Cognard. There are some videos of his about space and time in aikido. I would be interested in knowing your opinion about his work and philosophy.
Very nice thoughts. I want to give my five cents if I may. 1. Most aikido training can be seen as kata with a partner. Lacking application training. 2. If you cannot choose not to use violence, it’s not a choice, meaning that if you cannot hurt him, you can’t be moral and chose not to hurt the person. There you could say the “dangerous techniques” could be to have the choice. 3. I would very much encourage you to look up nishio sensei. He’s using strikes in, for me, a very efficient way. 4. I would not follow a sensei I didn’t feel is a “threat” to me. Sensei has been challenged a couple of times and actually proved the techniques. Me being one of them. I totally agree with your main points! For me you could basically use any techniques and it’s “aikido”. It’s all about the mindset and philosophy, and you could use any techniques, it’s about how you applicate the techniques. The techniques need to develop along with the evolution of society, or it becomes old and outdated, and that was also the viewpoint of Nishio sensei. But it’s sad that it’s almost forgotten today.
The story is called Another Way by Terry Dobson. It was featured in Chicken Soup For The Soul. Beautiful story of the spirit of true martial arts.
21:49 Rokas Sensei, your impression that "Osensei wanted to create bad ass warriors who can fight yet choose not to hurt aggressors is not correct". from where did you get that?
Aikido is for purely cleansing of heart of all necessity /love for destructive conflict, through muscle memory-consensual techniques and thus conserve/supply endless energy to be able to think peaceful response to end conflict , giving training/refining/cleansing continuously forever without harm to ones self and partner.
It was never meant to create a superior fighting warrior through its Aikido techniques, Osensei knowing full well there is no greater martial art over another except one that is best according to situation. He let practioners become effective fighters by training in other styles of martial arts.
His Aikido is the martial art that will heal a soul from decay brought by self glorification of fighting skills , of being able to beat crap out the bad guys, the highs of being able to protect your love ones/strangers from harm and haughtiness that comes from being physically strong and skilled as sure as he knows that each day, a person gets weaker and skills get dumber till senility.
If he would see you now, he will be very happy about the journey you took towards improvement of your self -fighting/spiritual and which results also in improving his Aikido to be what is now your own Aikido.
Please dont take offense from others like me who is showing [not ordering] you a path towards enlightenment as like Aikikai yudanshas or other Aikido main houses do, Because of their rank, they only believe they should always be the only one defining what Aikido is about and not the practitioner himself.
Blessings and Peace be with you,,,Cheers !...Osu !!
I like Asian martial arts, because of their tradition and focus on discipline, however if it tries to sell me religion, that's a big no. I also think that When protecting yourself or your loved ones, you should be able to use any means necessary to stop the assailant. If he dies to it, it's tragic, but not really your fault. I don't mind deadly techniques if used strictly for self defense.
One punch, chin, finished.
Or one kick leg then one last, finished.
Train those 2 things 50000 times on a bag and youll be ready in 2 or 3 months
There should be some books out there about people discussing the way they tried to apply the "aiki" principle (at least what they thought they understood about it) in their daily lives. It would be interesting to hear about your point of view on their writings.
Incidentally, the format of the video is nice since it is relaxed and colloquial. Nevertheless, even somebody like me who is interested in the topic tends to lose his attention as minutes go by. What you are saying is important since it reflects many years in the MA world and it is somewhat a pity to see it "loosely" produced.
Thanks :) I am still very much in a process of exploring myself and we could consider this partly a "live" documentation. I think there is a big chance that once I will clarify things to great detail, I might then go on to make more detailed and concentrated videos
Keep it up!
🙏😊
I believe the founder of Aikido wanted to help former samurai or world war veterans find their purpose of life again and the art is meant to be somewhat a meditation to help the practitioner gain some soberness to help them ponder on their next step in life, maybe.
But there's never any guarantee's MMA fighters are still afraid of a street fight, you even see them get knocked out and there are videos of grapplers being stabbed when going to the ground. Geoff Thompson talks so much about this I recommend checking him out, he's so honest about this topic and trained very closely with Peter Considine.
The only Asian martial art good in a street fight is Kyujutsu bc shooting people 60 yards away is very effective in stopping muggings and rapes.
@@jwhippet8313 head butt and a right cross has worked once and didn't work another time because I had a phone in my hand but cos of adrenaline forgot I was holding it. Nothing works :( haha
@@jwhippet8313 Sometimes monkeys fall out of tree's
I’ve read almost every book published in English on Aikido and I think the best book explaining what Aikido truly is is the one called “The Heart of Aikido. The philosophy of Takemusu Aiki’. It is a compilation of O’Sensei lectures, and in my mind it clearly explains why Aikido is not a fighting art but a spiritual practice emerged from a fighting art, similar to Yoga and Tai Chi. Even just reading the preface of the book is enough to understand the essence of Aikido. I will quote part of it below:
. Sounds like Bible, doesn’t it?
And there are many other quotes throughout the book showing that the Founder wanted Aikido practitioners not to view Aikido as a fighting art, but to view it as a path for building one’s spirit in order to “bring Heaven to Earth”. The Founder insisted on daily meditation and purification of spirit rituals as part of this development.
Having said that, I also believe that Aikido techniques came from the real battle techniques, which once were effectively used to deadly harm an opponent in the fastest way possible. They came straight from samurai training, who were the best fighters in the country, who were engaged in real battles and were fighting for life and death. Remember that the Founder grew up in time when Japan was torn apart internally, flooded with crime, gang clans, and violence. He was in an army, later worked as a bodyguard, and trained in very violent times. He would most likely be not able to survive among all that violence if his training was completely ineffective. So I believe that one can “reverse engineer” Aikido back into a fighting art, with “70% atemi (strikes) and 30% throws”, as the Founder described it himself when comparing battle techniques with spiritual techniques. The result would probably become something like Daito Ryu, which is where Aikido came from, nevertheless I think it is possible to make Aikido (or Aiki-Jitsu) effective again if one wants to use Aikido for self defence. He would just need to forget about peace and make it as bloody and as violent as possible.
I used to love "“The Heart of Aikido". I might pick it up again in one of these days.
With this sentence I think you define quite well the very dilemma of Aikido: "He would just need to forget about peace and make it as bloody and as violent as possible."
Sometimes if you want everything - in the end you get nothing.
The Journey Well, believe it or not, I recently experienced the “enlightenment” moment and now I feel deep compassion to every person, even to the worst criminal out there. I feel I cannot hate people anymore, not to mention fight them. And I realized that love and kindness is the only way to make this world better. Every person, even the most vicious criminal is capable of love. But this love hides deep in our hearts behind walls erected when we are being hurt. Any fighting only makes these walls stronger. Only kindness can break these walls and make people feel love instead of hate. Maybe O’Sensei came to the same realization. He realized that traditional self defence only takes us further away from opening our hearts. And he wanted to change it. From where I am right now, I cannot blame him. Just wish he could make his message clearer so that people understood what the goal of Aikido is.
I have defended myself successfully once but it was weird.
I was once attacked while carrying a child... BUT I had people I could rely on to defend us, I was also almost twice the weight of my attackers and much stronger, they were also completely frantic and untrained... I basically grabbed my attackers wrist to release their grip and pushed them away, giving other people the chance to protect us without being violent while we escaped.
It was quite scary and I was lucky in this specific scenario, my muscle memory made me go for the wrist rather than punching someone or risking a child’s life through being aggressive and going to jail.
Definitely not your typical self defence scenario though... 😅basically I outclassed my opponents and had to use every advantage I had.
Interesting video. I agree with your point that a man who is uable to fight may hide it into non violence philosophy only to escape his weakness.
What my aikido instructor told me is that aikido is all about raising up your integrity control your emotions and train your qi = strenght, vital force. Yes the philosophy is about non violence.
But if you have a powerful body you know in a fight one kick with power is enough to destroy someone. Or one click on a gun and its done.
So aikido to not be full of shit, must bring the best out of you while strenghtening your whole body power. Otherwise it is just some gymnastics. Im nit sure if i make any sense to you. Don not hesitate to ask or challenge me about anything or make contact in continuing this conversation.
...just curious, have you looked into Ed Parker Jr.'s Paxtial arts approach? (...son of Ed Parker, American Kenpo founder) ...after looking at the overkill results of kenpo in actual on-the-street fights, Ed Parker Jr. tried to come up with an approach somewhat akin to what Ueshiba was trying to do.
Interesting. I haven't bump into it yet, but I'll make a mental note.Thanks :)
Of course Aikido is an incomplete Art for modern Self-Defense. I still like it though, but I already learned Strikes and Kicks from my Karate and Ninjitsu Training (my Trainer was a Tang Soo Do / Hapkido / Karate / Jiu Jitsu black belt). Aikido techniques are similar to what I learned in Ninjitsu, just a bit less brutal (eg. in Ninjitsu we locked the Arm of the oppenent on the ground with our knee instead of the hand, so we had hands free and could roll over the arm and break it if needed). Now I train Aikido because it's good, but I know I need to also know the missing parts (strikes/kicks/wrestling).
Yeah I struggle with feeling of zero confidence in defending myself. I've trained in karate and a little bit of judo, but I know if someone knew what they were doing better than me stronger than me or if I was caught by a haymaker I wouldn't make it. Knives guns and multiple people will get you too. I'm a strong believer that anyone can defeat anyone it's just the percentage of that happening changes drastically with proper training.
I think it's absolutely true that anyone can be defeated by anyone, given the right circumstances (add knives, multiple attackers, etc.). At the same time even when harboring this recognition, after I trained MMA and BJJ and when I got used to dealing with people trying to hurt me who know what they are doing, being attacked by someone else became much less scary :)
@@Rokasleo Rokas, Thank you for replying! I definitely want to train in MMA. I hope to do so after I graduate from graduate school.
It depends a lot on vital energy my friend. Then also grounding and then focus, speed of movement.
Technique come after these all elements. And are useful of course.
So work on your emotions, your expansion, your inner blockage, walk in nature, do any exercise regularly, eat healthy, sleep well.
Then do some self confidence challenges with yourself, shout in the forest, face your fears, all of this will increase your chi.
For speed, practice fast handed precision activity table tennis is a must. It is a whole whole.
For learning how to fight if you scared punching a bag everyday can help a lot. Peace
Imagine if Ushiba-sensei intentionally made Aikido ineffective, so that when you break peace and harmony (by fighting), you get beat up(as punishment). And as you practice the art for a long time and realize this, you start to understand you shouldn't be fighting in the first place and then you reach enlightenment.
It's an interesting theory :) Interestingly enough I've heard a similar theory more than once circulating in Aikido circles that Ueshiba indeed made Aikido ineffective, simply since - it's not meant to be a form of fighting. Even if this would be true though, trouble is that many Aikido schools present Aikido as a means of self defense.
@@Rokasleo Ahahaha really? I was just typing the stuff that popped out of my mind while listening to your story. Maybe they should have listened more to Ueshiba-sensei more when he was alive. Or maybe they realized it too but they don't want to admit that they got one upped by an old man. Or maybe because it still makes money.
First of all Rokas, let me say how much I admire what you are doing. You are literally examining, questioning and even losing your faith in front of a live audience. It's a brave thing to question things you held to be sacred. It's an enlightened thing to acknowledge that you were wrong. But it's freed you to grow which is more than 99% of the worlds population can say. Ok now to the Aikido. So there are two perspectives by which we can look at Aikido. The first is "O Sensei's Aikido" which is a collection of the philosophies and ideals espoused by the founder. The second is Aikido as a collection of techniques and tactics that make up a martial art. I have absolutely no interest in the former as it was built on a false foundation. For example, the idea that you can use your fighting ability to control someone else without hurting them can only happen (regardless of the style) if you have achieved mastery. I believe that Mike Tyson can diffuse a potentially violent situation without hurting his opponent (block and clinch??) simply because he has achieved mastery in boxing and has practiced so much that he instinctively knows what do to. O sensei's students can never achieve this because their training methods will never allow them to attain true realistic mastery of those techniques. It's a false foundation. The second perspective of Aikido is more interesting. Aikido as a collection of throws and controls can work. The only way we will really know is by testing a style of Aikido that actively practices against resisting opponents. The only style that does that is Sport Aikido (Tomiki) which is a growing style with a rules set and international competition. This is seen as "weird" but it just looks different because it is practiced in a live environment. How did Gracie JJ look to practitioners of traditional Jujitsu? A test of Tomiki would give us real insight into whether or not Aikido as a budo can ever be effective. As Aikidoka we should not consign a whole martial art to the junk yard just because our own training methods were not effective. Many styles of Aikido are in crisis, yes, but the sport style is quietly growing. This is despite total derision from the rest of the Aikido community and the overall negative impression of Aikido in the greater martial arts world. Why is that? This needs to be investigated by people seeking the truth about Aikido.
🙏
I'd love to try out Shodokan Aikido one day, try the sparring and also see how a high level Shodokan practitioner would be in a full on grappling sparring
@@Rokasleo I think that's a great idea. I think that episode would break the internet. 😊 Check out the member list www.wsafaikido.org/members incase you are ever in those areas. Keep up the awesome work!
Haha 😄 I guess it would. Unfortunately there's none in my country where I am now located and I couldn't say it is a priority enough for me to travel somewhere just for it, but I will keep it in my list and will drop by if I'll find something on the way 😉🙏
@@Rokasleo Awesome Rokas. Have a great weekend.
Experience is the Best Teacher. If it will help you move on from your past experience let me know.
I'm not really sure what you mean :)
I think part of the problem is that you have one side saying Aikido is useless in a fight, when you have the other side saying it's not made for fighting and you're supposed to reach some mental plane of existence or something else mystical.
The truth is probably somewhere in between it's good for wrist locks and simple stuff like that,but not for the cage, and as for as the mystical mental plane of existence crap, it's something that can be put into layman's terms, like "Aikido is a good workout that gives you strong mental focus by perfecting your techniques." That's all it is. and it does very well what it is made for, which is a good workout and having fun throwing your partner around.
All the fancy stuff that you see in demonstrations is not for real applications, it's nothing more than playing around with your skills, and seeing how far you can take them. Those complicated throws and stuff are not made for combat, just playing around with your skills, nothing more. Think of it as the martial arts version of Tony Hawk doing all the crazy skateboard stuff in the 90s instead of just using his skateboard to get to and from home.
Real Aikido is what you saw on COPS the first two seasons before it turned into Talking Cops.
"All the fancy stuff that you see in demonstrations is not for real applications, it's nothing more than playing around with your skills, and seeing how far you can take them. Those complicated throws and stuff are not made for combat, just playing around with your skills, nothing more. Think of it as the martial arts version of Tony Hawk doing all the crazy skateboard stuff in the 90s instead of just using his skateboard to get to and from home."
I would like to agree but I would follow with a question if such purpose as you described is being communicated to the students in the way you've explained it.
I love to see someone Be so honest with themselves. I think the point that is so often missed, Aikido was created to be a path to enlightenment and an art of Living , more so then a martial art. I don't know if Aikido was ever meant to be a stand-alone martial art. I was taught that Aikido was just one aspect of budo. When O-sensei created Aikido he selected what he thought were the most spiritually harmonious techniques from Dai itto Ryu jiu jitsu and combined them with kenjutsu footwork.
The opponents that Aikido study has best help me defeat are my own ego and gravity. I have successfully used Aikido techniques to defend myself against and number of industrial accidents including falling off ladders, garage door attacks and falling objects. We spend more time Fighting Gravity then this imaginary attacker we're all preparing to Face. Aikido has numerous self-defense applications, just maybe not the way most people understand.
I like to say that Ukemi is the most useful part of Aikido :) Definitely helped me in a number of situations and saved some of my students too from serious injuries
I want to know how to defend myself but don't want to be harm phisocologically broke during the process as it has happened to me while I was practicing karate. I don't know which martial art or training to follow that doesn't demand from me things as a cult or that don't broke my mind. In that case do you recommend BJJ? Do they have practices similar to cults as in other martial arts Dojos?
Most BJJ Dojos are far from being cults, one of the reasons I love BJJ. They tend to be casual, friendly and non-dogmatic (unlike many traditional martial arts schools). It's also very useful in knowing how to defend yourself from grips and stronger people trying to hold you or take you down. I'd definitely recommend BJJ. If you can choose one gym from a few I'd recommend visiting them all and choosing the one which is most friendly and has a great atmosphere. BJJ is difficult to learn at the beginning, but becomes very fun once you start getting it.
@@Rokasleo Thank you so much for your answer 🙏😢🌸
Aikido is more an art than a reliable complete self-defence system. It gives the practisioner a false sense of confidence to be able to protect itself. In perfect dojo circumstances the art works, not in real life combat situations.
Would be fascinating to understand how one could live the philosophy of o sensei but with everyones own individual choice of which martial art to complement it. That could easily be aikido but equally something else or no martial art at all.
Good point. Something I'm interested to take a look at as well :)
I think that’s actually the point. Aikido is not the techniques. Aikido is the way. It’s a “do”, meaning a way. You could use any techniques:) at least in my opinion :)
The Ki Musubi No Tachi, pretty much somes it up I think 😉
Please do elaborate 😁
@@Rokasleo Well you talked about knowing you have the skills to finish but choosing not to. Each part of the Ki Musubi No Tachi is a finish in its own right but the "defender" choices not to. It ends with the control of the partner. This is probably more obvious in the old partner practice which isn't practiced at distance.
To me this shows that you should have the skills in the first place. Once you do you chose whether to use them or not. A lot of what you talk about is more apparent in the weapons rather than body techniques.
The problem with practice nowadays its more like a dance routeen with predefined steps and a lack of genuine intention to hit the person. There needs to be purpose behind what is done, rather than doing it just for the sake of it.
I don't have a big need for O'Sensei's spirituality, because I am Roman-Catholic and I already know to serve and gain favor from God, the Saints, Guardian Angels, and Mary the mother of God. O Sensei may have known some good spiritual practices or effective prayers without being a Christian. Hopefully he didn't get help from Demons though, who are fallen Angels.
I wonder what would happen if someone mixed the methods and pholisofy of aikido and bjj... We know that tomiki aikido came from a mix between judo and aikido concepts...
Btw... If you ever try tomiki aikido, could you give us your opinion om the system and the sparring?
That's a good question and something I am considering to look at as well.
I'd love to try out Tomiki and will definitely make some videos about it as soon as I do :)!
What do you think Bruno Orozco and his take on Aikido (also why not a take on his system too)
I like Burno's approach. I was even supposed to meet him in Mexico last year, but at last moment I had to change my flight due to Visa issues and didn't have a chance to see him that time. You know, he lives on the other side of the globe in a country/place I have no other connections is :) It's easier to say that someone should train with someone than to figure out the logistics of it.
Other than that, I personally don't seek anymore to make Aikido into a practical self defense system. There are plenty of practices which are already capable and I personally don't see a good enough reason to try to re-invent the bicycle so to speak. But I am interested to consider and explore the practical value of Aikido's philosophy which is quite unique.
Greetings from Greece
Hi! Back at ya from Lithuania 😉
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TRULY A PERSONA 3 MOMENT
If you really want to create a peaceful outcome without hurting the other person; study boxing! Just smack 'em around a bit until they come to their senses. Like the Three Stooges or something!
The fact that O Sensei would actually preach long sermons instead of actually teaching martial arts seems quite wierd especially if you look at martial arts school today.
Go watch this video to found out more about aikido ect..
m.th-cam.com/video/eE42H1BXdNo/w-d-xo.html
sensei rokas did it backwards learned aikido then the real aikido is jujitsu
When everybody revere you as a demi god, you may start to believe it if you don't get out and test yourself.
When we spend our time preaching without confrontation, we may start to believe our own words/thoughts are the reality when they are only words and thoughts.
Sorry to be that blunt, but when I went to learn aikido a long time ago I ended in a cult-like dojo where the master was constantly preaching and the students were revering him like a religious figure. I quickly quited and went to the boxing gym where I learned what fight means.
Dude, Where are you? It’s June and you are full eskimo?
Welcome to Lithuania, where we had snow in May
It's a combination of three things:
1) The video was filmed a few weeks ago, so it was still colder
2) It's Lithuania, which is colder than most countries
3) I hate cold and like to overdress 😂
From my point of view, Aikido has a bad reputation because it's seen as a soft martial art.
From my 15 years experience I'd say it's more complex than that. Tai Chi is also soft, but it doesn't have a bad reputation. I explored this subject in more detail here: th-cam.com/video/loXqgWXSUUI/w-d-xo.html
You appear to have a profound misunderstanding of Aikido. It was never intended to be the most effective form of combat. It's not about fighting.
I agree with you. Especially if we are talking about how Morihei Ueshiba perceived it. But for example, what about Chiba Sensei, who's Aikido is famous for being a combative style and infamous for having dozens of injured students during each seminar regularly? How about Yoshinkan being taught to Japan's riot police? If Yoshinkan (one of the biggest Aikido styles) would not promote itself as a combative style, would it really be teaching the riot police? Wouldn't it be their responsibility to say: "Oh, sorry, we are not teaching an effective form of combat. Please refer to a better martial art.".
Also, what about many Aikido Dojos that promotes their Aikido as self defense? Check Google search on "Aikido Self Defense" and you'll see. If these schools don't claim that it's an effective form of combat, that it's not about fighting, why would they promote themselves as teaching self defense then?
You see, that is the issue of Aikido's community. Because what one school/teacher claims, the other school/teacher counter-claims. That being said, am I the one who really has a misunderstanding of Aikido? And do you know me well enough to be so bold to say that it's a "profound" misunderstanding?
@@Rokasleo Chiba Sensei, Yoshinkan, and all the self defense schools are just examples of Aikido being the most misunderstood art. I believe Morihei Ueshiba only created the physical aspect of the Art mostly as a way to demonstrate the philosophy of Aikido. He never promised anyone it would be the ultimate most effective form of combat. If anything Aikido would be a complimentary skill set for an already skilled warrior, and perhaps to use in less violent situations. If I wanted to defend myself Aikido would be the last thing I would study. If I wanted to become a better person and improve the world around me Aikido is great.
@@deceptakon77 So then wouldn't a more precise statement had been: "Most of the Aikido world has a profound misunderstanding of Aikido" than saying that specifically about me? :) Also, this statement suggests that you know and understand Aikido much better than most of Aikidoka and famous teachers and styles. I wonder where the humility is in such a statement.
maybe you can one day sitt down and reevaluate your thoghts and not just say aikido is bad all of the time... i am not subscirbed anymore to your channel
I don't say that Aikido is only bad all the time, but yes, I agree, I tend to talk more negatively about it though. Did you watch this video till the end though? At the end of it I focused on a very positive note.
I stopped watching your videos when you bought that uniform with the hood with the intention of checking back every so often and naybe watch again if you figure it out and have something to teach or show. Are you back into aikido? Or are you full time into philosophy. I really hope you havent gone back to aikido because i have never had the slightest thought that aikido was worth being dedicated to. There might have been something to learn from O Sensei himself, like "How to create a martial arts following without gaving an effective martial art". Its about marketing, not martial arts. Have you been sucked back in because of your 10 years of training and the level you reached. Its as if you tried a couple of things and decided it might be better to return to what you invested most in. Which is it?
Hey man. Don't worry, I have no interest in trying to make Aikido work as a martial art. I am interested to take a look once more at it's philosophy/mindset which had a positive impact on me personally throughout my life, but even that won't be my main priority. I am still exploring and slowly finding what are the best things are that I could offer to others :)
The Journey i know you are a good guy. Its obvious. I am no guru by any means but i will say that the most anyone can do for others is to FIRST become financially successful or to get a profession like a doctor where you can save lives and makeva decent living. I have no idea if your aituation financially. Maybe you have a wealthy family, in which case it doesnt matter. I always say that there is enough excess wealth in the world to feed everyone but there is no way to manage that money. Only a small percentage of money given to charity actually reaches those who need it. The seflishness in the world is insane. People only care about themselves. Anyway i am rambling. My feeble advice is to first become reasonably successful and then go help people once you have enough to not worry about money. On your way towards financial independence, you will find things to help others.
🙏 I do agree with you! It is also a part of my philosophy that it is best for us to first become successful before trying to help others. Also, what you said about first establishing a financial base works in well with Maslow's hierarchy of needs and makes sense. As far as my journey is concerned, I don't speak much about it, but I'm actually already making a passive income living to support me each month. I'm not a big spender and Martial Arts Journey (TH-cam channel) earns me enough money on its own for me to make a living. I also do some editing work once in a while which ends up being extra cash that these days I'm mostly putting into saving. Funny part is, if I would want to be rich, I easily could :) By just pumping popular content on Martial Arts Journey (MAJ). If that was my priority I would be making a lot of money to be honest 😂 But money was never a motivating force for me. And since I am earning enough money one way or another, I am all the more encouraged to pursue this path/journey that I am on now :) So in a way, what you spoke about - is happening.
And with all of the injustice. I'm with you there too. And that's all the more reason why I am interested to invest more time into embodying and hopefully spreading an effective philosophy which would make people less self-centered and more reasonable :)