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Why should I train at an Aiuchi club?
We have a fairly active discussion group on the association website
(www.aiuchi.net) and one of the questions that was discussed recently was
"What is your purpose in training with aiuchi?"
We felt that Sensei Abi Witherden's response summed it up for us, so
thought we'd reproduce it here to give you an idea of the reasons that we
do what we do.
Sensei Witherden is a Nidan (second degree black belt) and teaches in
London.
"I didn't start training in Aiuchi because it was Aiuchi, I started because
it was at a convenient time and location, I fancied doing a martial art
that would keep me active and give me some self defence knowledge and the
person who invited me along was friendly and didn't look so tough that I
was put off. I was also fairly new to London, didn't know many people and
had some free evenings.
I stayed training with Aiuchi because of enjoyment. This is partly to do
with the people - I've made my best friends through Aiuchi but also to do
with the physical and mental training and the attitude I've experienced on
the mat.
I love almost all of the techniques - falling, throwing, locks, releases
etc and the types of learning from regular training where I pick things up
to pressure training where I see what I can remember.
Physically doing Aiuchi is enjoyable - the challenge of making techniques
work on different people, understanding how they work, feeling how far
joints can be bent and experiencing a spectrum of discomfort in the safe
knowledge that I am in control. It keeps me fitter than I would otherwise
be.
The experiences are fantastic - like a fantasy, I can experience, in
relative safety, being attacked with a sword, grabbed, punched, thrown to
the ground without the disadvantages of the reality. This pseudo-violence
reduces my fear of actual violence by removing some element of the fear of
the unknown. It also creates a buzz of the sort I get when watching a film
or reading a book and imagining myself in place of the protagonists.
Mentally it provides highs and increases confidence.
So the initial purpose for my beginning training in Aiuchi - a convenient
way to stay active, meet people and learn some self defence is fulfilled by
the fact that I enjoy it enough to keep doing it (even though I now
routinely travel for an hour to get to classes, making it fractionally less
convenient than it used to be!).
The reason why I continue training in Aiuchi is because I still find it
fantastically good fun and enjoy the physical and mental benefits it
brings.
Not sure if this counts as a 'purpose'. I'm going to do another post about
this......
Ax
Purpose......
The purpose of training in Aiuchi, given that we all do it because we like
it, could be to keep that enjoyment available to ourselves and make it
available to others. To this end we have an Association to help us out that
does some paperwork, organises some events, arranges our instructor
insurance, makes a few rules to help us maintain our standards regarding
gradings and first aid..... we need enough people in our main body to give
everyone who wants to train in Aiuchi, someone to train with!
I think the purpose of the existence of the Association should be to
support clubs that teach the Aiuchi syllabus with the Aiuchi attitude.
These are defined by the people who train in Aiuchi by the way they train
and behave on the mat and off it. We have a strong body and can easily add
to it by our welcoming attitude. There are enough of us that newbies can
see what we do and we are flexible enough that we can adapt with changing
times both in terms of techniques and attitudes.
We are all part of the Aiuchi Association:
The people on the periphery who just turn up and train at their regular
club (no matter what their grade) are the newbies who we are trying to
welcome. Anyone can come along and be accepted into Aiuchi at this level
(OK - almost anyone - we do tend to frighten off psychos and bullies - got
to be a good thing!).
Those who travel to national events, uke at gradings, visit other clubs,
give lifts, invite their friends along, talk to each other about the
techniques and attitude of Aiuchi, have their own ideas and communicate are
the main body of Aiuchi. Most people do this! A junior grade can be further
involved than a senior grade - this is not grade related - isn't that
nice?!
Those who stick their heads above the parapet and try to organise those
events and pin down times for us to train, or get together and talk, or get
together for fun are the brave core who give the rest of us in the main
body something to respond to. These can also be any grade although tend to
be more senior simply because time spent in Aiuchi gives them a better idea
of what Aiuchi people might want.
What's fab about Aiuchi is that there's no forced requirement - you could
be a dan grade 'newbie' who just trains and loves it but gives no further
involvement - then get a bit more free time and move to the core by
volunteering to organise the nationals.
You could be a green belt 'main body' member who turns up to everything but
gets a new job with less free time and move out to the periphery to just
train for a bit before offering to help run a club as a new brown and
jumping back into the core.
OK - you've got to be brave to enter the core (in terms of time spent and
abuse received!) but there's no compulsion to do this and a huge amount of
reward in being on the committee or running a club if only in the respect
the rest of the core shows you!
Group hug!
Ax
Back to "More information"
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