I find it curious that this post is being down voted.
It gives bad advice. Aikido isn’t particularly spiritual, it’s a grappling martial art. Even things like internal styles of Chinese martial arts which pay a great deal of attention to the flow of chi are not likely to be considered “spiritual” in the American South. And I doubt that she’ll actually like aikido.
Advice to go vegan is suspect, too. Vegans actually have to keep track of their nutrition to avoid deficiencies, if you just blindly stop eating anything animal you are likely to have health problems soon enough.
Aikido isn’t particularly spiritual, it’s a grappling martial art.
That really depends what branch of aikido you study and how deeply into the fluffy bits your teacher is. Ueshiba sensei changed his methodology quite a bit over his life, and students of his that studied at different points came away with very different levels of emphasis on technique vs. Shinto-derived esoterica; generally speaking, chronologically later branches tend to be softer and to have more esoteric emphasis. I’ve seen aikido schools that spent half or more of their mat time on lecture and meditation.
But yeah, it’s probably not great advice in context. Even the most physically demanding branches of aikido probably aren’t going to do much as far as controlling weight is concerned, unless she’s willing to spend large chunks of her free time on them, and those also tend to be the hardest and least “spiritual”.
Hmm… I was going to say that I haven’t seen an aikido school that focused that much on the fluffy bits, but then I realized that it’s probably the result of my own selection. I tend to be suspicious of martial arts schools that pay great attention to “esoteric” things because I think that it ends up being mostly bullshit and their students can’t actually do things. At least that’s how it usually works for the American suburban-mall schools—my approach would be different in Hong Kong or Singapore. In places like NYC/LA/SF, well, my impression is that it’s possible to find senseis/sifus who know what they are talking about, but the default “fluffy bits” school still isn’t the place to go to.
To be fair, I haven’t seen many of them. They exist, but I don’t think they tend to be very successful in the West; there’s a market for martial arts steeped in mystical fluff, but the Omoto-kyo Shintoism that the more esoteric aikido branches are rooted in is deeply weird even by Japanese standards, and it doesn’t fit particularly well with the watered-down holism-and-wellness narrative that Western students who’re so inclined tend to expect.
The branch of aikido I’m most familiar with is Yoshinkan, which is one of the earlier, harder ones.
Interesting. I looked up Omoto-kyo and it seems I have underestimated its weirdness. Zamenhof as a kami is an… unusual idea :-/
But returning full circle, it doesn’t seem wise for a girl who sees spirits to start a practice the mystical bits of which involve possession by spirits...
It gives bad advice. Aikido isn’t particularly spiritual, it’s a grappling martial art. Even things like internal styles of Chinese martial arts which pay a great deal of attention to the flow of chi are not likely to be considered “spiritual” in the American South. And I doubt that she’ll actually like aikido.
Advice to go vegan is suspect, too. Vegans actually have to keep track of their nutrition to avoid deficiencies, if you just blindly stop eating anything animal you are likely to have health problems soon enough.
That really depends what branch of aikido you study and how deeply into the fluffy bits your teacher is. Ueshiba sensei changed his methodology quite a bit over his life, and students of his that studied at different points came away with very different levels of emphasis on technique vs. Shinto-derived esoterica; generally speaking, chronologically later branches tend to be softer and to have more esoteric emphasis. I’ve seen aikido schools that spent half or more of their mat time on lecture and meditation.
But yeah, it’s probably not great advice in context. Even the most physically demanding branches of aikido probably aren’t going to do much as far as controlling weight is concerned, unless she’s willing to spend large chunks of her free time on them, and those also tend to be the hardest and least “spiritual”.
Hmm… I was going to say that I haven’t seen an aikido school that focused that much on the fluffy bits, but then I realized that it’s probably the result of my own selection. I tend to be suspicious of martial arts schools that pay great attention to “esoteric” things because I think that it ends up being mostly bullshit and their students can’t actually do things. At least that’s how it usually works for the American suburban-mall schools—my approach would be different in Hong Kong or Singapore. In places like NYC/LA/SF, well, my impression is that it’s possible to find senseis/sifus who know what they are talking about, but the default “fluffy bits” school still isn’t the place to go to.
To be fair, I haven’t seen many of them. They exist, but I don’t think they tend to be very successful in the West; there’s a market for martial arts steeped in mystical fluff, but the Omoto-kyo Shintoism that the more esoteric aikido branches are rooted in is deeply weird even by Japanese standards, and it doesn’t fit particularly well with the watered-down holism-and-wellness narrative that Western students who’re so inclined tend to expect.
The branch of aikido I’m most familiar with is Yoshinkan, which is one of the earlier, harder ones.
Interesting. I looked up Omoto-kyo and it seems I have underestimated its weirdness. Zamenhof as a kami is an… unusual idea :-/
But returning full circle, it doesn’t seem wise for a girl who sees spirits to start a practice the mystical bits of which involve possession by spirits...