I have a little story about a case of this happening in an Aikido class, and wanted to share as I feel it would make an excellent talking point.



We've all been to a class where the teacher is using a "seminar-style" of teaching at some point in the lesson. It's usually extremely effective, picking a student to come up to the front (usually a senior student) and demonstrating that technique to the rest of the class allows the other students to see a technique being applied, and gives them a more in-depth visual understanding of how that said technique operates.

However, in this case, this wasn't the best idea. This Aikido instructor, picks his newest student, a close family friend of mine and martial arts student of some 30 years, to the front. He proceeds to tell the class that he is going to ask the new student to attack him, as a means of showing how flexible this technique and so on.

The new student turns to the instructor and asks if this is really the best idea to demonstrate the technique. The instructor chuckles, and reassures my friend that no harm will come to either of them...

...The instructor soon after, lands on him back.

Now, here's where the problem begins.

After much talk about how there was an uneven balance in his Ki, the instructor asks his newest student to the front again. And asks him to "stand still" while he demonstrates a pressure point. He then, with seemingly no restraint, punches his newest student in the spine.

I can in my mind find no explanation for this teacher's conduct, other than petty ignorance. Not to mention what he was teaching seemed nothing like Aikido at all.

I am curious to see if anyone else has had similar experiences with teachers who, if slighted, become bitter and in some cases quite aggressive.

Your thoughts guys,

All the best

LSD<br><br>Post edited by: Liu Shui Dao, at: 2007/11/16 23:04