Reveling in the Glow of Vindication

  So I attended an Aikido seminar at the dojo the other day. For those of you who don't know, Aikido is a martial art centered on the peaceful redirection of your opponent's force. So basically, instead of beating your opponent to a pulp, you redirect their attack in a way that doesn't necessarily injure them, at least not too badly if that's your goal.

For years the hubby has been spouting the awesomeness of Aikido at me. It's not that I didn't believe him - it was more of a lack of knowledge on my part that led to indifference. It just didn't sound that awesome to me. I mean it's a martial art. They are all pretty cool. I did Go-Ju Ryu for many years and it was very awesome - an incredible style of martial arts that I thoroughly enjoyed for many years. I'm doing Kenpo now and that too is awesome. The hubster had experience with Aikido, so that's what he found awesome. I never took the time to find out why he thought it was so awesome. (I know, I can be a terrible wife sometimes.)

Let me tell you, he is reveling in vindication. I came away from that seminar positively, utterly convinced that Aikido is indeed as awesome as he's always told me it was. Not more awesome than other martial arts necessarily, but extremely awesome indeed! Very different than the martial arts I've been exposed to up until now.

The class started out with some basic stretches, many of which are different than we normally do. Aikido involves a lot of wrist movements and joint locks and such so there was a lot of wrist stretching and hand flapping and other movements unfamiliar to those of us that were used to the karate workouts. There were some sideways glances and what-the-heck-is-this expressions, but once we got into the meat of class, it was eye-opening.

I spent two hours getting my wrists twisted and turned. Getting thrown repeatedly to the floor. Throwing others repeatedly to the floor. Falling, rolling, slapping, bending, dropping, and amazingly enough, no screaming. It Was Awesome! It was so awesome that I didn't even mind the fact that the majority of the class was large sweaty men - a big reason why the grappling arts are something I avoid - who wants to wrestle with big sweaty men for hours? Not me thank you very much. My own big sweaty man is big sweaty man enough for me. I don't need to wrestle with strangers too.

But this was just the right mix of taking down your opponent without spending too much time with your face mashed into a hairy chest or your arms wrapped up in a sweaty armpit or worse. The movements were efficient and quick. And when done right, they don't require huge amounts of strength. A plus for a woman.

I must say I've come away with a new respect for Aikido. I wish I had the time and the money to learn it.

And now the hubby can sit and revel in the glow. Vindication is a wonderful thing.
 
Quack!