Aikido in Birmingham, UK

Hi, I've just moved to Birmingham (UK) and would be very grateful if people might be able to recommend a good aikido teacher/school in the area.

It will be my first martial art that I hope to continue down the line (I have done a couple of tai chi and wing Chun classes but not much more).

My goals would be spiritual growth and chi cultivation. I'm not really interested in learning a martial art for self defence or fighting. I have a strong Mars/pluto aspect and tempering aggression is something i have had to work on over the years. I would love to be able to cultivate chi, maybe even have a kundalini awakening (one can hope ).

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

What you seek - taking the terms you mean as given facts rather than concept that may or may not actually exist - are far better served elsewhere

Certain yoga schools offer far more in this line of thinking, and there are probably some Thelemic groups near to you too

 

This might be of interest and follows on from my above post

http://hermetic.com/crowley/eight-lectures-on-yoga/

 

Chi is a Chinese concept so a Chinese martial art or exercise group might be better.

 

Go to Church or a Mosque. There are plenty of them in Birmingham.

 

I am really not sure if Aikido fits the spiritual aspirations that some folk seek.

I came across this bog recently.

http://tomikiaikido.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/tomiki-and-ueshiba-in-manchuria.html

Whilst it can't be stated as authoritative, it does cast light on the motivations of Ueshiba, Tomiki and Oba in Manchuria as maybe being somewhat less than benevolent towards the local Chinese population.

Yes Ueshiba was deeply religious - this is indisputable - in a curious off-shoot of Shinto; and he may even have changed the outlook of Aikido to be more peaceful after the folly of Japan in WW2 as a consequence of the excesses in Manchuria.

As far as I have encountered, Aikidoka fall into 2 camps 1) Generally energetic physical folk - and generally capable and interested in MA and 2) a much more Ki-centric esoteric spiritual group of individuals - none of whom could do anything remotely martial.

The latter group may have good teachers, but I would really struggle to know who they were, whereas I could point to numerous folk of the former group - in the Midlands there are stacks :- Tony Casells, Peter Brady and Gordon Jones spring to mind.

 

wow, i wish i had a kundalini awakening. sounds awesome!

from my own experience, i studied at two different types of aikido dojo: one old school (or more precisely, more mainline hombu); another more ki-centric, not really spiritual, but definitely more focused on ki. i'm more the old school type personally. we did a lot of bokken, jo work, and practiced atemi. but if you prefer the "spiritual" or "ki" side, then more power to you.

 

Thanks for those replies.


Hannibal,
I already have a fairly robust spiritual practice going - magickal rituals (and have done a reasonable bit of western esoteric magick), yoga asanas, yoga kriyas, chi kung sets, and ancestor worship. Sounds like a lot, but its the LBRP, rose cross, middle pillar, (I've stopped the Bornless for personal reasons), surya namaskar, sat nam kriya, and I speak to my ancestors about how my day went and what I want to do tomorrow/today).

So the spiritual growth will continue regardless.

Bomber, thanks for the tongue in cheek reply. I against formal religion, thought do believe they do have very important lessons to teach us, once we get past the programming.

I would like to do a 'feminine', less aggressive martial art. Something with a focus on tranquility, mindfulness, and peace.

I would like to do a martial art for the discipline, and the body art that comes into it. I am working on my mind, but feel that I should work on my body too. (I have worked for years in gyms, and hit a plateau (which means that luckily I held onto a reasonable body, and I'm not worried about taking care of myself in a fight, as I have before. But would prefer conflict resolution, or working things with a smile rather than aggression. I grow older, and the younger aggressive me dissapears more with every passing day/week/month/year - thank God for small mercies ).

I would really like to start a martial art - and Kembra will look into those names. The MA as such doesnt have to be qi centric (I can build on it with other practices).

I think from the consensus here, I should be going for old school and will achieve more objectives that way. And can do the energy/qi cultivation elsewhere.

The reason I want a more feminine martial art is if I choose a more aggressive one, my motivation will flag and my saturn-uranus hard aspect will make me leave.

A more gentle martial art will temper some of the more aggressive/impulsive aspects in my chart, AND keep me motivated to stick through difficult patches.

Any other names would be appreciated - BTW like I said, Kembra - will look into those names.

thanks again, guys, much appreciated. Its an important first step for me, and (wise) guidance at this point in time is like the butterfly effect.

 

Have you considered Iaido?

 

Good call Dean - kyu do would probably fit the bill too

 

If all you want is essentially a meditative dance, and have no interest in efficacy in fighting, you could save yourself a lot of money and invent one or learn from a book.

If you've not read it, Steve Wilson's Chaos Ritual has some fun ways of creating your own yoga and tai chi type practices, amongst others.

Lastly, no offence intended, don't use your chart as an excuse to deny yourself options. If you want to explore fighting arts, fighting will be a big part of that, and a big part of the "discipline" aspect of MA comes from acting under pressure IMO. Anything you learn in class, you can practice in a peaceful and meditative fashion at home if that's what you're after.

 

There's Kyudo in the West Midlands too, just down the road from Brum.

 

Agreed.

I wanted to say something but didn't wish to come across as being antagonistic.

Don't try and fit yourself to some assumed list of character traits gathered from an external source. Just train and see who you really are.

Chucking people around can be rather enlightening

 

Walsall.

There's a Dojo in Stafford too.

 

the thing about aikido for me, is you can make it martial or not. certainly, it is what we'd call a "martial art". but it also gives you the tools to end or evade encounters in a not-so-violent manner (which is a very difficult thing to do by the way). by introducing striking, you can make it much more violent than it's typically taught. your mileage may vary. at the very least, you'll learn to move your body to (hopefully) avoid injury during a violent encounter.

it might help you to read up on some of morihei ueshiba's writings so you can get a feel of where he's coming from.

edit...

also, i think aikido is an exceptionally fun "martial art" to practice. especially once you start getting into weapons work.

 

For the spiritual angle, the best Aikido teacher that I can think of in the UK would have to be Terry Ezra - a thoroughly sincere man, very friendly; and as tough as nails. Unfortunately, I don't think he has a dojo in Birmingham though.

http://www.aikido.co.uk/news/index.php

The only Aikido teacher that I trained with that really had the empty diffuse water contact quality that I sometimes (a few folk have it to some degrees, but not much more) encounter with Taichi and Bagua folk; was Seigo Yamaguchi - he was exceptional - maybe Tohei had this but I never trained with him.

Yamaguchi (RIP) was truelly remarkable. He could unbalance heavy duty aggressive, young opponents with about as much effort that I would exert in as spinning a coin. I recall him eventually allowing a young buck - Tanaka - if anyone remembers him - to fully pin and lock him firmly to the tatami; knees info shoulder, wrist and elbow heavily twisted; just to unwind the fellow, drag him across the mat still attached to the locked arm, and project him into a throw - seemingly mechanically impossible.

As Yamaguchi projected Tanaka, he muttered a few words in Japanase (he was about 66 or so at the time and slightly bent at the neck) - which were translated as " Just relax and let your Ki flow". This is the only time I can recall that 'Ki' meant anything to me tangible i.e. the result of decades of training allowing him to channel his energy fluidly no matter the difficulty involved.

If Chiba was at one end of the spectrum, Yamaguchi was at the other end.

In Taichi I recall someone mentioning Chi precisely once and everyone just laughing at him.

 

Is that Jay Savery's one?