Martial Arts “Cults”

I visited an Aikido class recently to train with another teacher.

I noticed that he had set up the class in a different way to the environment he had been trained in.

He had taken out some of the ettiquette which is quite universal across Aikido classes and was looking to train and teach in a different way to what he had been used to.

When I spoke to him at the end he told me that in his opinion when he started in Aikido he had effectively joined a “cult” and that the Sensei had created quite a toxic environment.

Now he was free of the cult and wanted to change things.

I have heard other people bring up this idea of cult like behaviour in martial arts clubs.  I read a whole book about this idea years ago.

We all seem to have a weakness to turning people into heroes and gods and wanting to workship them.  People do this with their favourite players in their chosen sports team or the musicians and actors they admire.  It’s not unreasonable to think some people could hero worship a charismatic and powerful martial arts teacher.

Clearly, there is a chance that a teacher can choose to exploit this if they wish and this could be to the detriment of their students.

Some people suggest that some of the ettiquette in Aikido is “cult like” or “religious” and this particular teacher wanted to remove a lot of that.

I don’t agree with that as I believe a lot of our ettiquette has a purpose.

Even if some of that purpose is just to pay respect to the origins of the art and the traditions of it then that is worthwhile.

But as classes develop, it becomes more and more apparent why some of the ettiquette we have is important.  It helps with keeping a class safe, productive and fun. 

At the same time, the ettiqutte such as bowing to the room and bowing to the mat before we come on help to bring us into the right mind set to practise Aikido.

I personally have no concerns with other forms of ettiquette such as bowing to my training partners or to the teacher of the class. I have always thought these things help create the right attitude in us and create a good environment in the class.

I would call this creating a “culture” and not necessarily a “cult”. 

By culture I mean a common set of actions, values, ideas and a common philosophy or mindset that helps to bring together a group of people aspiring towards common goals.

The dictionary definition is “the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society.”

When this is done right it can be incredibly powerful.  When a whole class is progressing together this inspires and pushes everyone to a higher level than they could achieve on their own.

I have personally never felt like I was part of a cult and I never felt like I was being forced to be part of a a particular class or group.  But that’s not to take away from others who believe that was their experience.

As for becoming a cult leader, this would go against my own goals with my Aikido practise.  I want to train students to be able to continually challenge me so that I can continue to develop in my practise.

If students were just falling over for me to make me look good that would be totally pointless to me.

For some people AIkido will remain a long term passion, perhaps for life.  As the Sensei my responsibility to them is to coninue to create a good environment for them to train and to continue to try to push them higher in their journey.

For others, Aikido will be something they do for a short period of time and perhaps they will move on and find something else.  I have no intention of trying to force anyone to continue to practise with me.  There are so many people out there than can benefit from this art that there is no need to do that.