I once read a book about Shintaido. It had lots of pictures (about 80 pages actually) of guys in gi's and hakama running down a beach with their arms wide open then jumping into each other's arms and hugging. So I assumed that it was some sort of new age thing.

Next I'm at work and this guy walks in. He's western, middle aged, fat, sloppy bearded and wearing silken Kung Fu pajamas. I chatted to him for a while and then asked him politely if he trained MA. He told me that he trained Shintaido. When I asked him what it was he gave me the usual sheep bleating about the "peaceful martial artist" and "the way" and "harmony, self realisation", etc. I asked him about the martial aspects of the art and he said I wouldn't understand.

I told him that I do Wing Chun and he gave me a look that said "Oh you poor unenlightened one. If only you knew the truths that I did" with arrogance and contempt. He then left.

WTF is this?

What is Shintaido? And why do they do that hug thing all the time?