AikiWeb: The Source for Aikido Information AikiWeb's principal purpose is to serve the Internet community as a repository and dissemination point for aikido information.
Hello and thank you for visiting AikiWeb, the
world's most active online Aikido community! This site is home to
over 22,000 aikido practitioners from around the world and covers a
wide range of aikido topics including techniques, philosophy, history,
humor, beginner issues, the marketplace, and more.
If you wish to join in the discussions or use the other advanced
features available, you will need to register first. Registration is
absolutely free and takes only a few minutes to complete so sign up today!
In an Aikido Journal article about Terry Dobson, http://www.aikidojournal.com/?id=3936, he related his one and only question to O Sensei in his ten years of training with him -- to please explain circle, triangle, square. O Sensei's considered response was: "Find out for yourself."
I have gone with that -- looking for an objective reality and not merely a symbolic or spiritual description behind that traditional geometric composite image. What I have gotten to, so far, fits the both the traditional description, a more rigorous physical definition as well as richly connecting to the shape and feel of the dynamics I experience in practice.
This blog entry, on topics I have been mulling over for some time now, was prompted by a discussion that was tending to elevate subjective "feel" over objective understanding of physical action. The analogy initially used was in driving, and the upshot was that driving did not require one to design or alter the basic configuration of the car. I like flying as a better analogy. It melds into one thing what the driving analogy broke into two parts-- flying involves both altering physical configuration of the vehicle of the skill as well as the skill of employing it in any given configuration. In the case of aikido, the vehicle or tool of the skill is the body (or bodies) involved. In training we gain skill in use but we also alter the way the tool functions by that use .
I know for fact that I would be quite dead now if
...More
10-17-2007 12:25 PM 
