Rowing and Aikido (and other sports?)

[Please visit our sponsor:]

Round-Earth.com - "Ki in Aikido" Book, 2nd edition, now available.

[opherdonchin]

From a different thread (http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=50484#post50484)
I was on a crew team in college ...
So does that experience help your aiki in terms of moving with your whole body and such?
That's such a hard question to answer. I think it's amazing that every pattern of movement we engage in stamps itself on our bodies and our movements, and changes us for the rest of our lives. It's been years and years, but you can still tell that I rowed port because my left shoulder is a little higher than my right shoulder when I stand.

I'm sure that rowing helped me with 'whole body movements,' but that's not the one that really sticks out for me. The part that I really notice is the way that rowing teaches you about sensitivity and paying attention to the moment. Balance determines so much in rowing, and with 8 other people in the boat there is a lot to pay attention to, even the slightest shift in awareness can be felt as a tremor through the whole boat.

Our coach was pretty forward-thinking. I was on the team about 15 years ago, and he brought in Jon Cabot-Zinn (then unknown) to teach us to meditate and help us understand the importance of awareness and the moment. I'll carry those particular lessons with me forever.

Anyway, I thought I'd open this up as a topic: does anyone else have stories or thoughts about past experience with other sports and the way they carry into Aikido?

[C. Emerson]

No, I don't think that anything directly translates. I feel that certain sports help keep you in shape. Making it easier to stay at a high level in the martial arts.

Chad

[jdalton51]

I danced for a number of years and I think it has directly impacted my aikido.

[PeterR]

If you don't think your Aikido training is giving you the workout you need consider altering the training.

I've been in dojos where I've left the mat dry as a bone. Others, my own included, have you sweating like little piggies.

I think the main reason for doing other sports other than Aikido is for the variety. To keep your life interesting. With this in mind choose what you want to do for fun and don't worry too much about what is good for your Aikido.

[kensparrow]

I find I'm always finding parallels between rock climbing and aikido. Balance, breathing, relaxed movement, emphasis on form, mental focus, controlling fear and falling (lots of falling!). Of course those things are key to just about every physical endeavor (except maybe the falling part).

[MikeE]

You would think his funakogi movement would be great :)

[Brad McMillan]

I have found that applying aikido principles (relaxation, extension, movement from center) has substantially improved my golf game. There is no direct connection, of course, but the principles apply.

[Larry Feldman]

Skydiving (now retired).

Staying calm, the mind leads the body, and you move around your center.

[opherdonchin]

Of course, some things transfer in a less positive way. For instance, my left shoulder is still much less relaxed than my right shoulder and I always end up getting stuck with it.

Another issue, and this may come from rowing or it may just be me, is that I have the hardest time switching from thing to thing. Rowing is certainly a sport that is much more about doing one thing than about learning to switch between them.

[JMCavazos]

I was able to transfer quite abit from my basketball training to my aikido training. I just had to learn to apply it in a different manner. In BB you had to learn to keep a good center of gravity when blocking out for a rebound, pivoting (tenkan) is used widely in BB, as well as others.

Now when I go back and play, I feel that my "grounding" is much better. I have had opponents tell me that moving me is like trying to move a brick wall. Taking the opponents center has also helped in positioning for the ball or a rebound - something that is essential in BB.

[Qatana]

Argentine Tango= always move from center, always stay connected to your partner - the leaders' center controls the followers steps.i must be absolutely open & present since i never know what he will lead in the next moment.Must move from my center's connection with my partner's center. Trust & centeredness & balance.With music. Still looking for an Aiki-Tango partner...

Ballet, tai chi & yoga. Ballet partnering- boy you'd better let your partner take control or both of you will get trashed...tai chi is helping my throws. Yoga for balance & flexibility.

Opher, you are of course aware that what J.Cabot-Zinn taught you was Buddhist meditation...

[opherdonchin]

Well, Jon dumbed it down for us and made sure that it was accessible and relevant to a bunch of muscle-headed 19 year olds, but I certainly recognized a lot of the same ideas in my later reading and practice. One day, he dragged us all down to the gym for a yoga class, and boy did we get a surprise and a shock!

I took an Argentinian Tango workshop a few weekends ago. It was really great stuff and very much related to Aikido. Petaluma is a ways to go, though.

[Veers]

I played 7 years of little league baseball...every position but catcher. Seeing as I don't know what life would have been like if I hadn't done baseball...I can't say for sure if it rubbed off on me.

But I think it taught me some balance...and hand-eye coordination. Also, though not reall applicable in aikido, I have a decent throwing arm from being a back-up pitcher.

However, I can already see aikido affecting my body in "normal" life now...especially at work where collisons with doors, walls, the floor, and co-workers are a constant threat. I do a lot of tenkaning, shomenuchi on doors, hands up when going around a corner, etc. People say I look funny, but, hey, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who hasn't eatten floor.

Meh...*shrug*

[Patrick O'Regan]

This is my first post ever so appologies in advance.

Rowing helped me with balance, coordinated power and to pay attention to timing and continuous movement.

I think boxing was a disadvantage. The footwork felt so different and I just couldn't get ukemi.

Rugby helped because I just couldn't get ukemi.

[Bronson]

I pull a lot of stuff from my old fencing practice.

Things like: Learning to protect my centerline and to watch the opponents, gauging distance, explosive accleration/decelartion (if it is possible to have explosive decelaration :confused: ), keeping good posture, extension through a weapon, sensitivity through a weapon, not to mention all the pressure points we used to hit with our swords that would completely debilitate our opponents BWAHAHAHA!!!!

:rolleyes:

Bronson

[DavidEllard]

I played a lot of badminton when i was young, and when i had a few games recently i found aikido, and more specifically the weapons work, effecting/influenced how played. Also when i was teaching i kept using sword methaphors, :)

So a case of aiki effecting everything else - far more common i'm sure! ;)

[DGLinden]

Opher,

They all do. When you see Tiger slam one down the ninth fairway he just demonstrated iriminage. When Agassi slams a forehand he does the same. When Tracy McGrady goes up and under for a slam dunk he is a perfect aikido master for those few micro-seconds. I've watched Michael Jordon 'look' a person off his feet. And I mean 'off his feet.'

Opher, several years ago after the last Olympics I gathered all my students together during class and using a compass and pencil I went through the special Sports Illustrated Olympics edition and we were able to define the 'center ' of each athlete at his moment of greatness. A wonderful exercise.

Human physiology doesn't change with the endeavor. In most sports we push to the limit of the body. In Aikido we use the limit of the body as a measure and then go beyond that limit , breaking our partners balance and sometimes his body. But the rules are the same. My seven pillars of Aikido wisdom are simple. Understand traingulation, center, energy nexus, break points, technique, timing and ki.

Could be a formula for any sport.