Poll: Which do you think is more important in aikido?

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AikiWeb Poll for the week of November 20, 2005:

Which do you think is more important in aikido?

I don't do aikido
Mobility
Stability


Here are the current results (http://www.aikiweb.com/polls/results.html?poll_id=299).

[Mark Uttech]

This is actually a tough one. Stability ended up getting my vote, because I am of the opinion that one needs a stable center, stillness comes before movement, and any movement returns to stillness. It is like the Buddhist idea of form and emptiness.
In gassho.

[Mary Eastland]

I think they are equally important.
Mary

[Chuck Clark]

Posture and movement should have both qualities at the same time.

[Berney Fulcher]

I voted mobility because it seems to me that without movement blending becomes very difficult.

[Michael Meister]

One is nothing without the other...

[Don_Modesto]

Have you stopped beating your wife?

a. I don't do aikido.
b. Yes.
c. No.

[Martin Ruedas]

I think both is required. You have to have a stable center while in the midst of movement.

[Lorien Lowe]

I couldn't decide which to vote for on this one. They're both essential.

[RobertFortune]

The answer is not an either\or answer. The only answer is that stability is essential *while* one is mobile. That's what the whole thing about being "centered" is all about. Stability *while* mobile (in a state of movement). Otherwise one needn't study Aikido. One could just sit somewhere and hum "Ommmmmmm....". :) Peace, Justice & Love.

Aloha,

-Robert

[Atomicpenguin]

Seems comparable to asking "Which is more important: Body or Mind?"

[Rupert Atkinson]

Does anyone ever answer that they don't do Aikido on these polls?

[Meggy Gurova]

Which is more useful for eating spoon or fork?

[billybob]

I think the chicken or the egg question has really frustrated us!!!!

I have stopped beating my wife Mr. Modesto, now if you could please get her to stop beating me!

I answered stability, because I found stillness before I found mobility. I answered stability because I found my center and hence my mobility while 'falling'. When I relaxed in koshi ukemi the world opened. Of course, this was many years ago, and if I relax in koshi ukemi now I'll surely die!!.

Dave

[bhutchy23]

I think there really is something to this question. We all know that both stability and mobility are equally important, but if we were actually capable of having both equally all the time we wouldn't be students anymore. It's one of the things we strive for.
So in answer to the question, I think the most important of the two is the one you lack most. I am highly mobile and blend well, but I'm often off balance. So to me stability is more important because I do the mobility naturally. I have to focus to remain stable. It isn't really more important, I just have tell myself it is so that I'll pay more attention to it.

[John Boswell]

I chose movement, as you can't blend without moving. You can be unstable: dizzy, drunk, whatever... but without blending... you have no aikido.

However, I like Don Modesto's answer the best! :D

Have you stopped beating your wife?

a. I don't do aikido.
b. Yes.
c. No.

__________________
Don J. Modesto
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
------------------------
http://www.theaikidodojo.com/

[DevinHammer]

Keep in mind that this question is not asking for an absolute choice between the two. It's not asking you to forsake one for the other. Think of it this way - If you had more of one than the other, which would you prefer?

Here's my logic:
If I had great mobility and average stability, my Aikido wouldn't be as effective as if I had great stability and average mobility. Look at the masters - they have roots that go all the way to the center of the earth, and their movements can at times be barely perceptible.

[RobertFortune]

Does anyone ever answer that they don't do Aikido on these polls?

Ergo Spud infinitum...Methinks this is an Aikido forum and that being the case I'll betcha ifin we was to goto a non-Aikido forum we'ld likely find a person (or two) who doesn't "do" Aikido.

"I do...SLAM!..ai...ki...do...oooh!" :rolleyes:

[Joe Bowen]

I agree, it is a silly question. Which is more important? Breathing In or Breathing Out?
But, I think Don Modesto's question about wife beating sums it up best. :crazy:

[billybob]

"If I had great mobility and average stability, my Aikido wouldn't be as effective as if I had great stability and average mobility. Look at the masters - they have roots that go all the way to the center of the earth, and their movements can at times be barely perceptible." - D.Hammer

Yes, better said than the words I used.

The spin I tried to take was that stability should always be actively sought, but mobility could be had passively. I once caught a punch and pushed the person to their knees - I didn't really move at all. Just concentrated on my own stability and down they went.

Another example is 'floating' a hip throw. You think about your feet and you just dribble off the attacker's hip, calm as can be. Then you choke the crap out of them!!!.............sorry.

Words. Blah!

Dave

[kironin]

Posture and movement should have both qualities at the same time.


I agree with this and is why I think it not sensible to talk about one as more important than the other.

[markwalsh]

[B]Spork[B]

[SeiserL]

Stability in motion.

(P.S. Ever notice I hate either/or situations? Isn't the unity of duality that we strive for?)

[odudog]

Which is more useful for eating spoon or fork?

chopsticks!

[Don_Modesto]

chopsticks!

You're still dodging the question: which one?