Internal Power Development Methods
There are many approaches to internal strength development, ranging from the "harder" Shaolin derived approaches, to the "softer" methods - and everything else in between.
What is your (preferred) approach and why? |
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Hard Shaolin. Things should always hurt as much as possible.
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Soft - because you can 'feel' more - and feeling, well, just feels good :)
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Soft. Because my two focuses on IT are health and integrating it into my Aikido, and the softer method seems better suited for both.
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Why does this thread immediately starts to sound like a Yoshinkan - Ki Aikido discussion? :D
I prefer the soft approach. Apparently you need it for the really nifty tricks. And the training feels better, but that's just a personal preference. |
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i saw the iron eggs shaolin kungfu video clips. i decided right there and then that i will dedicate the rest of my practice to the soft approach. :D
besides, most of the painful and powerful hits i got from folks (yes, you know who you are and your names are on my kill bill list) who were pretty soft. |
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Hard shaolin because you look more manly.
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Rather than "hard" v. "soft" approaches, I prefer to look at it as management of tension across the full spectrum from soft-as-cotton to tight-as-testicles-caught-in-a-workbench-clamp. The successful training approaches that I've seen embrace that full range. For example, Aunkai methods build with high degrees of tension in specific areas (e.g., identifying and maintaining the sense of juji in the upper body), then back off the tension as basic conditioning improves the connection. Dan Harden works with specific exercises, including partner work, that can be performed with varying degrees of tension (from soft to very hard), depending on the purpose. This just reflects my very limited experience and understanding to date.
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both light and heavy on touch. sometimes during our spinning hands training we go very heavy on touch, which we call "grinding hand" (moa shou). here's an example we also use a similar type of training in solo practice which we call wrapping in which involves lots of tension. |
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Whatever works...
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FWIW Mike Sigman |
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So, thanks for the thoughtful post Thomas. |
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Regards, Mike Sigman |
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b) i can already tell your going to chase after me on this forum and try to poo-poo anything i post in an effort to assure everyone that you're the only one who knows what he's talking about. after the vitriolic PM's you can save the nice guy act for someone else. |
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Regards, Mike Sigman |
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My opinion, FWIW Mike Sigman |
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but you have to go through a process of structure, relaxation and then energy. one of the problems with a lot of the "internal" stuff that's floating around out there today is that they try and go straight for the "high energy" right away rather than going through the process which yields actual results. in other words, they want to imitate the masters rather than clock in the hard work it takes to get there. as an example, within the spinning hands training you'd follow a process that looks something like flow, one force,two forces, four forces, six forces, circle to center, center with cross and then center to center (on the point). the clip i posted was around the time when i was at the "six forces" stage in my development. as i said, those are qualities observed and manifested on the point. within the body are the 13 points and the five qualities of unification. Quote:
for us, we say that dan tien is only a reservoir for storage. we use the ming men for power. |
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Another possibility might be to functionally describe HOW you changed over from the rather obvious arm usage to your current better performance. Incidentally, even Sam Chin is constrained (if he wants to legitimize ILC) to the classical arguments and admonitions. If you notice the ILC commentaries, a lot of the old classics are referred to. I happen to know and understand those old classical statements and would be happy to see a pointer to the "13 points and five qualities of unification". I'm always open to finding a better way. Thanks. And please note that I'm responding to public comments that you yourself have made. If asking followup questions is going to result in you suddenly not posting anymore, etc., please note that AikiWeb already has a person that does all of that. ;) (Sorry Ashe... that's an inside joke and is not meant to pique you) Regards, Mike Sigman |
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Can I gently remind folk that this thread is intended to discuss, debate, compare, critique (in the sense of analyzing, questioning, clarifying, etc.), various approaches - preferred or otherwise.
That said, thank you for your contributions Ashe. I have a few questions: Quote:
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FWIW Mike Sigman |
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I've seen the classical texts referred to here and in other posts with regard to IT, and I was wondering if you could share some of those with me. I've just spent the last couple of years getting my feet wet with Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States literature, as well as Japanese medieval texts, and it would be a blast to wade through any of the period work with an eye for references to IT (no, not looking for the secrets of the universe in any of this; I figure I'm doing the textual analysis anyway - might as well try to have a little bit of extraneous fun as I wade through it all). I know this is pretty tangential, so feel free to p.m. if you want. Best, Murray McPherson |
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Mike,
Is there any recent video of you that you could post that demonstrates some of your current IS work, or teaching specific points like "down" power? I've seen clips from some older videos that you made several years ago, but it would be interesting to see more recent video, say from the past couple of years, maybe from one of the seminars that you do. If not, that's fine. Thanks. |
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re: energy.
This week i think: energy means to flex. to keep the channels open. to peristaltically be able to pass the momentum wave. In Aikido canon; 'the ki of the snake', as it were. Ashe, Tom, thank you for your posts. Very very interesting. p.s. 'Ki of the bees'? Is it more than fajin? (Not that that's not deep enough...mind you). Anyone? anyone..? Bueller? With respect. Josh btw; very weird vibe in this thread. fwiw, I personally prefer polite manners to taunting and japing. although not strictly ad hominem it certainly violates that same spirit. |
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