Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
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Chokin' 'em out pretty much qualifies as an unconscious cue. |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
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Having done this little mental exercise I then went to give a couple flute lessons, and attend an aikido session. There were a few times during the flute lessons where I was accompanying a student and felt like what I was playing just fell into place just so and it all fit perfectly. This was exiting because I tend to be a player that is always a bit behind, late, dragging, and I've never found a way to change that very effectively until now. Our dojo is on summer break but some of the more fanatic members had rented the gym where we train for the night yesterday. I had a go at a drill that I first learned from David Valadez where your partner is randomly attacking and you are only allowed to step away, hands behind back, in the first level of the drill. (you can find it on aikiweb by searching for a discussion called "David's drills") The nice thing here was that how well I managed to maintain my attention on my partner showed up instantly in my ability to keep free of her. In the best moments I stepped just right - without planning to!- to have her almost loose her balance completely just by her own attack. In the moments that I lost it and retreated into my own sphere, I'd walk into a fist or a knee, and get stuck. In the past when I tried to go on to the next level of the drill, where you're allowed to use your arms to deflect the atttacks, I'd invariably get stuck. This time it wasn't a problem at all, I think because my attention didn't get stuck at my own arms but was beyond them where my partner was. It felt like my arms were just floating freely in the space between us, and free to go to any spot that was open between us. Once I had gotten the difference between having my attention inside my own sphere, and outside of it wherever I want it to be, the practice now would seem to be being able to maintain it under different conditions. Heck, being able to maintain it under the most favorable conditions would be a nice start... exited kvaak Pauliina |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
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Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
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Are you saying that there is some unstopable cascade of thought/movement from uke which we are able to react to because we are relaxed, and thus by 'not-controlling' we can actually control the movement? - I like your exercises Ledyard Sensei. I have a student who is a fencer (with swords - not selling stolen goods) who is particularly subtle with giving away any intentions. This idea of Musubi is certainly something I wish to develop further in my own training. If it does work it is surely the ultimate strategy. This year, due to pressure from my students, I have done lots of jo practise. I was certainly suprised at how spontaneous awareness of the next persons move (even outside forms) develops. P.S. for anyone interested, though I'm not a John Stevens fan, this book by hip I think is excellent: Teshu - Sword of No Sword And it illustrates that teshu (on achieving enlightenment) also felt that this projection of intention/spirit was vitally important in sword fighting. |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
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I finally understood that, he never thinks about where he is moving to. His attention stays directly on your center and "inside" the attack. He is always going forward to the center in his mind. I tried this out on my own and it was dramatic. I had a couple of my San Dan students go after me with shomen-uchi. First, I tried to do irimi, tenkan, dodge, feint, etc. Every time their strikes stopped dead center on my forehead. Then I tried to do what I believed I had noted Saotome Sensei doing and the result was dramatic. They couldn't hit me any more, even though I was now moving at a fraction of the speed I had been. They had the same looks on their faces that I have had a million times with Sensei when I simply couldn't understand how I had missed him. This made me understand that there is something going on beyond just the visual input. If visual information is the only input you are getting from the partner, your movements are too slow. So when you stand across from an attacker and execute an irimi, there should be no shift in your attention, no feeling of trying to escape from the attack. That is a yin energy and it will pull the attack right to you. Irimi is like the spokes of a wheel with the attacker at the center hub. I might change my angle from the one directly in front of the attacker but I am always facing the center of the hub. If I place my attention on the center and don't change it at all when I move to a new angle, the attacker simply doesn't register what I am doing soon enough to track me. This brings me to one of my own pet peeves, so to speak. Aikido is commonly described as the art in which the defender gets off the line, leads the energy of the attack past him and then puts it back in to the attacker. I think this very concept is wrong. The picture in Saotome Sensei's book is an excellent one in this regard. He shows two opponents on a log bridge over a chasm. Anyone who tries to get "off the line" is going to fall into the gorge. Aikido is ALL about irimi. Inside every tenkan movement must first be an irimi. I don't "get off the line" I go to the center and rotate. That's very different and the attacker perceives what you are doing quite differently. In Aikido we "own" our space. As a visualization to counter the misconception that we are in some way "escaping" from the attack, I have students say to themselves "this is my house and I am not leaving just because you are coming in". Aikido entry is quite simply about creating rotation at or just before the moment of physical contact. This rotation is created by the relative movement of the hips. But the mind, how you place your attention, does not change at all when you enter. The mind is simply "inside" the attack at all times, even before there is an attack. A step coupled with hip rotation will change the angle relative to the attacker but there is no perceivable shift of attention to the place to which one is moving. |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
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Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
Thank You,
David |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
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regards, Mark |
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Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
Excellent thread. Thanks everyone.
Best, Ron |
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In turn I am doing my best to teach my students the same, which is where I need to be getting off to right now. regards, Mark |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
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If by stoppable you mean stoppable by nage, then yes they are eminanetly stoppable -- too stoppable in fact -- by the least intent or preparation we might make to control or correct uke's perceived actions. However, even dumb animals may be trained (on either side) -- and this part of the psyche responds to the same basic methods as they would - train, train, train... Ledyard Sensei's points about how to deal with the conscious attention we cannot (and would not) do away with is well put, however. |
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"Tenkan begins with irimi and irimi ends in tenkan." Quote:
The experience of reality becomes subjectivity writ large, and in the extreme cases to the limits and total constituents of the universe. This is precisely what O-Sensei's ecstatic visions also describe. (I believe the statement "I AM who AM" reported by Moses in his ecstatic vision in Exodus has some resonance here, as does the statement to Moses at that same time, while stopping on some wide spot on a mountain trail of no particular importance, he was told "YOU stand on holy ground." Think about it. But I digress.) The mechanisms that I have posited as to the physiology of mususbi experience from the perceptual studies in body mechanics seem to corroborate that same perceptual function at a smaller uke/nage scale -- changing the subject/object division of uke nage into one subject so that, in essence, the experience of uke's attack becomes like me hitting my own head with my hand. The experience of budo and contemplative experience are not so foreign, really. |
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"God is an infinite sphere -- whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere." Nicholas of Cusa. In other words, there is but one and only one center; he who sees the "other" instead of a slightly more remote part of himself -- is not standing there. |
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A very clear operational explanation of an abstract concept. I could not agree more. Compliments and appreciation. |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
Ledyard Sensei wrote:
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What personally works for me on the mat is the following: I try to keep my mind empty until I perceive an imminent attack and at the moment I perceive it I think of completely dominating my opponent by penetrating his circle of power and displacing his center. This usually puts me well inside the attack without trying to avoid the attack proper. At a seminar, I've heard Chiba Sensei say "you must penetrate" in this context and he related to us a koan given to him by O'Sensei in the form "how do you cut the center of a circle?" After many years of sitting on this he realized that in order to cut the center of a circle, you must 1st be inside the circle. As I was taught, this is the purpose of irimi. Best regards, Mark |
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I will what occurs -- not what I wish to occur. This is recommended in my religious tradition and many others. I am simply willing the attack that is already occurring as though I were uke making that attack. An aphorism in line with this thinking: "If you will be happy, you will what happens." I find that when this sensibility becomes particularly vivid for me it takes on a deja vu quality, where the time sequence is slightly disjointed in my favor, even though I do not consciously perceive the actual events any more slowly, nor am I able to consciously act upon them any quicker. And yet things seem to fall into place of their own accord. The deification of luck, Fortuna, in many cultures, is likely predicated on this same experience. William James decribed this as the "noetic" quality of mystical religious experience. When I am "in" it, I do not feel that I am dominating uke, any more than I dominate my own hand to scratch the back of my neck. It itches -- I scratch it right where it itches -- even though I cannot see either my hand or the back of my neck when I do it. This sensiblity is most distinct for me at times in performing kumitachi variations in ki no nagare. In those moments, uchitachi's sword feels simply never in the way, any more than my head is in the way when I scratch my neck. My regular kumitachi partner is our resident iajutsu yudansha instructor. I know she gives me nothing, whatsoever. When it clicks I seem move to the right spot without having to "see" where I am supposed to be moving to, anymore than I need to see the back of my neck to scratch it. I wish I could walk around with that feeling. It seems I get snatches of it a little, more and more, at various points in the day as time and training go on. I guess the "abstract term" is expanded proprioception, but whatever you call it, it is a fascinating state to experience, even if only for brief flashes. Quote:
My sensibility is more in striving to never leave the center, even for a moment, and never having to seek to move to the center since, if I get my mind right (as my D.I. used to say) I am (hopefully) already there. Uke's attack is centered there, and by centering his attack on me he cannot be the center any more -- unless I allow it. This is sort of the obverse perspective of what Ledyard Sensei describes, but not in any way different from it. My sense is that if I wish to be in the center, I should simply -- be in the center. I have found that the more I try to distinguish the center from where I am, the further it seems from me. Tautology or not, it has helped me to think about the problem. |
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To put it in abstract terms, anyone who has seen a chaotic Lorenz attractor (the butterfly-like picture) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_attractor , would undertand that the "center" is only the "basin" of the attractor where the current state of the system is organized -- around one of the two orbits (wings) of the butterfly. Chaotic attractors shift from centering on one basin of attraction to the other from exceedingly tiny differences in initial conditions. Arbitrarily large changes in variable can still be oriented around either attractor basin because of very small differences in values clustered around the new quantitative level. Fine qualitative differences are therefore far more critical than gross or large quantative changes in determining the center of the attractor at any given moment. |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
I'm sorry I dont have anything to add, but I do so love when I find threads online that result in me taking notes. Thanks :)
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Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
I believe this will fit into the context of this discussion.
Mostly directed toward Erick and George Sensei. Do you believe "projecting" self into open areas or into/toward inanimate objects can help in doing the same with uke(s)? For example, in meditation or doing solo forms/movements. If so, please elaborate. I ask because my time in aikido training where there are ukes to practice with is much too little to become effective in this. Although, I realize that will be where the rubber meets the road. Second, I find it easier to concentrate on whatever I need to when I'm doing solo work than when a partner (uke) enters the picture. I'm just trying to think about what's going on internally (as I do when no uke is present), albeit not very successfully, when an uke is present. It seems from this discussion that I could also think outside self and beyond uke (into open space). Any suggestions. Thanks. |
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I had the advantage of two six-month deployments with no training partner, and a lot of solitary time on my hands. I did a lot of carefully thought-through free-form shadow boxing, working through a standard aikido technique curriculum, plus every other technique I could remember seeing or doing. I projected an imaginary partner for training to give some sense of connection rather just than doing empty movements. I was forced to break techniques down into component movements, which helped articulate the nodes of transition to other techniques and variations. I would sweat more in doing those than I have in some energetic ki no nagare paired practices. I was 2d kyu the first time and 1st kyu the second time and so I knew enough techniques, basically, plus some weapons suburi and other solo and companion forms to work through. (If any sailors on board make jokes about the goofy pilot swinging the broomstick and the bent stick on the flight deck or fo'c'sle, they didn't do it to my face :D ) My conscious awareness was busier in modeling the movements of my imaginary partner for training than it was in deciding how I would move in repsonse (which was virtually a given once (he)I had determined his move). It left me to simply move in response to the companion move he (I) had made. Once he (I) had moved -- I moved without thinking at all, because, well, I didn't have to -- he(I) was doing that for me. Sounds a little schizoid, I suppose, but it really was very much the the opposite of that in feeling. It has stood me in good stead, particularly as it helped my instinct for musubi, by learning rigorously how to dispose my mind to let uke decide my movement for me, while still playing an active but not dominating role in the cascade of movements that led to the outcome. I could not -- if I was to approach the training in any realistic context -- move before I had allowed my mental image of the attack to move first -- and then simply adapting my movement to that premise. Oddly enough, since I could "dominate" my imaginary friend at any time, it seems there was absolutely no motivation to do so. I think there is an aiki/budo principle there to explore -- in the sensibility that leads to the attitude of noblesse oblige. By disposing my self to HAVE to will the attack, I was no longer disposed to will the response -- it just was what naturally had to happen at the point given what the attacker had just done. I ended up shifting my perspective from uke to nage and back again -- just to move correctly. At the time, I just wanted to practice and had no training partner, so I had to imagine him. I realize now this was a unique gift. It made me internalize uke as I was performing as nage. |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
This thread has reminded me something that Matt Thornton posted in his blog aliveness101.blogspot.com back in March. It said
"Aliveness is about the freedom to use whatever works in the moment. Right action at right time. Which is another name for true compassion. A freedom that is only fully felt when one is completely immersed in the present moment of now, and free of the burden of beliefs, which manifest as thoughts. A clear mind fully aware of reality as it is now, and operating with absolute synchronicity within time and space, that is the real beginning of Aliveness." Sounds very similar. |
Re: Rhythm/Speed/Musubi - How they work
And that quote sounds like it was written by an aikidoka.
Best, Ron ("things that make you go hmmmmm") |
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Ledyard sensei; firstly I keep sending your fantastic posts to my students - many thanks. Secondly. Can I clarrify exactly what you have to do to achieve this 'being inside the attack'. Effectively you occupy the area (and thus may even move towards an attacker if you feel they are about to encroach on your space). When someone attacks you can perceive this because they have had to encroach to initiate, at by that time you are already in the process of irimi. More practically, if for example, I was doing sokumen irimi-nage, this is not an entry whilst turning, instead, I am entering, but uke just happens to be at the angle at which I then perform the technique. Indeed, I would be pretty much facing them. Also, for tenkan techniques, practically would you advance with irimi, and then tenkan at the last moment (possibly through necessity due to the force of the contact). Thus you always do irimi first, and tenkan is a second option. This makes sense, but I've never thought of it in this way. Ian |
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