Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
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First of all, a smaller person, like all Aikidoists, should be attempting to move uke's "center" (along the angles of no support, etc., that you're referring to) with her center. A huge problem in "doing something with your center" is to make the "center" available in the hands, forearms, wrists as in this case, and so on. Unless you have trained, conditioned, strengthened the connection between the center and wrists, in this particular example we're using, you wind up not being able to get your center there and you're reduced to using smaller and weaker (in Paige's case) arms against a bigger mass with stronger arms. Bigger people (like males) usually aren't any better at getting their center out to their wrists, they just have stronger wrists, hands, etc., and fake a true connection to center with stiffened arm muscles (hey... it can be effective, though). You can do a couple of shortcuts like sinking downward with your body and elbow, using your weight to turn your wrist in such a way that it weakens his grip, but even the shortcuts fail sometimes and they really become more "tricks" than they help you strengthen the connection from you middle to your wrist. Extending your fingers will often strengthen the forearm (and maybe *some* upper arm) so that you can convey the movement of the body through the arm.... that's the reason the fingers are often extended, BTW; ki and "ability to transmit strength" are inextricably intertwined. The ideal "connection" between Paige and uke would be a connection from her center to his center so that she can move him along these angles of no support you're referring to. If his connection is somewhat loose to his middle, you can tighten the connection to his center with a twist that tightens/locks the joints and then apply the movement along your angles where he has no support. So probably someone like Paige (and most of us) needs to (1.) strengthen the relaxed connection of their limbs to their center and (2.) learn all they can about areas/angles of no support by doing a lot of experimenting. FWIW Mike |
Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
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FWIW Mike |
Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
For a small guy, one of the pleasures of aikido is these intermittent contests of strength when a kohai tries to stop my movement during a grab. And then doing the technique anyway. Its even fun when a senior (a 7th dan in one particular case) stops my movement not with effort, but by sinking his center and just standing there. I simply couldnt move this man (Motohiro Fukakusa) for ryotedori shihonage. One consolation was that the 4th dan next to me couldnt move him either. The other was the thought that: Okay, now we're really getting into aikido. And that's the point, really: understanding what is "just strength," and then how to beat the daylights out of it with genuine technique.
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Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
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Regards, Mike Sigman |
Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
Hell, Mike, if i knew that....He said it was something that he learned from his teacher, Tamura Shihan. Our two strongest guys tried to lift him and they collapsed trying. The words sinking or dropping his center come from him; its his description of what he was doing. None of us felt any strain or muscular tension from him at these moments; he didn't lower his knees or do anything else obviously physical, as far as we could tell, to go against the force of the lifting. So no, I have no idea really what he was doing outside of what he said he was doing. All I know is, it was real.
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Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
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When a technique is difficult, it is preferable to break it down in many simple movements. If I have a strong middle and know what ki and kokyu is but I let my practice lapse and then try to hit my hardest with my kokyu, what would stop me from transmitting my full kokyu? I've said that ground and weight are the 2 powerings behind kokyu... so why can't you duplicate Fukakusa's "sinking"??? ;) And what other factors may be involved? Regards, Mike |
Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
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I have no idea. Maybe I'm just not very good at aikido? He didn't break it down into smaller movements. He just said he would think of his center and make it "go down." Apparently Tamura has the same quality. In the old Hombu, he was called "the stone wall." Do you have any thoughts that would of help to me? R |
Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
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BTW, the power of "sinking" is also part of kokyu. It's the same thing Tohei and others do so they can't be lifted or so they can apply great power downward. They practice it, but I don't think they tell many people how to do that practice. ;) FWIW Mike |
Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
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Best, R |
Re: BS in fellow aikidoka
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I'll tell you one old traditional way to do it, although I personally prefer something else that is simpler and contains more factors in it. One of the old tricks was to put an inflated goat's bladder in a tub of water, rest both hands on the bladder and "sink" slightly, trying to transmit the body's weight onto the top of the bladder, sinking it slightly. You don't need a goat's bladder in water. How can you duplicate the action? Maybe some thin bungee cords hanging from the ceiling? Do you really even need an apparatus to mimick the idea of holding a ball slightly down in water? What's going on and how do you duplicate it??? ;) What are the extensions of it? Are there general principles here that apply to all of the body? FWIW Mike |
Re: "Sinking"
All tough questions, Mike. I'm going to need some time to get even the beginnings of an answer. Its only been in the last 6-8 months that I began to feel "something else" going on in fune kogi, the solid transfer of mass from one big toe to the other, and the connectedness of the center to the ground. "Something else" meaning something apart from the unfocused swinging of the arms back and forth, without real connection to center, which is how I used to do it. And now there's a little figure-8 action going on sometimes, which seems related to some of the taichi movements my wife does. So what's going on? How does a Tamura sink his center? Am working on it. Will get back to you when I have something more solid.
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Re: "Sinking"
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If you're weak (this is just a thought example), it will take a while to get where the body is conditioned enough to support the push from the middle through the bones and strong enough in the "connection" to support the pull of the middle without having to add muscle, tense, etc. In other words, it takes practice to condition the body so that it can "transmit" the power of the middle out to the extremities. "Sinking" the middle is just another of the forces from the middle (there are really only 4: up, down, away from the body, toward the body). In order to hold someone's wrists and apply "sinking" to them, the body must be conditioned to be able to transmit that force, as well. Moving practice and certain standing practices are the traditional methods. ;) Mike |
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