Quote:
Rob Liberti wrote:
I keep reading this senitment and it is just not true.
I just had someone tell me that a horse cannot completely over power them so why would they think that someone with internal power and aiki could.
The answer is simply that a horse (or a refrigerator as the case may be) is not trained to instantly weaken the person trying to manipulate it.
The ONLY way you are not going to get weakened is if you have comparable intentions/structure as the uke with internal power and aiki. That's it. Your body cannot make a big enough lever. And even If you use a stick, it is reasonable that I can probably weaken you through the connection of the stick - but I'd have to train specifically for that for a while! 
Rob |
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the response. I suspect that your statement about becoming "weakened" is not about telekinesis or quantum influences so I suspect you are simply talking about what has been called "the four levels", i.e., skew the "levels" and the structure becomes unstable.
Now, I first encountered the CMA-style of internal structure back in 1975 (I was 22 years old) when a senior student of William C. C. Chen bounced me a good 20 feet. I went airborne and landed on my arse. It did make an impression on me and set me into a pretty serious study of CMA. At least as serious as my budget could handle.
But Rob John, Mike Sigman and Dan have all told me I do not have the structure they are talking about. I have to admit that I discontinued my CMA structural training because a "kink" in my low back got worse over the years and my structural training exercises did not heal the muscular imbalance that (on some days) allows me hardly any resistive structure at all. Nevertheless, "in adversity comes opportunity", as the fortune cookie says.
I have found structure that bypasses my own kinks through relaxation and in spite of my inherent structural weakness. I have bypassed my own potential structure with a structure of necessity.
Yesterday, Moe Stevens, his son and grandson came out to help haul away the wood I had cut down from that tree I mentioned. It was a bad day for my low back muscle imbalance. Nevertheless, I and two others lifted a 13 foot twisted branch with a base diameter of 10 inches and a tip diameter of about 3 inches. It weighed about 300 pounds.
The guy in front lost his footing and dropped his end. I was in the middle near a curve in the wood. As it fell, it began to torque and a 6 inch stub with a 6 inch diameter dug into my ribs. Now gravity and torque with 300 pounds of mass attacked my ribs. For the first nanosecond, I braced.
By the second nanosecond, I instinctively became what I call "single weighted" with my center of gravity over my weighted leg. This gave me the ability to sink, extend my unweighted leg and absorb the force without getting my ribs broken or falling and landing on my arse again. No bruise this morning either.
So, my bad back and its inherent lack of structure, was bypassed by my ability to use three principles. (1) Tai Chi-style walking, (2) riding energy without losing posture and (3) "suck in and spit out" using redirection under a crisis.
That branch was fresh live wood (no rotting). Its structure was sound. Yet, I never became unstable when it struck me. I see the same principles hold with KG under randori conditions. Only, I turn the tables. I use my relaxed weight and specific points to overwhelm someone else's structure. If they can step out of it, I suggest I made the movement too big. If done well, it is not about my structure as much as it is about my subtlety. It is just physics.
By the way, I would love to continue this discussion in real time and face to face. I am sorry I missed the Akuzawa seminar. I had business that got in the way. But if you want to attend Hal von Luebbert's seminar in Ohio, I am sure Moe and Hal would give you the podium for a period of time to show us what you mean. They are both great guys with no agendas or attitudes.