Quote:
Rob Liberti wrote:
I am a fan of this quote from Mike:
There are essentially two things that comprise ki/qi: mental manipulation of force paths and the development of a facial-structure thingamabob that is fairly complex but which involves breathing exercises, stretches, etc. Those would, in essence, be part of the "baseline skills".
The thing is, before I met Dan, I could do a lot of things that seemed to be that kind of thing - but they were much more external than I had realized at the time - probably because "it has to be felt".
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And to be fair, Tohei's "ki tests" and "breathing techniques" address those essential two things, to certain degrees. So none of this is really new, in one sense, although the paucity of explanations did a lot to stop people then and now from knowing exactly what was meant.
In the same sense, these discussions about ki, kokyu, jin, "aiki", Tenchijin, etc., etc., all discuss the same essential two issues... but again only to certain degrees. In other words, I've been trying to indicate that everyone needs to understand that there's more to it and today's stances may turn out to be just as embarrassing tomorrow as some of yesterday's stances are embarrassing today. Recognizing that, maybe we'll all be cautious and balanced in what we're trying to say.
Best.
Mike