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Rob Liberti wrote:
These are good examples of what I would currently consider the cart before the horse.
I practiced all of those things and taught all of those things for years. I wouldn't try to teach aiki using those things alone (any more). The phrase "the slow boat to China" comes to mind (but you have to extend the analogy so that the boat's compase is broken and it's pretty cloudy for the trip).
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Now see, I did the same, but then I was taught practical structural dynamics, in college and in naval aviation. So I had some structural intuition developed to look at them for what they represented, structurally, rather than simply doing uncritical rote imitation without a ready means of self-correction or self-criticism . That predisposition in physical observation that I had is one reason for my emphasis on greater rigor in description -- and I take that direction from the instructions of both Saotome and M. Ueshiba.
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Mitsugi Saotome wrote:
Learning to observe clearly and truly is not as easy as it may seem. Even on a purely physical level, a student's preconceptions can place blinders on his vision. If people can have such difficulty observing what is front of their eyes, you may imagine how much more difficult it is to be receptive to the more subtle and elusive motivations that inform the physical movement. ... I believe that training yourself in the art of perception precedes the ability to train basic technique properly.
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To observe carefully requires names for the differences in the things we observe. The more precise your names for the things you observe, the closer you can catalog the difference in what you have seen and felt. This is a question of applying a stringent rigor to observaton. It is just as necessary as the rigor in physical training.
Quote:
Rob Liberti wrote:
I suppose I could build people up to have a decent structure and manifest intent in a methodical approach such that they could then practice moving with aiki while doing all of these things listed on that web page. The rowing would be done significantly differently - but I don't want to go into it since that is a really good example of "cart before the horse" type topic. In my opinion, you'd be better off practicing shikou. Dan did a writeup on that on aikiweb I believe.
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And I have done a form of shikou -- without the leg lift and stamp -- but with a continuous asagao movement (windings, if you like) -- since I began ... twenty-four... (sheesh) years ago, now... though I was ignorant of the traditional name for that expression of movement until three years ago. So not new, a little different in variation and labelling is all. Only the thing is, about six years ago I started moving from my more intuitional mechanics (seat of pants flying), and nature analogies, toward nailing down the explicit description to provide others with a more rigorous basis for explanation and correction of their training from their own observations.
So please, do go into it ...
How would it be different than what you thought you saw when you learned it ?