Quote:
Rupert Atkinson wrote:
I disagree 100%
Aiki is meeting and utilising some of your opponent's energy to destabilise and knock him down. It is just a concept that becomes reality at the moment of contact - if you can do it. Before contact - it is in the mind.
Only once you can do this, can you have the remotest idea of how to generate the 'idea' of aiki in yourself. And even then - all it is - is good posture and fine movement, with a little 'mind' - that might be evidenced as you train by yourself in a Taichi kind of way. As an aside, I have met more than a few Taichi guys that look great, and I am sure they feel great to themselves, but most just can't do anything to me in reality - unless I allow them - being the proverbial good uke that we learn to be in Aikido. Why can't they do it - probably for the same reasons most Aikidoka can't do it. We train too much with others, Taichi people spend too much time by themselves (not everyone of course). I suggest a better mix.
I can understand the 'aiki in me first' idea. To me - the teacher knows what he is doing but perhaps has forgotten or did not realise in which order he came to his understanding. If he tries to teach 'aiki in me' first, the students will have no chance of learning it, in my opinion. I think that after you 'get it' - then, you can actually develop and perfect it training by yourself. But not before.
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For me, I think the phrase "aiki in me" is a directive to first develop unified energy within oneself. I'll let others who have a better understanding speak on that topic. In other words, I need to work on creating opposing energy balanced in neutrality within me - intent manifest through yin and yang as dueling opposing spirals. Is this a unification of energy? I think so. It's a little muddy for me where the transition is between the aiki body (unified body consisting of intent, stability and power) and "aiki" as we express it through our partner at a point of contact. I am not sure I have ever seen anything that
requires aiki to be a connection to another person. In fact, most of the stuff seems to imply that the last thing we want to do is "connect" to someone with better aiki.
The "aiki in me" model requires a working knowledge (pre-requisite) of internal power. To Phi's point, I think the pressure is to get the students to feel opposing tension, demonstrate the positive results on stability and commit to the exercises to create 6 directions of energy. Then develop intent. Once a student gets the "feeling" of stability and intent, she then can build on strengthening the feeling and looking to the bigger concepts.
I know Dan is no longer on the forum but he has several posts that talk in his words more about "aiki in me" and his teaching model. It definitely aligns with my distinctions and also gives me clear goals and objectives in training, which is often absent from the less-than-firm philoso-do that many teach.