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Old 09-25-2015, 08:50 AM   #13
jonreading
 
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Dojo: Aikido South
Location: Johnson City, TN
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,209
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Re: The Kuzushi Question

For me, training to remain in a state of balance is a fundamental task. I interpret a critique of our state of [poor] balance as evidence that we are not moving correctly. This is not only fundamental to managing our bodies, but also expressing aiki.

As a point of clarification, I understand "balance" to be an athletic endeavor. It is not an executive toy balance, but rather and athletic balance full of energy. I interpret a comment about balance being devoid of energy/movement as evidence with are not moving with ki. Balance is not equal to stasis. I can have movement in balance (as yin yang is sometimes animated, for example); I can have imbalance held in stasis. A gyroscope in motion has balance and movement.

The idea of claiming a judoka is "off-balance" because they intend to attack you is almost laughable. Granted, some of them are a bit off-balance in the head anyway . Seriously though, you're rarely going to find good fighters who exist in a state of physical imbalance, which at best leaves you with a philosophical argument about the mental state of someone else. This is another type of role framing where we perceive an attack against us (aikido people) to be an imbalance in the universe. From my perspective, attacking while in a state of kuzushi is reflective of a poor attack - to that end, it is advantageous to the defender.

Jon Reading
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