Thread: Power Proud
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Old 09-23-2011, 11:12 AM   #16
mathewjgano
 
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Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
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Re: Power Proud

Quote:
Stelios Papadakis wrote: View Post
I have been pushing weights for something like 20 years now. i am above average strong, obviously, but i never wish to show it. Even when i started doing aikido, i never used my myscle power when a technique "would not work". And i always tried to be as flexible as a man can be (most of my classmates believe i am the most flexible guy around). When i started doing aikido, even from lesson one and without anyone telling me anything, i tried to blend with the class and the no-resistance spirit. With this said, i find it somehow (errr how do i say this...) improper? difficult to believe? difficult to accept? that O Sensei was thinking otherwise. That, even at the initial steps in whatever he thought Budo was after he parted from Takeda, he put forward his bodily physical strength instead of the unified body and mind aiki power...
A bit confused here...
Simply put, O Sensei didn't necessarily have the same frame of reference you did. Most of the people I've known who lifted weights very seriously were not what I would call flexible, for example.
Also, I don't get the impression Ellis is suggesting O Sensei was entirely muscle-based until some single eureka moment around 1942. My guess is that, assuming his muscle strength was indeed blinding him to some degree, Ueshiba had almost certainly begun to develop aiki connection by then through his training regiment, but that a deeper understanding of the deeper nature of the training perhaps became clear later on.
It's similar to learning math: you start with the form, develop familiarity with different parts, and over time, functional proficiency develops. None of this is to say the person understands the equations, only that they know how to move the numbers around to get a reliable result. In fact there is a debate going on in some circles now that most people (who study it) don't really "understand" math, even though they may always arrive at the correct answer through the common algorithm.

Quote:
Asim Hanif wrote: View Post
I don't think I've ever said this...or even thought this before but I agree with EVERYTHING DH said in his post:-)
I'm kind of scared now.

Last edited by mathewjgano : 09-23-2011 at 11:22 AM.

Gambarimashyo!
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