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Old 05-24-2012, 07:06 AM   #6
David Orange
Dojo: Aozora Dojo
Location: Birmingham, AL
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,511
United_States
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Re: If it has to be felt, what does a feeling look like?

Quote:
Anthony Loeppert wrote: View Post
Hmm... so should I put you guys down for zero sensors, or infinite "probes" placed all throughout the nervous system, recording the neuron pulses?
Well, we already have those things. They're ki and mentality. But they cannot be shown to others--only described.

I was just reading Richard Kim and he said that a sensei must often feel like a person yodeling in a mountain valley. He hears lots of echoes but wonders if anyone hears him.

I understood him to mean that lots of people repeat what the sensei says, but they usually don't have any idea what he was talking about.

Pictures or graphs of the outside of the sensei's body will not and cannot help us understand. We can be right with the master and copy all of his movements. To understand the internal, we can only take his descriptions and experiment endlessly with them.

I will say it doesn't hurt to see videos of the teacher (especially if you understand that the outer form is only a shadow of what happens inside) and getting close to a big teacher is excellent, too.

But the only real answer is to get with someone who knows, feel what they do and follow their advice on how to develop.

Quote:
Anthony Loeppert wrote: View Post
Remembering static postures: how to remember that one body re-position from the visiting instructor that made all the difference but is foreign and awkward (like all new movements) and tough to remember.
That makes some sense, but again, the external form is only incidental. In this case, form follows function. If you pay enough attention to gravity (weight) in the form, you can start to get somewhere.

Not to pop your balloon, but I just don't think it's an effective approach and will more likely just distract from real learning in your body and with your mind.

Best to you.

David

"That which has no substance can enter where there is no room."
Lao Tzu

"Eternity forever!"

www.esotericorange.com
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