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Old 04-02-2007, 08:08 AM   #109
Ecosamurai
 
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Dojo: Takagashira Dojo
Join Date: Jun 2002
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United Kingdom
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Re: Ki-Aikido or Taiji - effectiveness in developing Qi?

Quote:
Cady Goldfield wrote: View Post
Why would one equate participation in commercial sport competitions with legitimacy as a martial artist?

Right now, people are sharing skills with others in seminars on a small scale. Those recipients are coming back to these forums and reporting their experiences. There is no televising, and money isn't changing hands. Just hard work and sharing, and the experiencing of genuine skills first-hand.

If you really wanted to know the truth about what is being discussed here, why wouldn't you simply participate in one of those seminars, or ask to train? You could buy a ringside seat to a UFC bout (which has little or no relation to what is being discussed here), but no one would be teaching you any skills.
I think cady is quite right, but. Whilst I don't necessarily agree with Justin's idea that people need to go to competitions to 'prove' themselves. He does raise a valid point about all of this stuff. Namely, that stating things along the lines of 'a 400lb baby-eating monster of a man can't push me over' is a little bit of a misdirection of the facts. His size and weight are irrelevant if his pushing technique is poor. Makes me want to ask if such internal skills come with tights and a cape.

The reality of the situation in which someone pushes on your chest like that is usually far different than how it might sound. I know that I personally can have a 260lb man push on my chest and he will acheive nothing. Just like the above described 'void'. However, if the same guy took a good hard run up to me and/or gave me a good hard shove I may need to take a step or two or alter my foot position in order to absorb the force sufficiently. Does this mean I don't have these skills? No. Just means that I'm quite honest enough to admit I'm not superman, and I have much more to learn. When you know how to push and 'move with ki' then you can make yourself into kryptonite if you need to.

I had a guy come visit us, he was really strong and coordinated (he'd done some ki aikido before), he was powerful enough and skilled enough that if anyone else on the mat tried to he could stop their movement quite easily. Anyone except me that is and I too had trouble moving him. But I could do it. Reminds me of Koichi Tohei's account of his training misogi and becoming so tired that at aikido practice he was so completely relaxed that eventually nobody in the dojo could move him, nobody that is except for the founder. There are levels to these things and people who may appear unmovable often only appear so when they control the situation in which they display such abilities. Nobody is totally 'immovable', if they were bulldozers would bounce off them. Yet the way people sometimes describe these things makes it sound as though the bulldozer would come off worse in an argument.

Regards

Mike

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
-Martin Luther King Jr
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