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Greg Steckel wrote:
Good example of a non-Japanese senior Aikidoka with connection - it is all in the video for those that know what to look for. Absolutely no one else looks the same as Bill after the first half turns to a group session; everyone else is trying to mimic Bill's movements by blending externally with uke; no one else has any internal connection to start with. This video is three years old; Bill is even more connected today 
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Lynn Seiser wrote:
Gleason Sensei does provide an interesting illustration.
Much of which I would not visually see if I had not kinesthetically felt in person.
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Nathan Mishler wrote:
But not so much hips...I've been trying to figure out what that means. However, by moving my center of thought from my hips to this point above them, and moving that (with a tightening of the abs, too) I seem to be getting some interesting movements happening.
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Cool! I just figured out the obvious "multi-quote" function. I'm so quick, lol!
I'm still in the process of reading his book on Kototama and it's a very interesting read...one I find I have reread each passage as I go.
What stands out to my largely untrained eye is what seems to be very strong vertical musubi, upon which his body is stacked, so that when a force comes into it, it's already resting on a kind of central pillar. Again, I make no claims of "real" or functional understanding, but the conceptual framework I've been trying to learn places a huge emphasis on this relaxed-but-extended vertical connection, around which everything seems to depend. I recently read Rob John as describing the need to translate incoming force into the naturally strong vertical load-bearing qualities of the body. This
seems to relate to what I've come to think of as the need to be able to "stand up" into the attack, which comes from my meager understanding of vertical musubi (connection of Heaven and Earth within the mind and body) as taught to me by my teacher.
The shoulder girdle (and hips), being the points through which the limbs access the spine's (essentially) vertical load pathway, seems to be pretty important to establishing strong vertical musubi as it relates to any interaction with the arms. Being that they're ball-socket joints, too, they trade stability for maneuverability so I would guess them to be great places for problems in handling large loads. Fortunately they're wrapped in layers of connective tissues which can help bear the loads, not unlike rope, which when symetrically wrapped around itself, becomes very strong.
Of course, these are largely guesses on my part. I am not even a shodan and am just returning to something resembling "serious" (i.e. consistent) practice. None of this is meant to be representative of a good understanding of anything. I do not wish to misrepresent my teacher, nor do I want to give the impression to anyone that I know what I'm talking about. This is just me sharing my personal haphazard thoughts (and at this point they certainly are that) in the hopes that people who know better can help me fill in the holes or give other ideas to consider.
...Anyhow, for whatever it may be worth.
Take care,
Matt
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Keith Larman wrote:
The exercise I was talking about wrt to Toby you're moving forward against pressure by pulling forward from the front foot.
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That's very interesting! It reminds me a bit of what I've been playing with. One moment in particular I kept getting stuck while trying to do ikkyo and when I thought about my feet moving similar to that, it became MUCH easier. Not sure if it exactly relates, but that's interesting. Thank you to both Keith and Gary for sharing your thinking! It seems to make a lot of sense to me; I'll have to try and be more mindful of that the next time I'm on the mat and see what I get.