View Single Post
Old 11-24-2011, 01:58 PM   #24
David Orange
Dojo: Aozora Dojo
Location: Birmingham, AL
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,511
United_States
Offline
Re: Is AIKI a regular occurance in professional fights?

Quote:
Dan Harden wrote: View Post
What do I teach by way of solo training that requires brute force?
I'm talking about the traditional hours-in--horse-stance kind of thing and a lot of what I saw with Ark. I'm saying those things seem largely to force young, strong people to feel because they are so strong and active that it takes a lot to get through to them. I'm saying that the Feldenkrais first teaches you not to do arduous things but to do tiny, soft things to make you able to feel. And then any physical discipline you approach will be more accessible.

Quote:
Dan Harden wrote: View Post
Everyone I know is mentally exhausted... looong before their bodies give out.
Not me. I get exhausted much faster than that...

Quote:
Dan Harden wrote: View Post
Softness is the corner stone of all that I do. Even the rather well known hits and kicks are just softly....done quickly. There is no qualitative change in me to dissolve force, direct force or drill someone. It's all the same. Moreover, the softness one feels, or the hardness one feels, when contacting someone who knows what they are doing...is usually their own force being echoed back at them.
That's the mountain echo?

Rob said that Ark could only throw me so far because I put so much strength into my push. I can't believe I'm so strong!

Quote:
Dan Harden wrote: View Post
Good points about emotional investiture.
It's emotional and intellectual, too, and physical. And there's the faith you put into your teachers, that they know the truth of the matter and that they're teaching it to you....

It's not easy to just let go of all that, but I think that's a core principle of budo: never forget the beginner's mind.

Quote:
Dan Harden wrote: View Post
I have seen little by way of good teaching of aiki from the Japanese. There are a few for sure, but widespread? No way. Overal their teaching model leaves a lot to be desired, and their aiki model is awful. On the whole, it's all external, and waza based.
It was the Feldenkrais training that made me realize that aikido is not only designed backward to the attacker's technique, but it's taught backward to the learner--from the myriad techniques and outer form to the inner connection to self. If they really wanted you to learn, they would teach from the self, outward to technique. I based my teaching after that on standing upright and moving naturally, showing how the techniques are built out of natural movement, teaching the movement first and identifying the keys to technique. Which was a big step beyond just teaching technique, but remained far short of real internal usage.

So I'm looking forward to learning more from you.

Thanks.

David

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

"Eternity forever!"

www.esotericorange.com
  Reply With Quote