Thread: The Way of Aiki
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Old 10-04-2013, 08:43 PM   #141
hughrbeyer
Dojo: Shobu Aikido of Boston
Location: Peterborough, NH
Join Date: Aug 2010
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Re: The Way of Aiki

Quote:
Cady Goldfield wrote: View Post
Gerardo,
Earlier, I mentioned that working on structure is Step One in developing IP, and is a precursor to making an aiki body. The first step of that process is learning how to align the joints so that you are not using dedicated muscle to hold your structure together, and so that force can easily be transferred in a clean "path" from point-of-contact to the ground, and back.
Quote:
Cady Goldfield wrote: View Post
Again I will clarify that nowhere was it stated that structure is IP/aiki. I'm not sure where Lee got the idea of that.

Aligning the joints is the FIRST STEP toward manipulating structure, and thus is the FIRST STEP toward developing IP skills and an aiki body. Nothing more, nothing less.
There was plenty of "good stuff" in Lee's post, but it is way beyond the processing point for what someone without prior internal training is ready to read about. What I offered was for beginners and individuals with no or little exposure to this kind of training, as a baseline starting point. Others here are discussing internal training amongst themselves, at the levels they're at. Let's try to keep the two separate so that there aren't heaping layers of confusion for those just learning about this stuff.
I was trying to be all subtle and indirect and sh*t in my prior post, but screw that. Yeah, when you said "first step" of IP, seems Lee and I interpreted that to mean it's one of the IP skills. You've clarified you didn't mean that, which is fine, but since at least two of us read it the same way a clarification was in order.

As for others, I don't know what background they have (hint: it's not all the same) so I don't know what's confusing and what's not. Good structure is all very well and good to work on but you don't need anything special to work on it--yoga, taiji, or Alexander Technique will all do just fine. As far as I'm concerned, what Lee's talking about is the alpha and the omega of IP/aiki--that is, until you've started on it you haven't started your journey, and you'll be working on it as long as you're pursuing aiki at all. So talking about structure and alignment is misleading in its own way--almost anybody can read it and say, "Oh yeah, I work on that too--what's the big deal?" Whereas pulling silk/six directions/roppo kamae is the heart of the matter.

(Well, almost. Really, in my current understanding, in-yo ho is the heart of the matter. But you can't get there without six-directions.)

Evolution doesn't prove God doesn't exist, any more than hammers prove carpenters don't exist.
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