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Old 02-02-2007, 06:17 PM   #343
eyrie
 
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Location: Summerholm, Queensland
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Re: Baseline skillset

Quote:
Mike Sigman wrote:
It would be difficult to answer that accurately, Ignatius, because different people in Aikido use slightly different approaches to developing Kokyu; the range of "muscularity" will vary over a spectrum. Same is true of karate. Let's compare kokyu to some "muscle" in your body, as an example... different people will develop that muscle using different approaches, different amounts of stiffness, different amounts of integrating it into the movements of the rest of the body, etc. Regardless, at heart it's all the same principle, but one that can be cultivated and expressed in different ways. Ushiro's kokyu may feel quite different from anything Tohei does, but the core principle is the same.
My bad, I realized how poorly framed the question was... but I'm glad you picked up on it, because the question is how does one know one is not using "muscle" and using "something else" (kokyu/jin/ki/wathaveyou). Obviously "some" muscle is involved, particularly in the beginning... and obviously the ratio of "muscle" to kokyu/jin would be different for different people - at different levels and stages.

Someone once told me it was easier to go from "hard" to "soft" than from "soft" to "hard". Is that relevant to what we're talking about in terms of baseline skill?

Ignatius
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