View Single Post
Old 11-09-2012, 07:10 AM   #102
phitruong
Dojo: Charlotte Aikikai Agatsu Dojo
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,944
United_States
Offline
Re: What is "IP" discussion of Internal power.

Quote:
Krystal Locke wrote: View Post
Ok, so here's a question, flat out, straight up. Do the IP folk think Hiroshi Ikeda sensei has it or a part of it?.
yes. before he started the internal stuffs, his aikido was superb. he got a set of 4 videos that you can judge for yourself. when he started in the internal stuffs, he's no longer focus on techniques. i have been to various aikido seminars with other aikido schools from other organizations. most if not all usually the teacher shown various versions of aikido techniques. i have learned umpteen different ways to do ikkyo. seminar with Ikeda sensei is quite different. he doesn't teach technique. he teaches what make techniques work on anybody. years back, his explanations were very hard to understand. over the years, his explanations got better (either that or i have better understanding after exposure to IP crowd). his english isn't sufficient to explain the details of his demonstration. i wrote a translation table somewhere on aikiweb. when he said technique, it meant IP. when he said technique movement, it meant the regular aikido technique like shigonage, ikkyo and so on. he will say he's teaching technique. pay attention when he said he's moving his inside. it meant hara/dantien movement which is the foundation of IP. for example, in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St7I0M2fx1c when he said your center (he used to say your inside) moves 360 (you need to extrapolate that to mean in spherical coordinate, as in anywhere on the 3D sphere).

i don't know what other folks experience were, but i will give you mine. for years, i went to Ikeda sensei seminars, listened to his explanations, took ukemi from him, but could not for the life of me understand his teaching or even remotely doing things the way he did. interestingly enough, i practiced with folks who went the his seminars for longer than i had, but they didn't feel or did things remotely like him, and i am not talking about kyu rank folks. i was quite frustrated to say the least, but he's my shihan and he's one of my role models in aikido. so during the heated debate on IP/aiki a few years back on aikiweb, i went out and attended workshops with IP folks. they did stuffs that feel like Ikeda sensei and then some. luckily they were also native english speaker and could explain in details on what they did and how to train for it which is much more important. you heard the IP crowd mentioned about lots of solo training, it was and is. now i understand Ikeda sensei perfectly and feel exactly what he did to me when i am uke for him. before, i knew he broke my balance, but didn't know how he did it. now i do. this is important. your body has to change in order to feel it. this is the foundation of "stealing technique" method. he won't tell you about his solo practices. i pestered him about it so he told me a couples, for example, doing push hand with the office chair or direct jin to go back and forth between my left hand and my right hand (he let me touch his arms and did it slowly so i can feel it). he will relate his teaching back to aikido movements. he said he gave you ideas and it was.

one time i asked him when does he practice his stuffs, since he spent lots of time traveling all over the places teaching seminars. he smiled and said "i was practicing".

so if your interest in a new or different way of doing ikkyo or shihonage and so on, then don't bother to go to his seminar. if you interest in how to make those aikido movements work, regardless of who your uke, then go. also, he's quite funny which is very enjoyable learning.

btw, he got a bunch of DVDs on internal stuffs. you could only get them at his seminars. i asked him one time why he didn't sell it on bujin site. he said folks watch his videos and thought what he did was fake and he didn't want to do that. essentially, try before buy. and yes, i got most of his DVDs. in return, i also know how he wants his coffee. i had to contract out to the CIA, FBI, NSA and all the alphabet soups. took years to get the right intelligent. they couldn't get it. i resorted to torture and water boarding was not enough. i asked him how he wanted his coffee at a starbuck drive thru. and no, i ain't telling. you have to torture me to get it.

"budo is putting on cold, wet, sweat stained gi with a smile and a snarl" - your truly
http://charlotteaikikai.org
  Reply With Quote