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Old 12-08-2011, 12:27 PM   #139
Ken McGrew
Dojo: Aikido at UAB
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 202
United_States
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Re: "stance of heaven (and earth)" and IS

I don't speak for Saotome Sensei (please refer to him properly). These posts are petty. I provided the definition given by Takeda Sensei to avoid playing the petty game.

Saotome Sensei's books and videos are widely available. They require careful study. He addresses Aiki in these. Aiki is a complex concept. What Takeda Sensei and his son described as Aiki still fits. Certainly Aiki is also more than this. Saotome Sensei seems to have a broad definition of Aiki. It would be the same concept as that of O Sensei. If anything O Sensei broadened the concept of Aiki rather than narrowed it. Putting it this way isn't quite right, either, however. For O Sensei Aiki was not completely knowable by human beings. We only get glimpses of it. Aikido being a window into another plain of existence. I don't know if Saotome Sensei believes this completely himself. I do know that this is what O Sensei taught Saotome Sensei about the spiritual/metaphysical side of Aiki.

If there can be more than one side to Aiki, then can there be more than one way to demonstrate tenshinage? Can there be more going on in heaven and earth than grounding or internal strength? The jo trick is often brought out as an example of the secret of O Sensei's ability as are other grounding exercises. But is it possible that there is more than one way to avoid having the jo moved or being pushed over? For example, perhaps you can ground out or otherwise neutralize the pushing energy and weight in your own body. But you can also destabilize those pushing as a way to make their pushing have less effect. This is a rather easy way to do the jo trick. It accomplishes the same thing. The jo doesn't move much or move Nage.

Last edited by Ken McGrew : 12-08-2011 at 12:39 PM.
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