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Old 08-27-2009, 11:52 AM   #10
Ron Tisdale
Dojo: Doshinkan dojo in Roxborough, Pa
Location: Phila. Pa
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 4,615
United_States
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Re: Kokyu development for Aiki in Aikido

Thanks Mark. I understand your point about needing to work the solo, and that's kind of a given in my opinion. But I think there are enough people out there now working on that given, and I'd like to try to see **how** others are applying that solo work **now** in their waza, whether or not they have progressed beyond "doing something" to uke. Of course, this does not make the sentiments you expressed any less valid.

I'll use your mention of shiko as a spring board. One of the things that I picked up online is why the bent arm on the leg that is lifting is turned palm down. I found that when my intent was to kind of use the palm to push down into the opposite weighted leg, at the same time that I pushed up from the ground into that palm, my whole sense of balance was radiacally (for me) changed. Then I realized that I could do that same thing mentally **wherever** my hands were, in **whatever** exercise I was doing. And then **whenever** moving. Carrying that sense of what I'll call "weighting accross the body" **whenever** is mentally fatiguing, but it does seem to improve my balance quite a bit, and to enhance the develpment of structure as well.

I'm going to stop here for now...but maybe in a later post I can tie that into the technique at hand.

Best,
Ron

Ron Tisdale
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"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind."
St. Bonaventure (ca. 1221-1274)
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