View Single Post
Old 08-06-2008, 11:59 AM   #14
Keith Larman
Dojo: AIA, Los Angeles, CA
Location: California
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,604
United_States
Offline
Smile Re: Core Techniques in Aikido -- and Why

Quote:
Mark Murray wrote: View Post
Hi Keith,

Thanks for the reply! Do you think there's specific Aiki Taiso that are more important? Or that they all build various skills and each is important for the whole development?

Personally, I'm getting more out of doing the wrist "stretches" right now than I am out of doing fune kogi undo. Not that I think fune kogi is useless, just that I'm still working out all the subtleties of that exercise.
I find all the exercises have their merits. Some are more complex than others, but they all have their place. And I often work on individual ones on my own time. Every now and then I'll position myself in front of a large mirror we have on the left side of the main wall in our training area. I've yet to get through the aiki taiso without making some mental notes on things I needed to improve/fix/look into further.

Too many consider the aiki taiso a warmup IMHO. I see them as the most critical part of the training. One thing I tend to tell my students is that the aiki taiso is a time when you can work on a large number of critical skills without some bozo yanking you around. And since there is no uke they should be able to do each exercise with precision, perfect balance and proper flow. And I've found that as I refine my form in the aiki taiso many problems during actual practice tend to go away all by themselves... Shoshin ni kaeru.

FWIW I remember being somewhat puzzled with the early discussions about "internal" stuff being lacking nowadays in Aikido. I thought that was exactly what the aiki taiso was all about all along. It has been beaten into my head that way for the time I've been training. I've since visited many more dojo and found there is quite a variation in how training is approached so I guess I understand the concern more now. That said I've met a lot of really great aikidoka who approach things differently. Lots of paths up the mountain and all that.

But it did reaffirm my personal focus on improving those basic things for myself as taught within our style... Focus on the "one-point"/hara/whatever you call it. Get that basic controlled tension. Let the ki flow from it. Stay relaxed but with control. Settle down into the ground in a solid fashion. Now start moving without losing any of those things... Critical things to every one of the aiki taiso right down to even the wrist exercises.

YMMV. Just the opinions of one fella and all opinions are my own responsibility...

  Reply With Quote