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Old 10-27-2009, 09:13 AM   #76
DH
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,394
United_States
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Re: Internal Power Development Methods

Hello
I don't like to recommend people; good or bad, when I don't know what they know and how well or willingly they will teach.
Example: The teacher in your video is doing a very basic jin "trick"
Most of the Aunkai guys can do that; as it is a spin off of one of their very basic training drills. Most of my people can do that as well.
It will be sad if this stuff is considered "high level" or even extraordinary when it is kindergarten work. in fact, the skill is so low level that one wonders why the film was not done with the students doing it to each other. And to really get the point across-why the video is not of students cancelling out each other. That skill is not exactly something I would be "showing off" any day soon!

Once you have established a basic frame, you can handle simple muscle force-in. What you do after that can be simple mechanical tricks (frequently considered high level jujutsu), or it can be even more developed internal mechanics.
Were we to meet I could show you how that skill was the original skill used to do most of the basic wrist grabs things, and why it is thee only correct way to move for single and double wrist grab tenkans. One you understand it; there are ways to develop yourself so that no point of contact on your body matters at all, the same rules apply. Some of the Japanese art big name guys demonstrate some forms of that as well.

Everyone that keeps talking about ten chi jin and gravity and "getting under" are really only discussing first step things in IP/Aiki. You have to go through it in order to train it and be able to use it, but many of the visible skills you see, have several ways of being performed. Let's just say that one can "meet" by absorbing and entering at the same time and that-THAT- can be in several places at once! Further, that the means do to so can happen in several ways.
At this point I will stop as I reserve information for public places where it can be verified that the receiver of the information could not do it, or understand it, had ever heard of it before and didn't have a clue. That way when he or she appears later and tells everyone they knew it along; they can be outed for the kind of people they really are.
We must of course recognize that some, or even most of this knowledge really is out there in various places, right? So we can wonder why it is that to date; we don't see IP/Aiki being demonstrated all that well by anyone in the JMA. For that reason I will continue to reserve "how to's.".

Past simple tricks
At a point, the Japanese arts fail in reaching higher level skills. You will simply not advance to anything meaningful until people stop the Tori / Uke training model. At some point you have to take your "high level skills" and go out and test against freestyle attacks from people outside the system, or better still; people with high level skills train against high level people and test each other.
It is my opinion that the former was the chief reason Takeda traveled so much to supposedly "teach." It is patently obvious he didn't really teach many people at all. I think that he was doing shugyo and teaching himself.
In the same vein, I think the smartest thing that traditional Japanese art shihans could ever do in their entire professional career would be to "take-on" someone like me. Once more and more traditional Japanese shihan feel aiki's real potential without restriction and in total freedom of expression- it will open their eyes to the marvelous potential ahead of them.

The traditional Japanese art teachers I spoke of that I would not recommend; was for the simple reason that their skills in this area are apparently not that well developed. There is a lot you can do with some basic skills and good waza that impress quite a few people. When I see the antics of many of the big name men in the JMA training with their ukes, and the JMA community being impressed with that, I just scratch my head and say "Really guys... I mean...really?"

Watching the current crop of Japanese Shihans, limiting themselves to only going to other Japanese teachers is really quite appropriate and typical. Unless something changes, the next ten years will demonstrate their own lack of vision as their highest level skills simply will no longer be able to cut it in an ever growing, increasiingly aware and educated, community.

It's why it's best to get out and about to see what's out there. Don't settle for internet "blow hards," or men who have only "tested" themselves with ukes from their own art.
Cheers
Dan
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