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Old 02-15-2017, 12:21 PM   #12
RonRagusa
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 824
United_States
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Re: A defense of Aiki

Quote:
Jon Reading wrote: View Post
So whole body movement is absolute to aiki. There is a reason why on multiple occasions O Sensei made distinctions of individual declaration ("I am aiki!") and also indifference to a role of partnership (there is not opponent). So not only did O Sensei tell us that aiki is about [you] he also told you that aiki is not about [your partner]. We got it from both sides one this one. It's also another one of my soft answers turned harder over the years. Heaven, Earth, man. You don't find any references to a semi-compliant partner standing on the floating bridge of heaven (heaven, earth, man+1).
Well, you kind of recast what I posted with some of O Sensei's cosmological metaphors thrown in. Recall I wrote, "Whole body movement with aiki as a discipline is indeed not predicated on anything 'to do with your partner, or connecting centers, or being affected by an opponent.'"

Quote:
Jon Reading wrote: View Post
If you are dependent on a partner, you are not practicing aiki.
Aiki is a result. It's a condition of the mind/body unit that arises when mind and body are integrated via intent. Training aiki strengthens the mind/body unit beyond what might normally be achieved by physical or mental conditioning alone. In my mind, one doesn't do aiki, one is unified with aiki and that unification within oneself is expressed as whole body movement; or as I would say, movement with mind/body coordinated.

Ron

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