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Old 07-29-2011, 05:12 AM   #27
rob_liberti
Dojo: Shobu Aikido of Connecticut
Location: East Haven, CT
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,402
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Re: Hidden in Plain Sight - Indeed!

Quote:
Mike Sigman wrote: View Post
Wouldn't the obvious next question be "what else am I missing that I didn't/don't know that I'm missing?". A related question is "what did Ueshiba know and when did he know it?". Both very valid questions if someone is taking a look at "internal strength" in Aikido.

2 cents.

Mike Sigman
Well Mike, I am open to any pointers you may want to throw out here.

While I honestly believe that you are making a fair and good point, to be completely truthful in my reply I think my personal answer to those questions would be "No." For me, that's not really the _next_ logical step at all.

The next step, if you ask me, is how do I get enough of a foothold of what I have been exposed to to be able to appreciate further information in a more productive way.

I'm actually at the point where I have some stability/structure even while moving around. I can get intent working to some degree through my arms and legs. I can -way too slowly- spin my dantien just a bit.

I want to be able to apply the skills I have (which are not yet automatic enough/fast enough) to striking, throwing, and wrestling against other people who have such skills infused with aiki. Once at that point, I really will have little interest in anything ELSE Dan may want to show me for a long while - until I assimilate to some degree.

Personally, as awful and terrifying as it is, I want to do MMA to some horrible degree with people like Dan and Andy (and other friends with aiki) for a while.

THEN, the next question for me is: what else don't I know?

Can I then appreciate a bit more of the kotodama principles? Can I understand a bit more about healing people with body work? Can I take my training in aiki to a next level, such that I can actually do aikido waza in MMA to some degree? How fun would aikido practice be with people training at that level?

Otherwise, I think you end up spread a bit martially thin.

Asking about what Ueshiba knew, and what aiki greats could do what is totally boring to me personally. I will be at seminars working on AIKI and some of my good friends are sitting on the sidelines NOT working on aiki, but rather discussing which old master could do what. I will never get that. There is enough credibility in what we are actually doing ourselves right now. If I had a time machine, I wouldn't go back in time to work with them, I would go to my younger self and get him/me working with Dan. (Okay, I would make a lot of money first, but THEN...)

Rob
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