Quote:
Graham Christian wrote:
1) Those attacks generally called hanging the arm out by the ill informed are correct as Aikido attacks.
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I strongly disagree.
There is a reason that EVERY decent aikido instructor I've ever been on the mat with, from any style or lineage, in everything from beginners class to advanced seminar, explicitly talks about having BOTH arms/hands engaged and "live."
Part of it, yes, is martial and self-defense effectiveness.
But even if your avowed goal in learning and teaching aikido is spiritual rather than martial....
the integrity of the body/mind system, awareness of self/universe, connecting with one's partner ALL require the ability to be aware of one's entire body: front, back, up, down, left and right. Unless one lacks the limb or has had neurological damage to it (stroke, other disorder), a disengaged and limp extremity is a symptom of a disengaged, non-integrated system choosing to be self-impaired.
Easy to test. Try a simple irimi-tenkan kokyu-ho throw (forgetting the name of the exercise since it's not called that where I train now....) with the ungrabbed arm limply sitting versus engaged. It feels like working less than 1/2 a body.