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Old 07-15-2008, 01:10 PM   #60
Thomas Campbell
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 407
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Re: Seiseki Abe Sensei video....whats going on here?

Quote:
Robert John wrote: View Post
[snip]
Same stuff, different perspective:
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=KZdtM5p6ZkA
Anyone that can do these skills could probably see that what this old dude in the vid is doing is genuine. Anyone else would probably call "faKeSoRZ!"

Does it mean he can pwn a young guy rushing at him like a screaming banshee? Probably not.
But how many times does it have to be reiterated that having these skills, and putting them to use in fighting, are two different things
Same stuff, different perspective? I'm not sure.

Wang Yongquan at age 83 (maybe 84), confined to a chair:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=6-_qR-sP9js

Wei Shuren, student of Wang Yongquan:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vaogb-2vdrU

Demonstrations of sensitivity (ting jin) and internal connection. The partner's body becomes your body. A useful step on the way. But it may not be the same way that Dan Harden describes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snYlMC6gUoM&NR=1

Same stuff, different perspective? I think Akuzawa's "stuff" is closer to what Dan writes about than the taiji or bagua demonstrations. The methods the old Chinese gentlemen are showing tend to discuss how to directly affect the 'yi,' or intent + awareness, of the partner/opponent--leading it, tricking it, perhaps taking advantage of wired-in human reflexes relating to standing upright in gravity, perhaps playing with mirror-neuron systems or other elements of proprioception and "body maps" in the brain--the same stuff--maybe, but with a markedly different emphasis.

Akuzawa feels like someone in a passing roller coaster has suddenly grabbed you and taken you along for the ride.
Akuzawa is the roller coaster. Older Chinese gentlemen demonstrating the skills shown in the first couple of clips tend to lure you into the roller coaster car by holding the door open for you--they just don't get in with you.

Putting this to use in fighting?

To even consider that, you need to have the internal connection skills in the first place, to begin to feel what's possible.

Feeling people who can demonstrate this skill can be an inspirational first step to engaging in the training.
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