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Old 04-15-2011, 07:54 AM   #10
phitruong
Dojo: Charlotte Aikikai Agatsu Dojo
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,944
United_States
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Re: Do You Stand Straight Up?

personally, i preferred stand straight and not lean, even when i did techniques. all my teachers of various martial arts advocated that posture, i.e. don't compromise your structure and make it easy for your opponent. when i do standing post meditation, leaning of any kind will be painful after awhile. when i took Okinawan karate-do, my sensei used to make us stood in horse stand for a long period of time, and every once in awhile, he jumped up and stood on my thighs. in that sort of training, leaning was an invitation for pain.

there are exceptions. take for example Kuroda sensei. he seemed to be bent in combat mode, especially, when he has a sword in his hands. but i looked at his body bending like a drawn bow with stored potential ready to unleash on moment notice. however, his overall structure isn't compromised as he could freely move and quite fast too. there is this article (in French which i wished it could be translated into English) http://budoshugyosha.over-blog.com/a...-65641305.html. the article shown a bunch of pictures of Kuroda sensei in various stage of movements. methink, with a sword in your hand, you would crouch like a tiger (yup movie time!) to make yourself a smaller target and to setup for spring load moment.
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