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Old 07-03-2012, 08:46 PM   #36
OwlMatt
 
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Dojo: Milwaukee Aikikai
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Re: Ki to the Highway

Quote:
Greg Steckel wrote: View Post
Intent is not the same as ki - intent is purely of the mind and ki is the energy that bridges the mental to the physical; so, it has mental and physical qualities.
We have a nervous system that bridges the mental to the physical. So what does ki do that the nervous system doesn't do?
Quote:
this is just not a good analogy - no comment
It's a perfectly good analogy. The claim that "millions of people over thousands of years can't be wrong" has been disproved thousands of times over. Millions of people over thousands of years were wrong about the solar system, about gravity, about human rights, etc., etc., etc. So why can't they be wrong about chi?
Quote:
Who said the model works without ki - I just said your components of the process are included in the model.
I said the model works without ki. And in order for you to prove that wrong, you're going to have to do two things: (1) define what ki actually is, and (2) explain what someone can do with ki that someone else cannot do without ki.

Quote:
The model with just your components in it will work only within yourself and not be able to affect what is going on with an opponent that contacts you other than using brute force or some form of jujutsu leverage - there is much more to an interaction than that. If it is just your mental thought at work, how can you explain the difference in what your opponent feels when you project a thought just to his center or when you project that thought through and beyond his center?

Greg
The change in thinking changes the action. When I think through my opponent rather than into him, my muscles respond with more forward energy than before.

Aikido is not unique in this. When you're learning to do a jump shot in basketball, the coach will tell you to see the ball in the basket before you shoot. When you're learning to sing opera, the voice teacher will tell you to imagine your voice filling up your face or travelling to the far end of the room. It works because the brain controls the muscles, and therefore changing what your brain is doing changes what your muscles are doing.

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