Thread: Bowstring Power
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Old 02-18-2012, 09:39 AM   #15
David Orange
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Re: Bowstring Power

Quote:
Lee Salzman wrote: View Post
But, like, what if you moved your body into any of these twisty macaroni shapes? Obviously the body is not a piece of macaroni and can't quite approximate all of those to the degree outlined there, but some of likeness of those come up more often in fighting than merely being bolt upright or a flat horizontal plank, especially in grappling... I mean, like, rather than snapping back to straight, you snapped into a curve, or a spiral, or a ball, or even straight, using the same pressure that would otherwise just form you back to vertical?
I think that's a good illustration and it seems to relate to the idea of having multiple "bows" in the body/mind/ki structure, all distributing force and all capable of "issuing" power while simultaneously recharging the other bows...but way beyond my actual understanding.

Quote:
Lee Salzman wrote: View Post
That is, they are not awkward postures that you are trying to recover from, but first-class postural possibilities that you are at times trying to go to? But is that aiki anymore, or is that something else? That is where I wonder the distinct concepts separated by a similar language issue...
That makes it clearer. Especially when you get into grappling or, from my perspective, sutemi waza, where you're doing work in the midst of fast movement while in some outlandish posture that has no other use but the throw.

The one thing I always go back to is that, ultimately, for the greatest part of your life, you will be upright because for most things (including running) you're more efficient in a very upright posture. Though you might lean forward a bit in running.

But we live upright and the hallmark of internal arts is fantastic effectiveness with very little discernible effort or movement and very little disruption from one's normal posture.

So I think we would best consider all macaroni kinds of shapes to be something we pass through on the way to returning upright. This was Feldenkrais' idea, actually. He called the optimal human upright standing posture the "neutral posture". I call it Zero Stance or rei no kamae. That's my way of looking at everything first from the "nothing" state, where we're "not doing anything" and I focus most of my attention on where the "nothing" state first starts to become the "something" I want to do. And I want t be sure that I do nothing more than I'm attempting. It's in the transition from "doing nothing" to "doing" that people tend to grab some extra baggage. If they need to use 35 muscle fibers, they've already leapt ahead to activating 150 muscle fibers. And by the end of the technique, they're using ten times more effort than the technique really requires. So they're stiff, but they feel strong....

I like to go from "doing nothing" to the point where I can feel only the first muscle fiber activating, then gradually advance to where I can add only the efforts really needed, so that when I get to the end of the technique, I'm using the optimum amount of effort, or "maximum efficient use of effort," as Kano said and he was Feldenkrais' first introduction to judo.

But that's why I relate everything first to up/down (besides that it's the fire/water that Ueshiba extolled, the ki of heaven and the ki of earth). These things are not restricted to the up/down, but that's their natural position and you get the most return for the least disruption from their natural state.

Quote:
Lee Salzman wrote: View Post
I don't know what to make of gravity most of the time. It seems more present and usable in those aspects where you must move off the vertical, to fall by choice, rather than those times when it is just dropping straight through you and you're doing nothing more than balancing on it. Compared to the forces experienced from another person trying to throw you, it seems a very subtle force to work against or practice against in extension. Even in dropping, gravity is a slow force in terms of accelerating the body, to the extent that it seems like an additive that isn't terribly explosive.
Well, that's assuming that you're using the gravity in quite that way. Like we have to use connective tissue differently than we use muscle, I think the first use of gravity is as the prime reference for orientation and then use that continually as a prime consideration for evaluating where things are and where they're going, in terms of a physical conflict. In other words, you want to keep it falling straight through you--though not necessarily straight up and down the spine. It's always falling straight through you...You say "Compared to the forces experienced from another person trying to throw you, it seems a very subtle force to work against or practice against in extension." Very subtle like ki...and vital for the mind and ki to be clear and effective in the situation. So we aren't using "gravity" itself so much as we are using our constant tuning to it. We use our orientation to gravity more than we use the gravity itself.

Now, what we would like is for the other guy, in trying to disrupt our relationship to gravity, to put himself into a position where the subtle influence of gravity will be "sprung" and he will feel it in an explosive manner, either by being attached to us when we move or by hitting the ground when he's completely lost his orientation to the vertical.

Quote:
Lee Salzman wrote: View Post
You just need your body, mind, ki, and access to a teacher who knows what they are doing on a regular basis to prevent you from going off into the weeds and a supportive environment of people to give you a reality check on what you are really developing to keep you on the track of progress. Easier said than done sometimes...
Which is what makes this forum so valuable.

Thanks again.

David

"That which has no substance can enter where there is no room."
Lao Tzu

"Eternity forever!"

www.esotericorange.com
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