View Single Post
Old 06-23-2008, 08:21 PM   #1
RonRagusa
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 824
United_States
Offline
Long road vs short road to ki power (aiki, internal strength...)

It seems that the short road to the acquisition of ki power is a viable alternative to long years of study and sweaty practice on the mat. People with the ability to teach these things in a fraction of the time I have spent learning my skills post regularly here on AikiWeb. Their abilities have been regularly verified by aikidoka who have gone and trained with them. The debate of whether or not it is possible to develop very strong ki in a relatively short amount of time based on their training methods is pretty much settled in favor of the affirmative. In light of this a few questions for your consideration:

If you could supplement your aikido study with training in some other system and develop your ki power in a fraction of the time that it would take studying aikido alone, would you?

Do you see any value in the long road to ki development?

Is the short road always the preferred path?

Is there anything to be gained from deliberately slowing down the growth of your ki power?

Have the years you have spent in your exploration of aikido taught you anything about the necessity of tempering ki power with wisdom; the kind of wisdom that only comes with age and experience?

Do you feel that it's important for your students to have the time grow into their power in a responsible manner?

Do you feel any responsibility to insure that the skills you are passing along will be used appropriately?

Is Saotome Sensei's observation in The Principles of Aikido, page 4, that: "Gaining mere literal knowledge and technical skill and is not the goal of Aikido practice. You must work to improve your character and raise your consciousness to a higher level."; no longer relevant in today's world of fast food, teraflops computers and the insistence on instantaneous gratification?

Ron
  Reply With Quote