Thread: Feet and Legs
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Old 10-17-2011, 11:08 AM   #9
mathewjgano
 
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Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
Location: Renton
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Re: Feet and Legs

Hi Michael,
Quote:
Michael Varin wrote: View Post
This thread is all over the place, so I'll just make some general comments and you can take them for what they're worth.
I tried to leave it wide open, but maybe that wasn't the best approach. I just didn't want to constrain what people might have to offer, but it might have helped if I had more than a vague question...or my tendancy for stream of consciousness posting.

Quote:
You lost me on this one, because I feel the action is almost the exact opposite of what you describe, but then again I am not entirely clear on your description.
I see what you mean: as you squat on the down-cut, the legs tend to flare outward with respect to the hips. I was thinking more of what I remember doing in suwari. I'm not qualitfied to comment on how good or bad it is, but I tend to think of my limbs as expanding outward from hara: legs pushing down on the ground, raising the body upward, and outward along the outside surfaces, while raising the sword, and down and inward during the cut...a basic opening and closing of the front side. This isn't to say my elbows and knees are moving laterally since they're also squezing the centerline at the same time...so the sideways expansion gets translated into vertical expansion...somewhat, at any rate. For me it describes where my intent is going. So I try to have my front-side intent trying to expand in all directions on the draw upward; then contracting more or less toward the centerline and down on the cut, but now that you mention it, I'm really squeezing/pressing in two directions at the same time, it's just that one direction tends to take dominance depending on which directions I'm actually moving.
The more I think about it the more complicated it seems and the less articulat I'm feeling, but my basic thought is: inhale and expand in all directions on the raising of the blade; exhale and contract on the cut. Of course as one part of a surface contracts another can be said to expand so it's not as simple as that, but in the most general sense that's how I think of it.
As it relates directly to the legs, and I'm not saying I have it right, but I'm extending down through my legs into the ground ("relaxed" weighting), creating a basic triangle shape. Then I imagine I'm standing in wet concrete and any leg pressure comes with the thought of moving my feet through it. If I start with the knees, the feet don't move well, so first feet, then knees, then hips, etc. This is what I'm trying to do when raising up. When dropping, it's more of a straight down drop coming about through that squeezing of the centerline. Lately I've been focusing more on the rotation of the femur to help translate pressure, rotating the front outward while raising the blade...more open/close. This adds to that sense of mine of expanding the legs outward on the raise and inward on the cut, though I'm guessing, again, the back of the femur is doing the opposite.
I'm not well-practiced, so any descriptions on my part should probably be viewed as something to correct rather than something to take into someone else's practice...and which is, again, part of why I tried to keep the thread question so wide open.
Thanks for the reply!
Take care,
Matt

Gambarimashyo!
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