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Old 02-26-2007, 07:14 AM   #703
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Re: Baseline skillset

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
The only two issue I have ever had was:

one, dealing with the criteria/situation/conditions in which they could or were willing to demonstrate within.

two, that they can unequivocally stand judge over who gets it and doesn't get it.

Dan has gone so far to say that my description of what I do when I grapple using kokyu skills because of the verbage I use here on aikiweb shows him that I don't get it! Maybe I don't...I don't know.

To me it becomes like trying to discuss comparative religion with a fundamentalist. You simply cannot establish common ground or a base as they are so stuck in what the define as right and true, that we can never have a rational conversation. We cannot agree on a common ground in which to have this conversation.
Hi Kevin,
Well, as someone with a before and after experience, let me add my opinion.

Dan, Mike, and Rob are all doing very different things in their training. Mike has talked about CMA, Dan MMA, and Rob is with Akuzawa. But, yet, all three, with different backgrounds, can talk about the same baseline skills and understand each other. They have common ground even though they are not doing the same training. Think about it, Taiji is as different from MMA as you can get.

The ones who aren't sharing this common ground are the ones who don't understand what these baseline skills are. And coming from before, I know what that's like. I remember Dan's posts on E-budo and I struggled to conceptualize what he was doing.

However, if it wasn't for the long threads and efforts of those three, I wouldn't have ever met any of them. So, talking about this is constructive and positive. At least I found it to be so.

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
However, what do these things have to do with budo and martial arts?

Maybe they have application and we can learn from them. Maybe not. Maybe the skills that Dan and Mike have are useful...maybe not.

One would have to bring those skills into a martial enviornment and effectively apply them.

In my eyes, and criteria, if you cannot demonstrate that you can perform these things in a non-compliant, dynamic way..that is...using aliveness...or within the parameters as generally accepted in budo/marital arts...then you do not impress me from this stand point.
These baseline skills are the "base". If there is no base, there is no foundation or framework. Like building a house on a sandy beach.

Let me put it this way. It's my opinion that these "baseline skills" are the "aiki" in aikido. They are that important.

As an example that someone else has used and I've read before. If you stand in a relaxed manner with feet side by side, shoulder width apart and let someone push on your chest with all their strength, what happens to you? Are you pushed over? Do you lean in and resist? Try it. Have someone put their hand on your chest and push for all they are worth.

Now, if you can stand there and not be moved, then think about what that means. You have someone exerting a force upon your body and you have neither added resistance to it, nor have you given way under it. So, in essence, you haven't added or subtracted away from that force. You have matched that force such that everything has been neutralized.

Let that simmer for a minute. You've matched an incoming force in such a manner that you have neither hurt the attacker nor were you hurt in the effort. Now, that is aiki.

And to answer the last part of your comment. Yes, definitely, it can be put into dynamic situations, using "aliveness".

Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote: View Post
I have yet to see any video on Youtube or the like that has impressed me martially that these things are overwhelmingly so important that it is worth focusing this much effort on. Neither have I ever experienced a power so special that it warranted me dumping all my BJJ training and AIkido training to study.
Eh, video is over-rated. Kind of hard to tell what's happening inside someone's body on video, or how compliant an uke is being.

But, as for the dumping part. These baseline skills aren't there for that. They are, as they are called, "base"line skills. That means that you can apply them in some manner in your training. Why do you think that Rob, Mike, and Dan can do vastly different training and yet talk about the commonality so well?

Mark
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