Thread: Following?
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Old 02-01-2012, 08:16 PM   #5
RonRagusa
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 824
United_States
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Re: Following?

Quote:
Mark Freeman wrote: View Post
What terms do you use to describe this practice (if you do)?
Hi Mark -

I remember being taught to follow nage's lead while attacking. Not so much to just go where he wanted me to, but because he was supposed to be providing me an opening into which I could move in order to continue my attack. It was always "I'm nage follow me".

I've come to realize that there's more to the lead/follow dynamic between nage and uke. Since I don't attempt to overtly control uke's movement I'm required to both lead him and follow him simultaneously. The term I use for this is congruent motion. A definition of congruent is "the quality or state of agreeing, coinciding" (Merriman-Webster). Congruent motion then can be seen as motion where our points of intersection form tangents rather than crossing points.

Looking forward to your visit this spring.

Best,

Ron

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