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Old 03-09-2007, 02:14 PM   #7
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
United_States
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Re: Aikido as External Art -or- Where's the Chewy Center?

Quote:
Christian Moses wrote: View Post
I can't think of any martial art that wouldn't be better if done by someone with neijin/internal strength.
That's why they all have internal strength in them and why anyone who only does an Asian martial art, "internal family" or "external family either one, with just normal strength is doing it wrong.
Quote:
I frankly think Aikido would be a lot better if it was an internal art, but the syllabus simply doesn't seem to be there.
What you really mean to say in order to be correct is "I frankly think Aikido would be a lot better if it used internal strength, but the syllabus simply doesn't seem to be there." Think about that for a second.... Koichi Tohei's Ki-Society does just that, whether we cavil about his methodology or not.
Quote:
Mike, would you care to clear up the two usages that I'm confusing?
"Internal style" = Taichi, Xingyi, Bagua, Liu He Ba Fa, and a few others. They "use the dantien to hit with".

"Internal Strength" = Ki, kokyu, jin, neijin, etc.... ALL styles, both "internal style" and "external style" use these powers, but in different ways, hard or soft, using various muscle-jin combinations and various power augmentations (shaking power, bounces, etc., etc.).

FWIW

Mike
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