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Old 01-10-2011, 10:14 AM   #31
Garth Jones
Dojo: Allegheny Aikido
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 166
United_States
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Re: Ikeda Sensei Demos of Ki

Mike - video - I'm not sure.... I'll look around. Everything you said makes complete sense to me. I can't always do it, but I'm trying!

John - your comments seem to me to very a very important part of what Ikeda Sensei is doing, and I've heard him say the same things about the line and moving the center around in the middle. Interestingly, the kind of abdominal muscle control you describe is key in belly dancing. We have a student (advanced shodan) in our dojo who has been belly dancing very seriously for some years. She can develop very impressive power by setting up the kind of wave Ikeda Sensei describes using her fine ab control.

Something I've been working on recently that addresses the 'center in your hand' issue is paying close attention to what parts of my body I can move independently from others while keeping connection with my partner. For instance - uke grabs my wrist and extends in to me a bit. Without disturbing that connection, it is possible to swivel hips, move feet (some) etc. With the rest of the body free, it's possible to set up a wave that rises up from the ground through the back leg, up through the structure of the body, out the arm, and in to uke.

When Ikeda Sensei does this his movements are so small that it's hard to see. What I do, right now anyway, is much bigger, cruder, and often less successful. However, every once and awhile I really find it, and then a heavy uke suddenly doesn't weigh much of anything. Very cool!

In any event, I think we're all finding various ways of describing the same basic issue, and I think that's great.