Thread: Ueshiba's Aiki
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Old 11-14-2011, 07:09 PM   #307
HL1978
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Re: Ueshiba's Aiki

Quote:
Ken McGrew wrote: View Post
There is an orthodoxy in the yo ho internal stuff that is being described here. Saotome Sensei is against orthodoxy. O Sensei was against orthodoxy. There are principles and their are general rules. There are exceptions. For example, the internal approach being advocated by Dan and company requires a strict notion of posture. I'm not saying that they are stiff or rigid. But they oppose leaning. I've been corrected in recent years by teachers who I believe have been influenced by Dan. Here's the problem, I have multiple screen shots of O Sensei, Saotome Sensei, and other high level Aikido practitioners engaging in strategic leaning. Ikeda sensei teaches this as a way to avoid the face punch as part of his tenkan. Despite the claims of Dan and others I am simply not as clueless about what they are doing and what my teachers are teaching as they'd like the world to believe.
I'm somewhat confused with respect to orthodoxy. Why does Ueshiba start using the various terminology and references in his writings to indicate that he is "in the know?"

As for the content of Dan's seminars, I can't comment as I have not been there, but I can certainly comment on IS type training in terms of what I understand Aiki to be and what it isn't. Aiki does not require cooperation (once you understand it). Aiki doesn't require pain compliance to work. Aiki does not require superior timing or superior technique as waza to work. Aiki doesn't require certain stances for power. Aiki can overcome considerable differences in mass and physical strength.

Aiki lets you quite littleraly join your body to someone elses to make them move as though they were an extension of you. That is to say, if you wanted to move them in any direction they would be powerless to resist you no matter how hard they tried. This is no different than how one can pick up an inanimate object and move it as though it was an extension of themselves. (Well that isn't exaclty true as to make the object part of you, you have to move in a manner to counterbalance the weight) Further, much like you don't really feel the weight of your arm when you move it, it is the same when you move your opponenet using "aiki".

With respect to non-resistance, consider the following. In judo when I push, you pull. You use that feedback resistance and add to it. With someone who understands aiki that doesn't work in part because you may not get that feeling. Now if you pull on the person who understands aiki, you may move them, but you won't unbalance them (they might be able to stop you too if so desiered) no matter how fast you move or hard you push and therefore applicaton of the waza will not work. You can only do this if you don't resist at all (even pushing back with the toes) which is a very hard urge to change as so many people get caught up with the feeling of physical strength (and "winning") and therefore have a hard time adapting to the fact that lack of feedback is what you want. Now what you may find is that if you don't resist, aite will often cause themselves to be put off balance, and you can add to that if you want with sometimes spectacular results that feel like little effort on your part.

While the founder may cite Kami as a source of power, his references to IS principles allows those to commit to training those prinicples to be able to replicate some of his demonstrations on those from outside the art.