Thread: Some Ki Tests
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Old 01-09-2011, 10:32 AM   #11
graham christian
Dojo: golden center aikido-highgate
Location: london
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,697
England
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Re: Some Ki Tests

Quote:
Mary Eastland wrote: View Post
Hi Graham:
Thank you for posting your videos. Whatever you are doing seems to be working as you seem to take no offence at what other people have to say about your videos.
My ideas about Ki development include being able to "let others be" and focus on my own training. Ki development in Aikido includes being responsible for my own reaction; to not try to control others and to relax some more when I find a reason to be upset.

Your movements in all your videos seem to be super relaxed. Is that your focus?
Can you talk a little about what you are demonstrating in your videos?
Thanks,
Mary
Hi Mary. Thanks for the comments. In my reply to Marc I give a bit of more detailed explanation on this video.

On the Ikkyo one I am getting the student to continue doing Ikkyo no matter that his arm is being held. Thus it is to teach focus, not being distracted, accepting the counter intention or force letting it be and carrying on.

I teach Ikkyo as extending ki from center whilst relaxing from koshi and keeping a stable mind at the same time. Therefore if I was to face the person doing the Ikkyo and push against their hands as they extend outwards and this pushes them over or pushes them backwards then they were not using Koshi. Then there is another test from the front where I suddenly push foreward with my hands towards theirs as they are doing the ikkyo so that they think they are being pushed but my hands open and don't connect with theirs. Now if they step foreward it shows I have led their mind and thus they weren't keeping a calm or 'immovable' mind.

The immovable mind test, the picking a person up test I have heard so much nonsense about by people who can't do it that I choose to say nothing. I would guess you could probably do it but if you want me to explain how I do it let me know.

I have said on the spiritual forum how I use the principles of acceptance and being with and noted that you mentioned there welcoming which is another principle I use as well. So it's interesting to me the comment you made earlier about letting be for that is yet another we practice.

As far as relaxing goes it all started when I used to train according to the five principles of shin shin toitsu of which one was relax completely. This used to get to me as I would question not only how I could relax when facing a bokken for example but also the idea of what it meant. As I got more competent of course I became more relaxed and able yet still that rule or principle bugged me for it had this word 'completely' attached to it.

My favorite training partner was also my oldest friend and on top of that brother in law. He was a boxer, a body builder and we both started Aikido together and even now he teaches as well. Anyway we would put this principle to the test from bearhugs to right hooks and uppercuts, from randori to sitting seiza until we got our breakthrough. Once we learned what it meant we found we were very relaxed yet invigorated with ki or energy. Whilst others were struggling doing 50 backward ukemis followed by foreward ones and taisabakis etc we were doing them not only with ease and comfort but without getting tired out and thus noticed how a lot of the problem with what the others were doing was the fact that they were fighting themselves, even in the warm up.

So Mary I found the principle which led to this experience was related to weight underside, to Koshi and to immovable mind and that is the principle of LETTING GO. In fact when a person is tense they are holding on to something, to relax they had better let it go.

Anyway, hope you are well and you have a good new year. G.

P.S. I agree I could have more explanations with my videos even though they are not what you would call demonstration videos. In fact the best demonstration teaching videos I have seen are by a woman on your side of the pond called Ginny Breeland.
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