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Old 05-24-2011, 02:17 PM   #46
Basia Halliop
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 711
Canada
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Re: Frustration with super-soft aikido class

Well, I don't know how well I understand it or if we're all talking about the same thing, but in any case it's interesting to try to explain and see if what I say makes any sense.... From what _I_ understand in my own mind, a fairly basic and 'visible' example of what I think I'd probably refer to as connection would be through a series of locked joints. E.g. if I am holding a good sankyo, ukes wrist and elbow are locked and I am pushing through their shoulder at such an angle that I have a lever arm connecting their hand to their torso. And if I keep my arms extended in front of me and don't collapse my wrists, there's also a connection from my hips to my hand. So by twisting my hips I can directly move ukes torso, because I've made and maintained a good connection.

Except that in some techniques the leverage and transmission of forces is not as obvious as in a sankyo. But when done right, there is still a connection between your body (usually your hips) and their torso or hips, and I mean connection in a very straightforward physical way using forces and levers, not as a metaphor or anything psychological.

Of course the same words are often used for somewhat different things, so maybe what I'm thinking of isn't what most people mean when they say connection... I don't know...

What the best way to learn how to do that is is another question, though... through separate exercises, through actual techniques, etc...
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