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Old 11-12-2012, 02:23 AM   #1
ChrisHein
 
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Dojo: Aikido of Fresno
Location: Fresno , CA
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Mike sigman's internal strength parameters- Have you guys read this; really!

http://www.aikiweb.com/blogs/mike-si...rameters-4216/

Really, have all the "IP" people on Aikiweb read this?
Is this really what all the commotion is about? All the name calling, and silly feuds are about?

This is a very normal thing Mike is talking about, why does anyone think they need to go to one of only a few "vetted" people to get this stuff? What Mike wrote here is great, a very good explanation of a lot of what is going on in internal. Very similar to how my Chinese internal teacher would have outlined them (My teacher who was insulted many times). This is mostly how I would describe these things, why are all these crazy ideas flying around? This stuff is normal!

Quote:
Secondly, notice how I move around trying to illustrate the body's intrinsic ability to maintain that balance-path/ground-path if I'll just let it. The body is a frame, but it's a flexible frame as long as you're using jin rather than rigid "structure" to handle the incoming force.
Here Mike is talking about structure. And how he uses "balance-path/ground-path" (alignment). He is not saying that you don't need the ground, or that your structure is not important. This is normal, any good football coach will teach you these things- he won't use these words, but he will say the same things.

Quote:
In the post about [1.] Jin as Balance, Body as Flexible Frame I was basically talking about what the makeup of jin is: it's a force skill based on an intrinsic ability of the body to juggle forces even while the body is moving and it's a force skill that draws its power from the ground (or sometimes the weight, in the case of down-power). The question of jin and force vectors gets confused when we begin to look at 2 humans interacting with their forces.
Here again, Mike is talking about flexible frame, or what I would call structure. And how you are using the ground, or weight to make force... He is also talking about the ability to dynamically align the structure of the body using the bodies natural ability to juggle forces.

How is this different than anything your wrestling coach would have told you? Why does anyone think that are there only like 8 guys who know how to do this. I mean really this is totally normal athletics here! Why would anyone need to be "vetted" to be sure they know this stuff? This is normal!

Quote:
In order to most efficiently use the body connection(s) for strength, the body logically should function as a complete unit when doing tasks. The logical control unit for whole-body usage is the middle of the body and that's why there's so much emphasis on the dantien/tanden/hara as the focal point (and why shoulder usage would hinder whole-body control).
Every martial art I have studied has told about this, from Kendo to BJJ, this is not anything special. It's normal!

Quote:
The general idea is to connect the body so that a movement of the dantien is connected to the hands (or feet, legs, elbows, head, etc.) via the Jin/intention and the suit/qi. The dantien draws its power from the solidity of the ground or the central weight of the body ("ground or gravity"; the Qi of the Earth). A person who has practiced and developed this skill (over a long time) can spot very quickly whether or how much some other practitioner has developed the same skill; the skill (and percentage of skill level) can be felt in another person, as well.
good athletics.

Really this just goes on and on. All of what Mike is writing about is very normal! It's also very good! That's why athletes use these same principles. Good sports people know these things.

After reading this, it seems silly. Everyone is so worked up, worried about selling themselves at their next seminar, that they have ramped up these simple, great ideas. They have made them out to be some kind of thing that only special people know; that's just not true.

Look if Mike Sigman is going to talk to you plain and simple like this, I would go do his seminars. This is a great outline of how the body should be used during athletic pursuits (yes, Aikido is an athletic pursuit, you are an athlete, congratulations). I would go to anyone who simply outlines these things. I would not go to anyone trying to trick you, telling you that they are the only person who knows these things, or you've got to go see this fellow because they know he has the "goods" it's just not true. If someone says something like "with this special power, no one can defeat me" or strength doesn't matter, leave go to a simple person outlining normal athletic activity, like Mike outlined here.

Please stop this silly action, let's just accept that we are all, at least a little, interested in learning to use our bodies correctly, and that is called athletics, and lot's of people know about that. Let's stop fighting, and pretending we are super special. Let's just enjoy the training!

Or as Mike says in his own words!- Did you guys read this!?
Quote:
One of the confusing things I used to run into was the number of statements about things that were done in a Chinese martial-art; the impression was "these are the things done uniquely in this art". It took a while to realize that almost all of the "things that we do in this art" are also pretty commonly the things that are done in all the other arts, although with occasional variations and permutations. Looking into some of the written lore that is sparingly available in Japanese martial-arts, it's pretty clear that the same basic principles are also found in those arts, again with variations, permutations, and different levels of completeness.
This is crazy, and cost me my whole week to figure out. Bah!

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