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Old 08-18-2010, 08:42 AM   #181
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
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Re: What paths lead to internal power??

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Dan Harden wrote: View Post
Leaving you aside for a moment I would address this whole "essence of everything" theory that keeps coming up. It isn't said, it is just implied. Internal movement is not all the same, internal skills in use even more so (although there are certain key components in IP that are universal).
Well, you've covered your bases both ways, so which is it.... is there an "essence of everything" or is there not? If there are certain key components that are universal, that seems to say "essence of everything" to me. In terms of there being a number of variations, I've said that many times for many years. If you don't think there is an "essence of everything" then you miss the point of everyone using the Yin-Yang cosmology and where it probably started. Show me an Asian martial-art that doesn't justify itself through Yin-Yang, Heaven-Earth-Man, and so on... the ones that use that cosmology and all its secret meanings are the ones that use the same core principles that we're talking about. Including the hara as a basis for movement. Are there coarser, less-informed styles that don't use the hara very much/well (and other things, too)? Of course. The essence is the same though... at least enough that the general statement is pretty obvious and is recognized by every real Chinese expert I've spoken to about it.
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This video and others with Ueshiba sword cutting have been talked to death here. They are yet another example of people in certain circles talking past their own skill level and thinking they get it.
Poor Ueshiba. If only he'd lived near Massachusetts.
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Lumping the body mechanics of Ueshiba and Tohei together (Tohei and Ueshiba did NOT move the same way)
Odd.... I've said exactly that same thing a number of times right on this very forum. It's archived. However, there are aspects of Ueshiba's and Tohei's movements that are same/similar because of the particular approach they both took and Tohei admits that he learned that part of it from Ueshiba (or at least got the inspiration, although he may have gotten the how-to from Tempu Nakamura). In other words, there is a general approach to internal strength that is fairly clear in both Ueshiba and Tohei. Easy to see. It's also easy to see when someone may have some other methodology of I.S. and is applying it to their version of Aikido (or Aikido-related techniques).

The point I was making was about the hara/dantien and that the usage of the body through that manner is what I see spoken about and demonstrated by people like Ueshiba and Tohei (and some others)... so if someone wants a "path to internal power", that's certainly an important consideration. And it's also a bit harder to do than people think.

Are there shortcuts of various "purity" out there? Sure. And I encourage people to have some skills rather than no skills, so half a loaf is better than none. At the moment a lot of people have seen and understood the logic and applicability of various jin/kokyu-related skills, but IMO that's just the start of future possibilities. It's nice to watch. The people who are still sitting in the bleachers thinking "this too will pass", that's interesting to watch also. I enjoy the human drama.

FWIW

Mike Sigman