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Old 04-26-2005, 03:54 PM   #1
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Article: Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II) by George S. Ledyard

Discuss the article, "Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II)" by George S. Ledyard here.

Article URL: http://www.aikiweb.com/columns/gledyard/2005_04.html
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Old 04-26-2005, 10:50 PM   #2
maikerus
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Re: Article: Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II) by George S. Ledyard

George,

Very interesting article. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to part II.

FWIW, the Yoshinkan hombu does stress the before/after the technique part of training as you describe it using "a fairly complex ritual action precedes the beginning of kata during which the two participants establish the requisite mental link" as you indicated was probably the case with the older styles.

Of course, that doesn't mean we get it. Just that we try to do it. Thanks for putting it more in perspective.

cheers,

--Michael

Hiriki no yosei 3 - The kihon that makes your head ache instead of your legs
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Old 05-04-2005, 04:45 AM   #3
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: Article: Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II) by George S. Ledyard

Quote:
Michael Stuempel wrote:
George,

Very interesting article. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to part II.

FWIW, the Yoshinkan hombu does stress the before/after the technique part of training as you describe it using "a fairly complex ritual action precedes the beginning of kata during which the two participants establish the requisite mental link" as you indicated was probably the case with the older styles.

Of course, that doesn't mean we get it. Just that we try to do it. Thanks for putting it more in perspective.

cheers,

--Michael
Hi Michael,
That was always one of the elements which I liked about Yoshinkan was the way they started and ended. It showed that they placed importance on that whole area of projecting the attention. I somewhat question why it needs to be so artificially rigid but it definitely trains projected focus better than what many Aikido folks are doing.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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Old 05-04-2005, 02:03 PM   #4
mikeym
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Re: Article: Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II) by George S. Ledyard

Diane Skoss wrote an article on ma-ai that is related to what Ledyard Sensei wrote:

http://www.koryubooks.com/library/dskoss2.html
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Old 05-04-2005, 02:05 PM   #5
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Re: Article: Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II) by George S. Ledyard

Quote:
Mike Malkin wrote:
Diane Skoss wrote an article on ma-ai that is related to what Ledyard Sensei wrote:

http://www.koryubooks.com/library/dskoss2.html
Interestingly enough, the article is reproduced here on AikiWeb (with Diane's permission, of course):

http://www.aikiweb.com/techniques/skoss1.html

-- Jun

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Old 05-04-2005, 02:15 PM   #6
Ron Tisdale
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Re: Article: Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II) by George S. Ledyard

Excellent article. I need to read it several more times.

Thanks for that,
Ron

Ron Tisdale
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"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind."
St. Bonaventure (ca. 1221-1274)
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Old 05-10-2005, 09:02 PM   #7
Scott Morris
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Re: Article: Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II) by George S. Ledyard

George Sensei,

Once again, great article.

I believe you have addressed a subject that is perhaps one of the hardest things to grasp for beginners (myself included) in Aikido training. Being in the right place at the right time.
I have noticed Ikeda Sensei on different occasions uses a type of delayed first step when attacked. Could this be interpretated as a check, if you will, of his ma-ai as uke attacks? Or, is it something used to interrupt the rhythm, to get uke to over commit to the attack, thus placing him off balance?

Scott
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Old 05-11-2005, 03:41 AM   #8
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: Article: Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II) by George S. Ledyard

Quote:
Scott Morris wrote:
George Sensei,

Once again, great article.

I believe you have addressed a subject that is perhaps one of the hardest things to grasp for beginners (myself included) in Aikido training. Being in the right place at the right time.
I have noticed Ikeda Sensei on different occasions uses a type of delayed first step when attacked. Could this be interpretated as a check, if you will, of his ma-ai as uke attacks? Or, is it something used to interrupt the rhythm, to get uke to over commit to the attack, thus placing him off balance?

Scott
I am not sure if we are talking about the same thing but Ikeda Sensei's specialty is meeting his partner's attack and at the instant of contact running a spiral which allows his body weight to drop on to the uke.

If he is doing his more martial technique he'll enter straight into uke's ceneter at the instant which uke begins to attack.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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Old 06-16-2005, 07:18 AM   #9
ian
 
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Re: Article: Initiative, Timing, and Spacing (Part I of II) by George S. Ledyard

What an excellent article. Over time I've come to think that the most important thing in aikido is to do the right thing, at the right time (/distance); but to say that to someone just sounds stupidly self-evident! These are the type of writings that people should be putting in books on aikido, rather than more and more books of techniques.

---understanding aikido is understanding the training method---
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