What is Aiki to you?

I still think that Aiki is keystone of Aikido but it's explanations too blurry. Please share your thought about Aiki and difference between Aiki and Yawara. MA experience doesn't matter everyone's free to join discussion.

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: I still think that Aiki is keystone of Aikido but it's explanations too blurry. Please share your thought about Aiki and difference between Aiki and Yawara. MA experience doesn't matter everyone's free to join discussion.

I'm ignorant, but the phrase that keeps coming to mind is "whole body/self."

I don't know what Yawara is...can you explain it to me please?

...The little handle thing? What do you mean?

Aiki to me means synchronization.
Everything about its softness, timing, and going with your partner's energy is all synchronization to me.

As to the difference between Aiki and Yawara, did you mean Yawara as the other term for Jiujitsu or the religious symbol/tool? To me it makes no sense to compare Aiki to the symbol/tool. If you are referring to Yawara as Jiujitsu, they are just as soft as Aiki to me but Jiujitsu includes offense movements. I see no other difference besides the label, name, and words used to describe them.

Matthew Gano wrote: I don't know what Yawara is...can you explain it to me please

Yawara to me has same meaning that Ju or Jiu. Same kanji 柔 as in judo.

Justin Tom wrote: If you are referring to Yawara as Jiujitsu, they are just as soft as Aiki to me but Jiujitsu includes offense movements.

Ueshiba did attacking moves after war as before war. He grab guys and throw them away. I could provide video reference if you need that.

You pull I push. You push I pull. That's all Aiki is to me.

Some would define aiki as the management of opposing forces in a connected body.

Alex

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: Ueshiba did attacking moves after war as before war. He grab guys and throw them away. I could provide video reference if you need that.

I believe you; I think I've seen similar footage of Ueshiba grabbing and throwing before.

What I meant by offense movements were strikes that make contact like punching and kicking, which aiki doesn't really teach but assumes the practitioner already knows? Jiujitsu has a lot more contact and is in my opinion "rougher" than aiki.

I like the you push I pull idea

Just check out my book link - the whole thing is towards understanding aiki.

I don´t speak from authority, but I guess i´ts about opposing forces in me and you (thee.. )- the simultaneous being of “two”.

Cheers

Eric Jones wrote: You pull I push. You push I pull. That's all Aiki is to me.

That's very interesting and exactly as it said in Judo about Ju (柔) idea. Do you think Aiki and Ju is the same?

Alex Megann wrote: Some would define aiki as the management of opposing forces in a connected body.

That's quite interesting too. Is Aiki inside of someone's body?

Rupert Atkinson wrote: Just check out my book link - the whole thing is towards understanding aiki.

Many thanks. I found person that tell no stories about mystical energy.

Lars Beyer wrote: I don´t speak from authority, but I guess i´ts about opposing forces in me and you (thee.. )- the simultaneous being of "two".

Sounds familiar. Where is the center of those opposing forces?

Rupert Atkinson wrote: Just check out my book link - the whole thing is towards understanding aiki.

Thanks for the link to your book. I started to read it and already the text under "Contents" where you describe the principles you got me hooked to it :-)

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: Yawara to me has same meaning that Ju or Jiu. Same kanji 柔 as in judo.

I think aiki is learned however one learns it, but I'm told ju and aiki aren't the same.

I couldn't say for sure, but my guess is aiki is more nuanced.

I think labels often fall short though.

...at the end of the day: does it work? What work does it do?

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: That's very interesting and exactly as it said in Judo about Ju (柔) idea. Do you think Aiki and Ju is the same? That's quite interesting too. Is Aiki inside of someone's body? Many thanks. I found person that tell no stories about mystical energy. Sounds familiar. Where is the center of those opposing forces?

The center is in me- if you aske me offcourse :-)

To me Aiki is a lifestyle: It doesn't matter where you are inside the dojo or community.
when fellowship with people ,or stuck in an awkward situation . How you react when someone confront you ?

Aiki is how your body maintains it's balance. You use aiki by fnding a way to force your opponent off balance or catching your opponent off balance to apply technique.

dps

David Skaggs wrote: Aiki is how your body maintains it's balance. You use aiki by fnding a way to force your opponent off balance or catching your opponent off balance to apply technique. dps

To me aiki is not common to all MA but balance maintenance is the keystone most of it.

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: To me aiki is not common to all MA but balance maintenance is the keystone most of it.

I think it depends on how specific we get. I think aiki is accessible by us all and that one can find it in any practice if one pays enough attention. As with all things, it is easier to learn something if an expert provides guidelines.

I would say the whole push/pull is really missing the core. As was mentioned, judo has exactly the same philosophy, as do other grappling arts.

Having visited many places to learn aikido, I’ve seen many ways of training and understanding the art, as well as its parent art. Some approaches are more evasive, while other are more direct. However the one tactical commonality which is almost universal is the sense of creating one body from two, which is then moved. This is a very different feeling from an art that uses efficient leverage to heave over a sack of potatoes, or which uses powerful strikes to create damage. It can also be achieved in different ways, but if even momentarily you are creating that singular body, then to me that creates a feeling, and it is a feeling, of that enigmatic aiki.

Matthew Gano wrote: I think aiki is accessible by us all and that one can find it in any practice if one pays enough attention.

I'm not sure if it's possible to learn aiki from MA experts never heard about it and practiced it in some MA curriculum. You don't ask for aiki to capoeira experts don't you?

Some people have commented on my "you pull I push comment." I'll give you an example. If you pull me I'm going to kokyunage you into the ground.

Eric Jones wrote: If you pull me I'm going to kokyunage you into the ground.

You can do osotogari with same idea and call it Judo. In your understanding Judo and Aikido are the same by ideas?

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: I'm not sure if it's possible to learn aiki from MA experts never heard about it and practiced it in some MA curriculum. You don't ask for aiki to capoeira experts don't you?

In Aikido the Japanese word "aiki" is used to describe how your body maintains it's balance. In other physical endeavors they use different words to describe the same phenomenodps

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: I'm not sure if it's possible to learn aiki from MA experts never heard about it and practiced it in some MA curriculum. You don't ask for aiki to capoeira experts don't you?

In Aikido the "Japanese" word "aiki" is used to describe how your body maintains it's balance.
In other physical endeavors they use different words to describe the same phenomenon.


"Other activities, from tightrope-walking to judo to Okinawan karate to tango to running with the ball in American football, all have distinctive strategies for maintaining balance which respond to the specific demands of the activity, but are also shaped by indigenous analysis by expert practice (Downey 2008) and cultural constraints, such as notions of ‘right form.’"

Balance between cultures: equilibrium training

https://neuroanthropology.net/2008/1...brium-training

The Japanese word "aiki" is used to describe the "distinctive strategies for maintaining balance which respond to the specific demands of " Aikido.

dps

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: You can do osotogari with same idea and call it Judo. In your understanding Judo and Aikido are the same by ideas?

I don't understand the question. Are you saying we shouldn't take advantage of our opponents momentum in Aikido?