these guys are kidding right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i1tPLoHg5s

What do YOU think?

a) they are not kidding... money is changing hands which makes it serious business.

b) I would be very careful who I worked on with stuff like this... Notice that I do not discount it, it's just that the number of people who can do anything like it is minute, it's highly unlikely to be a young instructor, and the potential for abuse on the part of the teacher is too great.

c) if you are interested in something like this, look at the Systema folks. They have a very systematic way of training it. If you train consistently with their top instructors, you can get some interesting stuff in just a few years. I was at a workshop with one of Vlad's senior instructors a few weeks ago. We were doing a knife drill designed to develop sensitivity. One stood in front of ones partner and he took a practice knife (metal, not plastic) and slowly poked you. The object was to start developing body sensitivity. There was breathing involved. Most of us were not very experienced and we tended to move the effected body part just about the time or slightly after we felt the actual physical contact.

But one of my former Aikido students has become a Systema instructor and has been training very hard for a couple of years. When I worked with him, he started moving the target body part at about the time that I started moving. He could sense my intention and actually could tell pretty much where I was targeting, well before it became apparent visually.

I aslo did an exercise with him the other day which was basxed oin the same general principles. I held a stick in my hand horizontally. he held his hand above mine. I would let go of the stick and he consistently caught it. Not only that he pretty much closed his hand on the stick just as my hand opened, preventing it from falling at all. He was also able to duplicate this, albeit with w decreased success rate, with his eyes closed.

This kind of sensitivity can be taught and practiced. But I would only work on this kind of thing with someone I really trusted. When you start getting into the "magic" so to speak, you have to really trust the teacher. To much potential for abuse. This is especially true if he really can do some of this. The temptation to use it for self aggrandizement rather than for the benefit of the students is just too great for most folks.

On the other hand, I would not write this type of thing off. It's just that very few folks can do it and it is the result of training on the part of BOTH parties. I do not think that there are teachers I have seen who can dump a non-trained person who just dropped in off the street using this type of energtic communication. Most folks are just about comatose they are so not sensitive. But this kind of thing is possible with folks who have trained quite a bit. The intuitive portion of what trained folks do is based on developing a great sensivity in their perception. That's why it is so hard to beat them. That sensivity can be the way in which someone very high level can move your mind in order to move your body.

Being at the very beginning level of Systema practice, I get to experience the exercises thay use to start one on the way to developing real sensitivity. I get to train with folks who are way down the line in the process. If you work with one of Vlad's seniors you can experience a partner who seems to know what you will do just as you decide on it. They are pretty amazing folks. At that level. someone more accomplished, like Vlad or Michael, can used that sensivity as the door to communicate and produce movement. O-Sensei did the same thing with the deshi but didn't have a systematic progressive method for teaching it.

I have no idea who the guys in the video are... It's a lot more likely that they are bogus than for real... but I keep an open mind because there are folks who can do this typoe of thing and I have trained with them. On the other hand, it's usually more subtle than energy balls at ten feet. Caveat Emptor!

Ha, i love it.

i got a bridge i'd like to sell ya

Wonder how long they practiced to get their choreography right??

(And I am afraid for this country when people watch that & applaud - those people watching are really gullible).

Did it strike anyone else that the demo was done for entertainment purposes?

I like the, er, TAMAGERI effect.

Very Funny !!! LOL

John Hogan wrote: Wonder how long they practiced to get their choreography right?? (And I am afraid for this country when people watch that & applaud - those people watching are really gullible).

Actually I thought the choreography was poor. The movements of the guy with magic powers does not relate to how his blind uki moves 7 out of 10 times. Its one of the more poor examples on youtube.

The laughing is a clear indicator, along with the big goofy grins, and over acting, that it was done for entertainment purposes. It's a shame that we see so much pretending in Aikido that we can't quickly discern a joke when we see one.

Chris Hein wrote: The laughing is a clear indicator, along with the big goofy grins, and over acting....

Sounds like most aikido classes....

I found it really funny. I started laughning from beginning to the end.