Yes, that is me with Tiger Woods! Ok, it is only wax but close enough!!It was a nice evening at the dojo with Keiko and then followed by meditation at the Toledo Zen Center in the zendo. The evening started with physicalizing (not sure that is a word) the art followed with introspection in the zendo at the Zen Center. I find it interesting that between the Zen Center and the Aikido classes it is a completely different community of people. I love floating between both groups and experiencing the energies that both groups bring to my life. Anywho, at Keiko practice Wednesday night we had an interesting exploration of ki extension and how it works inside Aikido techniques. Sensei talked about the need to balance one’s ki feeling with technique. We learn a variety techniques in Aikido which is an important aspect to our training however that needs to be tempered with the feeling of extending one’s ki and intension out to the universe.
The image that Sensei was trying to get us to focus on was to have a pole coming from our back. The result of this image is that it causes one to move from the waist. This is a new approach for many of us to move from the waist and not to focus on the hips. The pole image allows us to focus on extending one’s ki beyond our physical bodies. The way that I look at it is that my arm is maybe 2 feet long so when I punch there is a very finite distance that I can extend my arm. And if uke is just one inch beyond my reach then I cannot influence uke from a physical perspective. However if (and that is a big if) I can extend my ki, feeling, intension through my arm then I can have influence far beyond my physical arm and body. Another example is when I drive my car I am not focused on the road five feet in front of the car but I look far out into the horizon so I can be aware of what is coming. This to me is another form of extending my ki.
This is a very interesting especially in sensing when one may be attacked so that tori (person receiving the attack) can receive the attack in a relaxed fluid harmonized way. So extending your feeling or ki, to the front, back, sides, and even above you is the ultimate objective. It is said that it was impossible to sneak up on O’Sensei because he was always aware of his surroundings and stayed in a sense of Zanshin (staying attentive). The technique that we used for this was a variation of irimi nage (entering throw) and katate tori kokyu nage (one hand breath throw). It was a fun class but you really had to be there! My words don’t do it justice but the journey continues! Peace all. The Maestro
The image that Sensei was trying to get us to focus on was to have a pole coming from our back. The result of this image is that it causes one to move from the waist. This is a new approach for many of us to move from the waist and not to focus on the hips. The pole image allows us to focus on extending one’s ki beyond our physical bodies. The way that I look at it is that my arm is maybe 2 feet long so when I punch there is a very finite distance that I can extend my arm. And if uke is just one inch beyond my reach then I cannot influence uke from a physical perspective. However if (and that is a big if) I can extend my ki, feeling, intension through my arm then I can have influence far beyond my physical arm and body. Another example is when I drive my car I am not focused on the road five feet in front of the car but I look far out into the horizon so I can be aware of what is coming. This to me is another form of extending my ki.
This is a very interesting especially in sensing when one may be attacked so that tori (person receiving the attack) can receive the attack in a relaxed fluid harmonized way. So extending your feeling or ki, to the front, back, sides, and even above you is the ultimate objective. It is said that it was impossible to sneak up on O’Sensei because he was always aware of his surroundings and stayed in a sense of Zanshin (staying attentive). The technique that we used for this was a variation of irimi nage (entering throw) and katate tori kokyu nage (one hand breath throw). It was a fun class but you really had to be there! My words don’t do it justice but the journey continues! Peace all. The Maestro
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