One Hundred and Seventy-nine

So the other night I had two of our students help me with the unliftable body exercise. I have been using this exercise to increase my ability to project weight underside for years. I always practiced it with my wrists a little in front of my hips and slightly curled. I decided this time to change the exercise slightly in order to make it harder for me to remain grounded as my partners lifted. What I did was have my arms hang straight down along my sides, in line with my hips, wrists held at their natural angle. I then invited my partners to grab my arms with both hands (katate ryote tori) and lower themselves until they were below my center of gravity so they could really use their legs to lift me. As they tried to lift me I could feel them actually rebound away from the force they were exerting. This was a new feeling for me. When practicing this exercise the old way I always felt them sort of just go away.

My next task will be to dynamically change the configuration of my arms so I can experiment with the applied forces in order to better understand how my physical posture relates to correct feeling. I am also going to incorporate continuously alternating from unliftable to liftable and back again in varying degrees, something I can do now, to see how the position of my arms affects that ability.

One Hundred and Seventy-eight

In a universe without a preferred frame of reference
I am always at its center.

There is
as much of the universe to my right as to my left;
as much above me as below me;
as much before me as behind me;
and, if Roger Penrose is correct,
as much in my past as in my future.

At the center of it all
is my one point.

From my one point,
which is always at now
and therefore without extension in space and time,
springs all of creation.

One Hundred and Seventy-seven

Why do I bother with Ki development? The movements of the various solo exercises are, after all, kind of trivial. Done correctly they don't tax my body physically or provide an especially aerobic workout. The paired exercises, commonly seen as mere tests or tricks, don't seem to accomplish much when viewed from the outside. Where's the benefit? Will I not develop Ki simply by practicing waza over and over? Perhaps Ki exercises are just a way of warming up before engaging in "real practice"; you know, throwing and taking ukemi.

Ki exercises are not simple warm-ups. Ki exercises, solo and paired, are a means of unifying body/mind/spirit so that I may physically experience Ki. What does it mean to physically experience Ki? Well... a heightened sense of awareness, a feeling of well being, a barely but absolutely discernible thrumming in my body, a deep and abiding connection with my surroundings, have uke grab me and be immediately unbalanced, stand on one foot and have uke push my outstretched wrist to no avail, have four ukes grab me in any way they choose and then slowly remove them one by one despite their resistance, to know that my uke feels as though a very soft mountain has fallen on him when I execute a timing throw, help me to develop a synergetic strength that I would otherwise lack.

Ki exercises train me to integrate the trinity that is my being. I bother with Ki development because, for me at least, Ki development is the very heart of Aikido.

One Hundred and Seventy-six

No Ki, no Aikido. I first heard this phrase when I began my study of Aikido. Being eager to learn and having no idea as to the nature of Ki I accepted the statement at face value. As the years have marched inexorably onward I have come across many ideas, definitions and opinions as to what Ki is/is not. Some practitioners go so far as to deny the existence of Ki altogether, preferring instead to focus on the purely physical manifestation of Aikido as the core of their practice. As my Aikido study has matured I have come to view Ki as an emergent quality resulting from the unification of mind/body/spirit; independent of the metaphors one chooses to explain the achievable results of the so called Ki tests (unbendable arm, weight underside, push tests of many varieties etc.)

The theme of this post is how I use Ki exercises as training tools to help my students grow stronger and more centered; how repeated iterations of the exercises under continually increasing stress enable the student to experience the "correct feeling" that comes from having a unified mind/body/spirit. I dislike the reference of Ki development exercises as Ki testing. Viewed solely as tests minimizes or does away with altogether the benefits of the exercises themselves as a unifying practice. The implication is that the exercises are merely measuring tools that can be used to gauge the student's progress resulting from the practice of waza.

The exercises are designed to build the "unification musculature" of the student in much the same way that pumping iron builds the muscles of the bodybuilder. Increased pressure on the student is like adding weight to the bar. The increased force that the student is exposed to during the exercises pushes the student always right up to the point of failure. The student experiences correct feeling in a variety of situations under varying levels of force application. Then when I speak of "extending Ki" the student has a frame reference (correct feeling, unified mind/body/spirit) which relates concretely to the metaphor.

In addition to paired Ki exercises I also practice solo Ki exercises that many people view as simple warm-ups. The solo exercises enable me to find my center and keep it in my awareness as I move. I encourage students to perform the solo Ki exercises daily, maintaining correct feeling as they move. These exercises remove applied force from the equation replacing it with the disorientating distraction of motion.

Taken together, paired and solo Ki exercises provide me with fundamental building blocks from which I can construct techniques that are performed with correct feeling. Having a correct feeling allows me to connect with my partner without the need to control or force the outcome. I am able to "sport freely" (O Sensei) and let the outcome of our encounter arise naturally.