I connect with uke in all three realms; manifest, hidden and divine.
Our manifest connection is characterized by our physical contact and our motion. Our motion, if in concert, dictates physical contact that is suggestive and encouraging rather than demanding and forcing. When we move in concert we move as one, our kinetic energies becoming additive.
Our hidden connection is somewhat harder to characterize; it is, after all, hidden. The hidden realm is the province of the mind, the seat of emotive behavior. My goal in connecting on this level is to become something of a void into which uke's emotional energy may fall and be dissipated. I can be engulfed by uke's emotions but I do not provide them a place to land. I let them swirl down into the void I have created and let them blow themselves out harmlessly.
Our divine connection... well, truthfully, I am still working on formulating a metaphor for this. I have only recently been able to verbalize the role of spirit as the facilitator of the mind/body unification process and as of yet I have not been able to see how this translates to a connection with uke in the divine realm. Perhaps our divine connection enables the unification of nage and uke into nage/uke in much the same way that my spirit enables and augments my mind/body emergence. I will continue exploring this aspect of my training and revisit it in a future post.
No comments:
Post a Comment