A study of Yamada sensei part 1.

Yamada sensei using "Zhan Zhuang" arms.

 

When searching for Youtube video's concerning Aikido one will see a lot of high ranked Aikido practitioners from the Aikikai Aikido system. One sensei who I think has a lot in common with my previous study object, Fujita sensei, is Yoshimitsu Yamada sensei. Based in New York, his style of Aikido can be intensively studied on Youtube. Although I've never studied with this sensei a lot of information can be obtained through video study.

 

Fujita and Yamada sensei both have a style of Aikido which emphasizes the round structure of the arms and back. I refer to this style as the "Zhan Zhuang style" of Aikido. Of course this isn't an official kind of Aikido but rather a description of the focus on postural alignment of primarily the arms. They are frequently held in the posture resembling the Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung excercise.

 

They can both be seen to use the arms and round the back in the most structural sound position, the circle.

Their legs are in a triangular stance derived from the sword arts. The hip joints are square to focus their power. This combination allows them to use kokyu power with an emphasis on structure and movement.

 

Next clip will serve as an introduction to the Aikido of Yamada sensei. Notice the round arms and advanced use of kokyu nage.

 

Enjoy practice.

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Connection.

Connection.

During a seminar from Mori sensei from Aikikai Hombu Dojo he would stress this point continuously. A connection has to arise during the contact of tori and uke. This connection will allow both body structures to become one. Also referred to as " One body". Ikeda sensei explains this phenomenon by saying unity and unity become one unity. Also a book from his lessons has been created about this center to center contact. Once this connection is recognized by feeling sensitivity the appropriate techniques will become available.

My Aikido training at this moment is mainly about creating this connection, maintaining it and use it to execute the movements which are most natural and effortless. I guess a lot of Aikidoka will make a lot of progress once they will shift their attention to connection instead of forcing techniques. Connection is a feeling which every newcomer to an Aikido class will recognize instantly and can be "learned" within 5 minutes. In the Aikido community it is seen as an advanced skill, but I think the usage of connection under stress is advanced, the recognition and feeling of connection isn't. It's a human skill which is a natural feeling and therefore available to every living human being.

In my view the most appropriate training method would be Suwariwaza Kokyu Ho. Once accustomed to this feeling all Aikido techniques will be filled with energy, ki, aliveness or whatever word is used to describe this feeling.

Following a clip which contains the ingredients for connection work in kokyu dosa.

Yoshi Shibata sensei in action.

Enjoy practice.

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Focused power.

Shuchu ryoku.

This principle is known as the focusing of whole body power and movement into a single point. This can be a strike, a throw, a projection into a kuzushi point or an immobilization technique. I have come to know this principle by studying Yoshinkan Aikido. This would be one of their main characteristics.

Following a clip of Gozo shioda sensei. Try to identify the principle at work.

 

 

How to develop this kind of "power". Practice your posture and bacic techniques while giving attention to the focusing of body, breath power and mind into a single point. With time you will develop focused power.

"There are no advanced techniques, just the basics applied well"

 

Enjoy practice.

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Shadowboxing?

Mike Tyson shadowboxing.

Solo practice in Aikido usually consists of weapons training in kata forms. This is an excellent method to ingrain the body movements used in Aikido unarmed practices. I think there could be an additional component added to solo training, namely unarmed form training. Most martial arts have solo drills or form training. Karate has kata, taiji chuan has forms and most notable western boxing has shadowboxing. Kata and form practice in taiji are "fixed", whereas shadowboxing is free flowing.

 

In your own Aikido solo training I would suggest the following: Create your own free flowing and unique form but with the basic principles intact. This would mean no rigid form is to be remembered but instead a spontaneous moving of the body in an Aikido manner. Feeling the movements as they are being performed is the biggest part of this training.

 

A few principles I try to incorporate are the following:

 

- Keep eyesight horizontal at all times.

- Hanmi posture should be the result of every movement.

- Try slow even movements like taiji, alternate with faster movement.

- Connect hip to hands in every movement.

- Hands move first followed by the waist and completed by hips and feet.

- Hips square as part of hanmi.

- Both hands move in relation to 1 hip joint.

- Use natural movement like arm swing.

- Relax shoulders at all times.

- Identify open and close in every movement.

- Be creative and use a 360 degrees attitude, you can move everywhere.

- Use three pins on the foot.

- Use basic Aikido techniques to experiment.

- Add the principles you want to focus on in your solo training.

Aikido in a taiji format has been suggested by sensei Sugawara in the past and looked like this.

 

 

Every practitioner of Aikido can create spontaneous movement according to principles and will learn a lot concerning his own body structure in motion. Partner training can be used to experiment with forces acting upon this structure.

 

Enjoy practice.

 

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Just sit, a few tips on Zazen.

Zazen.

A typical Aikido lesson will start and end in a meditative posture called zazen. Sitting in a seiza position one holds this posture for the time which is determined by your sensei. What to do or think during this awkward ritual?

 

Zazen is a meditative practice done in Zen Buddhism. The physical posture can be that of seiza, lotus and a few other positions. In Aikido usually seiza is used to investigate this interesting moment. What I have experienced and used while sitting in zazen I will share with you. It's meant to be a mini guide and to be used in the following order.

1. Sit in seiza.

2. Calm the thinking mind.

3. Relax upper body into the lower.

4. Feel your center.

5. Release all tension into the ground.

6. Feel the whole body as a whole unit.

 

Once this is achieved do the following:

 

 

 

7. All thinking is dropped.

8. All emotions are dropped.

9. All the above are dissolved into your hara region like the flushing of a toilet.

10. Just sit. Experience nothingness.

 

 

 

 

The Soto school of Zen calls this practice shikantaza. Just sit.

A nice book about Zazen and a classic would be " The three pillars of Zen" by Philip Kapleau.

 

In essence one has to do nothing but sit. This will prove more difficult than it sounds and is therefore the heart of zazen practice. Aikido practice will be enhanced by "real" zazen instead of the formal and often obligatory seiza excercise done during start and ending of Aikido lessons.

 

Enjoy practice.

 

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Aiki do or don't

Aikido.
An art of harmonizing energies and powers into a peaceful resolution. A nice description of a way that cannot be understood unless practiced extensively. The problem I observe with practicing this method could be in it's didactic structure.
The sensei is "doing" a technique, the students give an imitation of this example. In my view Aikido should be about receiving forces and energies and guiding them in the appropriate manner. The so called spontaneous creation of technique or takemusu aiki. This would mean that you don't Do Aikido. Rather you don't Do. Don't force your technique upon a willing or unwilling partner, but rather play with the given forces and direct them in a natural and effortless manner. It should be more about receiving and releasing rather than forcing the techniques. One's body could be likened to a conductor of forces to the earth with no thought of it's own.

Ikkyo, first teaching, is receiving.

Of course one has to experience a certain amount of copying and a set guide of techniques. Basic practice is the most important practice in every martial art. But don't limit yourself to only following the road laid ahead of you. Experiment with your body and feel the connection made.

Aiki is the harmonizing of energies but don't Do. The Chinese martial arts and Taoism would call this Wu wei. Act according to natural principles and don't force your actions.


Enjoy Aiki don't do. :)

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The three nails.

 

I have a large collection of martial arts books which I often use as a reference for my Aikido journey. Sometimes one sentence catches ones attention. In a book from this collection a suggestion was made as to Aikido and Tai chi would be wonderful to complement each other. This caused me to try to study the theory of Tai chi and Taoism alongside my Aikido practice. This way one's perception of the martial arts changes and becomes more full.

 

A few of my books

William C.C. Chen

 

A concept which is easily transferred to Aikido, walking and many other movement based activities is " The three nails". A tai chi master called William C.C. Chen introduced me to this idea and I've been studying and using this concept a lot. Master Chen is a student of the famous Tai chi master Cheng Man Ching. Well known in American history of Tai chi.

 

Cheng Man Ching.

 

In short it can be said that when walking or producing force through contact with the ground the human body uses the foot to do so. The three nails are three points on the foot which interact with each other through a virtual line between them. When one uses this line consciously more natural force can be produced. In Aikido one can practice this line while doing projections with breath power, kokyu nage. Also this line can be well understood when doing torifune or rowing excercise.

 

 

Enjoy practice.

 

Original article can be found here:

http://www.williamccchen.com/DOC5.htm

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