VKS KI TRAINING NOTES, NOVEMBER 98 The November class will be held on Saturday, the 21st at 1:30. I will be conducting the class and looking at the current method of performing techniques on the examination. There will be a problem solving session with all of us performing the techniques from the examination sheet, critiquing what is done and ending with the teaching purpose of each technique covered. SEMINAR SERIES I am initiating a series of seminars focused on the many faces of the Aikido related martial arts. On October 11 Sensei Shiro Shintaku conducted a class on Iaido. I plan to ask him to teach the Aikido he learned from Master Michio Hikitsuchi, 10 Dan, Aikido sometime later during the year. Subsequent seminars will feature instructors from Aikikai, Iwma, Yoshinkan, Yoseikan and Tomiki and possibly j jitsu and tai chi. Comments please. MAJOR ARTICLE TRAINING FOR INCIDENTAL ACTION Much of what makes Aikido an effective is hidden from the view of those who just see what is happening at the point of conflict. A bold statement, I agree but let us look at it and see what we can learn. When mind and body are unified (I discussed this in the last issue) an action in one part of the body will transmit itself to another part of the body. This is to your advantage. How does this happen? Try the following: Stand with fee apart about shoulder width. Have a partner push gently on either of your shoulders from the side until you are over balanced and tilt. Have your tester remember the force he used to break your stance. Now put your mind at your one point (center) and relax your body. Test again. You should be much more stable. Now, raise your right hand and arm upward to about breast height. Move the arm across your body until it stops naturally without stretching your shoulder. It will probably move about to your opposite under arm area (shorter arms, like mine will stop closer to the breast nipple while longer arms will reach across further). Test to be sure you are still stable. Now have a person other than the tester (call him the uke) reach to touch your shoulder area, just beyond your finger tips. If you stretch to brush his hand downward (as in katatori) you will find that the tester will be unable to unbalance you easily. You have lost mind and body coordination - this is not good. If, however you move the hand and allow the motion to turn your body about your center. You will easily brush the hand downward and still have mind and body coordinated when tested by your tester. In addition you will have moved your shoulder away from the grasp of your uke. If we apply the above to katatori ikkyo you will find that the best way to perform the technique is to relax in the face of the uke's attack, reach across the body, allowing the body to pivot around the center, brushing the uke's hand downward and, at the same time, use the body's motion to initiate the step backward by the forward foot to totally escape from uke's attacking energy. The brushing hand then takes possession of the fingers of uke and draw uke slightly toward nage, contributing to uke's over balanced condition. Now swing the uke's arm upward in an arc just to the outside of uke's face, continuing downward until uke either falls forward onto the surface you are on or until his balance is broken, permitting you to complete the takedown. This approach requires calmness in execution and a keen awareness of the incidental, backward motion of the shoulder which was attacked. This approach is a far cry from what I first learned which was to step back as uke attacks. Another example of incidental motion which is missed by the casual observer is the effect that the turning of nage's head has during tenkan. We concentrate on turning the body 180 degrees to join with uke but if we leave the head behind, looking at uke rather in the direction of the movement we seriously weaken our movement. In addition the act of turning the head to turn the unified body makes for a much more smooth motion, leaving uke focused on the control he is expecting to achieve by his grasping of the arm. Practice using the motion of the head to move the whole body during tenkan - it will make a difference you can see and, incidentally, you will have mind and body coordinated, passing tests to the chest or back or side with ease. CHIEF INSTRUCTOR'S CORNER Sales at the Merrifield Dojo are being implemented as supplies arrive. We are currently laying a supply of practice uniforms and books about Ki Aikido. We will also order things from Ki Society Headquarters to make it easy for students to get them in a timely fashion. We are open to your suggestions as to other merchandise you would like to see us stock or at least offer for sale. There is some confusion about the purpose of the open training sessions on Saturday. While the purpose of the new schedule is to provide time for students to practice what they have been studying, it is NOT just for advanced students. A senior student will be available to answer questions by all levels of student and provide individualized instruction for those junior level or new students who attend. This is a good time to get your questions answered about specific techniques or Ki Development. Attendance at the afternoon session is very sparse. I will watch it during the month of November and make a decision on whether to continue that class. On the 7th we will have the Dojo open for practice until 2:15 and then prepare for David Huang's Sho Dan examination. I invite all of you to attend, support Dave and enjoy a fine afternoon at the Dojo. FROM THE INTERNET VICTIMIZATION AND REVENGE I think that what is important is how one deals with being hit. You can display courage, control, and superior strength without attacking back. If you are hit, but not injured, I think the strongest possible response is to show that what has happened is so far below you that you don't see any need to respond to it with like force. An example. I live across the street from a large department store (and I mean it's 30 feet from my front door. Things are crowded in Japan). One night as I came home, a man was yelling and screaming at his girlfriend/wife. She was cowering on the ground, with her hands over her head. It was pretty clear that this was an abusive relationship. It is difficult to intervene in such a situation in your own country, but in Japan it is much moreso, and the Japanese themselves would never dream of intervening in such a case (no Good Samaritan tradition here). I just watched, hoping things would settle down. It didn't, and when he started kicking the bicycles parked around him, I decided that he had gone maybe a little too far, he was no longer just making noise, he was actually being destructive. I went over and told he had to cut it out. He told me to go away, this wasn't between Japanese and not for gaijin. I said "No, you have to stop this." The poor women just looked shocked that someone was telling her mate (I can't call him any kind of "friend") "No" He sort of pushed me. I let it roll, without reacting to it. This is the important thing. When someone threatens or even strikes, they are expecting one of two reactions. Either you will give in, or you will fight. These aren't the only options available though. They are just the ones most people who use intimidation are accustomed to. If you react either of the above ways, you are playing their game, and they are in control. When I didn't react to his push, nor to his intimidating body language, he was clearly at a loss as to what to do. In this case, he tried to be my friend. He put out his hand and shook mine. I maintained my insistence that he had to settle down. And this is what eventually happened. He settled down. I then asked the women if she wanted to come with me (hell, I encouraged her to. I did NOT want her going off with that *&^#). She wouldn't come with me, but instead choose to go back into the store with him. Now, what I would have like to have done was blended his nose with the pretty tile they paved the area around the department store with. I have this problem with people who intimidate and hurt others. Fortunately, I know better (but I still want to). I didn't react according to his script when he tried to intimidate me. First he stood almost chest to chest with me, then he gave me a push. I didn't react to either. The push was easy to handle, just like stopping a no-kyu from doing a technique. If he had pushed harder, I would have turned and let the force slide past me, without breaking my outward calm (I was not calm within). As long as I don't react according to his script, I'm in control, even if he does hit me. I still don't have to react according to his script by trying to thrash him. I can let the first one go, and now I will be very prepared for the next one, if there is one. If he tries to hit me again, then it's time for ikkyo (I like ikkyo because it offers the most control over an untrained uke, and uke doesn't have to know how to take a flying ukemi for me to get uke safely to the ground and pinned). I don't fight him. I never FIGHT him. If I have to deal with an attack, I deal with it. I don't waste me time and energy fighting though. That's the other guys game, not mine. If someone hits you, so what? The lessons about control and blending that you practice in the dojo are directly applicable here. Are you in control, or is he? If you're in control, than you have the option of deciding how you will react. You can hit back, you can run in fear, or you can remain in calmness. Even if you have to respond to an attack, do so calmly and with control. Don't fight it, don't oppose it, and don't run from it. Control it. If you control yourself and your reactions, than you will demonstrate to uke that you are far more powerful than he, without generating more anger or fear. Peter "the Budo Bum" Boylan PS. I didn't mention this incident to anyone, but a few days later my wife asked about it. One of our neighbors saw it and was very impressed, because "No Japanese would do that." I'm now the neighborhood knight. It's interesting how you build social stock around here. Peter Boylan SOME THOUGHTS ON PAIN IN AIKIDO Sometimes the thought of pain is a greater controller than the physical pain. For me, to place my Uke in the form to apply a painful technique has a greater result than can be achieved by mere pain. It is the anticipation of that pain, that more often than not is the effect I'm looking for. Because in that anticipation I capture their mind and their mind captures their body with the knowledge of past experience. All aggression stops and they are trying very hard to maintain harmony. To do other wise causes them great pain. However, it is a pain that I am quick to release when they stop fighting. The body can become used to pain and over ride it. If the application of the technique results only in joint pain and not control of Uke's center and mind then they may choose to sacrifice the limb to continue the attack. I seen people with broken arms continue the fight and win. I have seen people have a wrist dislocated but maintain center and fight back. Pain is not an assurance of true victory nor is it an absolute deterrent. It should be used sparingly and wisely to control Uke. Otherwise it may become his strength. Dennis Hooker Which was followed by: I couldn't resist copying the whole message from Dennis. This is extremely important and I should have said something similar along with my post. I might add that a way I think of an idea similar to Dennis is: I want the uke to be afraid they will hurt themselves more if they continue than be angry at me for "hurting" them. I don't want them to even feel like they can identify where the whole thing came from! Interesting subject. Thanks Dennis, Chuck Clark TRAVELS During October I visited Pittsburgh on the weekend of the 3rd and 4th where I conducted a weekend seminar and perform testing. Of particular note was the advancement of Gary Zajac to Sho Dan. On the 6th I went to Hampton to conduct testing and hold the last class in their Grafton Dojo. Of particular note was the advancement of Steve Zimmerman to Sho Dan and Charles Kirk to 1st Kyu. Between the 15th and 19th I was in St. Louis visiting Sensei Mark Rubbert and the St. Louis Ki Society. I conducted classes on Thursday evening, Friday AM and PM and conducted Ki Testing on Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday we had both AM and PM classes. On the 21st I held class in a Dojo in Edwardsburg, MI with Fra. Jim Karaffa while visiting my Mother in Indiana. Finally, I was in Middletown, Virginia with Sensei Don Slayter on the 31st. As you can see, I have been busy. I expect to be here thoughout the month of November, no travel plans.