"When Should I Start Moving?"
In the middle of a seminar he taught, Henry Kono Sensei stopped class.
"If a 500lb rock falls from the sky, would you stand there and try to push the rock away?"said Henry, while waving his arms above his head fiercely. We all laughed. "Of course you won't. It is silly, right? If not, why do you insist on standing your ground when someone is coming at you with an attack? How is that different?"
Henry did point out a very common phenomenon. This tendency seems to be universal among beginners. It takes a lot of effort and awareness to consciously reprogram oneself in order to shake that habit. Some students, even after many years of practice, still freeze in place the moment they are confronted by attackers, and try to fend them off by waving their arms around.
In class, someone asked Henry, "When should I start moving?" Henry brought out a carton box and dropped it on the mat. He pushed the box on its side; the box slid across the mat. "You see that?" Henry pointed at the box. "The box is a dead object. It does not have a brain. It does not know how to think. However, the moment I push at it, the whole box moves. The right side of the box does not have to ask the left side "Hey, when should I start moving?" It just moves!!!"
Yeah. Sadly, sometimes carton boxes have proven to take ukemi more naturally and intuitively than humans. What is the difference between a carton box and a person? Could it be, as Henry pointed out, because of the brain and the ability to think?
I have encountered students who react rigidly to nage's moves. They just stand still and look perplexed. Their partners cannot carry on alone. The practice just falls apart. When asked, the uke's response is often "I don't know what to do!" or "What am I supposed to do?"
When someone asks such questions, I know immediately that he is not feeling. He is not allowing himself to experience the moment. He is trying to think it through. Aikido is a mindfulness body art, not an intellectual, thinking exercise. It is not possible to stand there and figure it out before you move. Aikido is more like taking a nice, warm bath. You immerse yourself in it and try to pick up every bit of the sensations that it gives you.
"But how do I go on without knowing what the next move should be?" I have heard this argument many times. I have even thought that myself before. I was one of those stochastic, overthinking beginners. I know what they are thinking.
Aikido is no different than our daily life. Do you always know what comes next? When something unexpected happens, what do you do? Do you just freeze in place to think it through before you act? You don't always have that luxury! Most of the times, you have to keep going and wing it along the way! You keep making adjustments in response to the ever changing circumstances. Life is improvisation. You have been doing it all your life. Why can't you try doing the same at Aikido?
Here is a little piece of advice for you on ukemi. I hope it helps.
For those who have danced, being uke is like being "the Follow" in a partner dance. You may not know ahead of time what steps you are supposed to do and when, but it does not matter. All you have to do is to follow the Lead's movements while maintaining the contact points between the two of you. As Henry Kono Sensei would tell you, just make sure you keep the same pressure at the contact points at all times. If the pressure goes up, you know you are running into each other; if it goes down, you know you are drifting apart. You control the pressure by adjusting your body position through your steps!
If you can dance, you can do Aikido. Stop thinking. Keep moving your feet. Most of all, don't forget to smile.
"If a 500lb rock falls from the sky, would you stand there and try to push the rock away?"said Henry, while waving his arms above his head fiercely. We all laughed. "Of course you won't. It is silly, right? If not, why do you insist on standing your ground when someone is coming at you with an attack? How is that different?"
Henry did point out a very common phenomenon. This tendency seems to be universal among beginners. It takes a lot of effort and awareness to consciously reprogram oneself in order to shake that habit. Some students, even after many years of practice, still freeze in place the moment they are confronted by attackers, and try to fend them off by waving their arms around.
In class, someone asked Henry, "When should I start moving?" Henry brought out a carton box and dropped it on the mat. He pushed the box on its side; the box slid across the mat. "You see that?" Henry pointed at the box. "The box is a dead object. It does not have a brain. It does not know how to think. However, the moment I push at it, the whole box moves. The right side of the box does not have to ask the left side "Hey, when should I start moving?" It just moves!!!"
Yeah. Sadly, sometimes carton boxes have proven to take ukemi more naturally and intuitively than humans. What is the difference between a carton box and a person? Could it be, as Henry pointed out, because of the brain and the ability to think?
I have encountered students who react rigidly to nage's moves. They just stand still and look perplexed. Their partners cannot carry on alone. The practice just falls apart. When asked, the uke's response is often "I don't know what to do!" or "What am I supposed to do?"
When someone asks such questions, I know immediately that he is not feeling. He is not allowing himself to experience the moment. He is trying to think it through. Aikido is a mindfulness body art, not an intellectual, thinking exercise. It is not possible to stand there and figure it out before you move. Aikido is more like taking a nice, warm bath. You immerse yourself in it and try to pick up every bit of the sensations that it gives you.
"But how do I go on without knowing what the next move should be?" I have heard this argument many times. I have even thought that myself before. I was one of those stochastic, overthinking beginners. I know what they are thinking.
Aikido is no different than our daily life. Do you always know what comes next? When something unexpected happens, what do you do? Do you just freeze in place to think it through before you act? You don't always have that luxury! Most of the times, you have to keep going and wing it along the way! You keep making adjustments in response to the ever changing circumstances. Life is improvisation. You have been doing it all your life. Why can't you try doing the same at Aikido?
Here is a little piece of advice for you on ukemi. I hope it helps.
For those who have danced, being uke is like being "the Follow" in a partner dance. You may not know ahead of time what steps you are supposed to do and when, but it does not matter. All you have to do is to follow the Lead's movements while maintaining the contact points between the two of you. As Henry Kono Sensei would tell you, just make sure you keep the same pressure at the contact points at all times. If the pressure goes up, you know you are running into each other; if it goes down, you know you are drifting apart. You control the pressure by adjusting your body position through your steps!
If you can dance, you can do Aikido. Stop thinking. Keep moving your feet. Most of all, don't forget to smile.
Comments
Post a Comment