Life's Only Constant
Following tradition, I start a new year with the most basic basics: irimi, tenkan, kaiten.
Basic body movements are like building blocks. A master and a beginner go through the same movements to perform a technique. What makes one better than the other is really a matter of who has the better building blocks.
I want to show the students the mechanics of these fundamental moves. Instead of doing a typical katate-tori (uke using one hand to take hold of nage's wrist), I decide to have the nage hold a short stick, and let the uke grab the other end of it, so that it is easier to visualize where and how the different rotations take place.
I thought that by taking everything apart to show the anatomy of these basic movements, students would find it easier to move. It does not quite play out the way I expected.
I am glad that they get the idea that they should not be using force. However, instead of barging into their partners, now people are dodging their partners left and right in a really awkward manner.
I am very perplexed by what I see. Every time when I see more than one student does something strange in the same way, my response is to reflect on myself to see if they are mimicking something I did unintentionally. In this case, however, I know I did not show anything like that. So, where does it come from?
I go from pair to pair to observe the way they move and I finally come to the realization that the nages are all actively trying to avoid the ukes. The reason? The nages all assume that their partners will continue to stay at the same spot. They think they would run into their partners if they move the way I instructed them to. As such, they pick a path that would prevent a collision with the uke.
The Aikido union of a nage and an uke is like the Yin-Yang sign: the two parties make up a complete circle. If one party moves, unless the other party chooses to disengaging from the union, he is bound to move to cope with the change. This concept is exactly how Aikido works: To control the entirety, the nage only has to control his own half of the union! The students' faulty assumption is not only against the basic premise of Aikido dynamics, but it is also against the very nature of life -- impermanence.
By assuming that the uke is a constant in space, students twist themselves into pretzels to avoid their partners. Because the nage never engage the uke with their movements, the uke ended up remaining at the same place in the same posture. Nage's faulty assumption just made his own worst fear become true!
To demonstrate my point, I go to the pairs and pull the stick held by the nage and uke to where I think it should go. My action got the students terrified. They thought they would run into each other . . . but they did not. Their bodies very quickly blended with each other to move along the new direction side by side. No resistance. No collision. Just a bit of drama. As the Chinese saying goes, the students' eyes are widely open like lanterns. 😮
What you see now is just the present. Everything changes. Do not let the present limit you. Choose your path, make your move so that the future becomes what you want it to be. Be careful with your assumptions.
Basic body movements are like building blocks. A master and a beginner go through the same movements to perform a technique. What makes one better than the other is really a matter of who has the better building blocks.
I want to show the students the mechanics of these fundamental moves. Instead of doing a typical katate-tori (uke using one hand to take hold of nage's wrist), I decide to have the nage hold a short stick, and let the uke grab the other end of it, so that it is easier to visualize where and how the different rotations take place.
I thought that by taking everything apart to show the anatomy of these basic movements, students would find it easier to move. It does not quite play out the way I expected.
I am glad that they get the idea that they should not be using force. However, instead of barging into their partners, now people are dodging their partners left and right in a really awkward manner.
I am very perplexed by what I see. Every time when I see more than one student does something strange in the same way, my response is to reflect on myself to see if they are mimicking something I did unintentionally. In this case, however, I know I did not show anything like that. So, where does it come from?
I go from pair to pair to observe the way they move and I finally come to the realization that the nages are all actively trying to avoid the ukes. The reason? The nages all assume that their partners will continue to stay at the same spot. They think they would run into their partners if they move the way I instructed them to. As such, they pick a path that would prevent a collision with the uke.
The Aikido union of a nage and an uke is like the Yin-Yang sign: the two parties make up a complete circle. If one party moves, unless the other party chooses to disengaging from the union, he is bound to move to cope with the change. This concept is exactly how Aikido works: To control the entirety, the nage only has to control his own half of the union! The students' faulty assumption is not only against the basic premise of Aikido dynamics, but it is also against the very nature of life -- impermanence.
By assuming that the uke is a constant in space, students twist themselves into pretzels to avoid their partners. Because the nage never engage the uke with their movements, the uke ended up remaining at the same place in the same posture. Nage's faulty assumption just made his own worst fear become true!
To demonstrate my point, I go to the pairs and pull the stick held by the nage and uke to where I think it should go. My action got the students terrified. They thought they would run into each other . . . but they did not. Their bodies very quickly blended with each other to move along the new direction side by side. No resistance. No collision. Just a bit of drama. As the Chinese saying goes, the students' eyes are widely open like lanterns. 😮
What you see now is just the present. Everything changes. Do not let the present limit you. Choose your path, make your move so that the future becomes what you want it to be. Be careful with your assumptions.
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