This means absolutely nothing. It's pure tripe. Please explain further since you claim to be able to.
-- Hmm, let me see...how about this: If you seek it you cannot find it. Does that make more sense for you now? That's kind of all the explination I'm going to give, I've already put enough of my ki into it, and now I'm tired.
As Jet Li read in Tai Chi Master, "if you force it, the flow will be blocked" I guess is what izumizu is saying. I always understood (well, thought of) ki as "breath" as in when your breath is coordinated with your movements you can do some neat stuff (like fling someone across the room )
I tend to explain ki as fighting spirit. If your body is fit then your ki is strong if your body is weak then your ki is weak. In fact I hardly ever speak of ki other than to disagree with those who use mystical explanations. At one time whan I trained with Chiba shihan I would become exhausted because of the power used in the training. As soon as I began to feel exhausted he would say "ki up" It was more about showing more fighting spirit than the physical strength I had .
Someone who has had decades of training should be capable of answering sensibly without using mystical mumbo jumbo that anyone who has actualy trained shall ignore. Such posts shall only bring insult to aikido. Shame on any instructor who uses such nonsensical posting,
While many, such as Koyo, find people using ki in a mythical sense, I take issue with its use a utilitarian "catch-all" explanation when instructing. Basically, way too many people use it as a "crutch" to supplant actual, in depth, knowledge; Student: "Sensei, why didn't that technique work?" Teacher: "Ahh, young padawan....you did not extend your ki!" Or "You're ki was not focused in your center!" Greeeat. Thanks for that stunning revelation. While people who've spend some time training can probably understand what the teacher means, it is a poor replacement for technical instruction. My teacher's teacher, Gozo Shioda, took the barely understandable utterances of Ueshiba Morihei and categorized, broke down, and developed his teachings into an understandable, step-by-step instruction. Some might call it scientific...though I find that doesn't feel quite right to me. Anyway, instead of the popular "principals of aikido" that I learned with the AAA under Toyoda Sensei; keep weight underside, maintain one point, et al., the Yoshinkan lineage prefers to teach each specific step in a technique so that your body learns these principals in a tactile manner....rather than leaning it audibly and trying to interpret and translate that to technique. Given that I'm from an international organization that combines both former AAA dojo and Yoshinkan dojo, our international director is well known for ensuring yudansha testing candidates have an actual understanding of their technique. We have a teaching technique portion of yudansha shinsa...a very common question from sensei is "well, how did you make him fall?" Answers like" well I extend ki, and he falls" are quite common from the aikikai stylists...not their fault, just the way things were taught the further away from Toyoda Sensei you got. Well the "extend ki" answer does not cut it for my teacher. Sometimes it gets a little painful to watch as candidates are grasping for complex, ethereal, answers when all too often its very simple. Something like "well I extend my arm completely through his shoulder, a good gauge is that my elbow is equal or past uke's sternum, my back is straight, and weight is on top of his chest. As I cross step through and out, like a C-step, I am taking uke's width and depth from him, as I re-square my hips and drop in a lower stance I am taking his height. With height, width, and depth compromised uke has no capability to resist (which we call 'katameru')." That would be a decent answer for how shomen iriminage works (Yoshin version, we don't go after the head in either yokomen or shomen iriminage kihon, just so there's no confusion). Ah, I didn't mean for that to be that long. Sorry. Cheers! Adam
BTW, does anyone know what the radicals in the kanji ki mean? I know "ai" is a lid fitting on a jar, but I don't remember what "ki" is. Something to do with water or air escaping into the atmosphere comes to mind, but I'm not sure.
When I hear/read of extending one's ki it seems to possibly relate to more to what in CMAs would be called yi,or intent.The yi(mind or intent) leads and the ch'i(energy,force,etc) follows. You "think" in the direction you wish the power to gbviously one can't consciously do this when moving at full speed,at least most of the time.It's exercised in training at somewhat lower speeds. Let's say you're learning applications at half speed or a little more and you catch the opponents balance w/your palm in contact w/him and execute a balance attack.So you mentally direct your force through him to where you want him to go,say 8 feet away onto the floor.You could visualize a line like a string from an area on your palm to that point on the floor but I wouldn't recommend that except to beginners,eventually you just feel it.(The direction,or line-not a string). Anyway,I realize what I'm saying in the latter two paragraphs isn't exactly news to most reading this,but just wanted to explain where I was coming from in my perception of what the ki extension idea may be.Just a terminlogy thing perhaps?In CMAs "it is written" if you concentrate on your ch'i (energy,power) you'll just jam it up.Just think "there" and let fly.Not unlike what I used to do when hitting a baseball.(Pre-MA days). OK,it's written in more prosaic language than I used,but that's the gist.
Anyone visit Aikiweb? Remember the "Ki Wars" posts? Got quite heated from time to time with people talking at cross purposes but certainly proved a good source of information cutting through the mumbo jumbo and folks agreeing on basic body skills and how that relates to Ki. People like "Upyu" who used to post here training with the Aunkai, people going to Mike Sigman or Dan Harden seminars etc getting that hands on that is required to understand what they are talking about when they discuss Ki. None of it airy fairy nonsense just lots of hard work developing body skills.
-- Not my riddles...they actually came thousands of years before I was born, and when written (even way back then) were done so specifically referring to one topic.
-- Again, not my mystical mumbo jumbo, not my words, I didn't write it...it has been around for centuries, it is available for all to read. I merely suggest it as a reference to a starting point to begin ones understanding of "ki." If one isn't willing to at least begin at the source, then having 100 people explain it to you would of course be "nonsensical." In fact we are quite lucky these writings still survive.
Mystical mumbo jumbo and martial arts frauds are not a 21st century invention. Your argument doesn't hold. It's also customary to quote your source when referencing a source.
This is pretty much my understanding. Which I think fits nicely with koyo's fighting spirit explanation.
When I hear extend ki, I think "shu chu ryoku" or 'focus energy to one point,' an idea often exemplified by a triangle...which our basic kamae is based on (triangles). ...and I think of "fighting spirit" as well.
I never thought about it that way. But you're right. Focusing the energy behind the strike is one of the goals as is maintaining stability. Both of which are goals nicely facilitated with a triangular entry without the need for any ancient riddles.
Let me preface by saying I translate hanja (korean), kanji (japanese), hanzi (chinese) etymologically. Korean: 기 Ki 氣 Japanese: キ KI 気 (氣) Chinese: ch'i, qì 气 (氣) 氣 = the primitive 米 + the radical 气. The primitive 米 etymologically means the 4 grains that are separated 十 by the thrashing. In modern context, it means rice. The radical 气 etymologically means curling vapors rising from the ground and forming the clouds above. 氣 etymologically depicts vapour 气 ascending from boiling rice 米. In terms of acupuncture, it is vital-energy.
-- First, I'm not arguing anything! If you feel that this is somehow an argument of sorts, then I am sorry to have misled you. Secondly, mumbo jumbo and just about any kind of quackery are not a 21st century invention. In fact I would venture to guess that martial arts (as we know them today), is a much newer invention than is the understanding of ki. Mystical mumbo jumbo is only such when you are not familiar with what has come before, or somehow have trouble making it fit into what you already know, unless of course it is mystical mumbo jumbo, but I highly doubt it in this case, especially since they are not even my words or ideas that you refer to as mystical mumbo jumbo. I could quote the source, if that might make it easier for you, and the MAPers, (although I certainly know that knowing the source didn't make it easier for me to begin to understand ki), but then again the source is not the source. (I know..., I didn't make that one up either).
