Scott’s Ramblings

Tuesday evening class my students where saying that they did not believe that I rented a Smart Car in Italy, that I was to big, well as you all can see I fitted perfectly.

 We were talking this morning after class about of all things Aikido and its  relationship to other martial arts.  I was proclaiming that the fact we look for the most appropriate way to behave allows aikido to actually be very martial.  This is to say that when you hold a gun on someone you better be willing to shoot them, and if you are not willing to shoot them the gun becomes a liability.  If your response to an attack or precieved attack is to do a great deal of damage by either kicking, punching or breaking you probably are going to be hesitant to take action.  In that moment when you should be responding, you are waiting for proof that you are in danger, that is were alot of the dangers lies.  By understainding how to take appropriate action, it allows nage to behave in a timely manner not waiting to see if it is appropriate to hit, punch or break.

“Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present.  There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is. ”   William James

I had a student probably 15 years ago that was a big wig with Wired Magazine, he use to look at my efforts with Photoshop and shake his head as he declared that they should not allow everyone to be able to use advance editing software.  I love Photoshop because it allows us to blur already very blurry lines of reality.

If you look at Sam’s legs in this skimboard shot how vibrant with energy they look, you can tell that they are the only thing keeping him from floundering with the fish.  I have watched alot of kids skimboard, and there is always an energy that looks like it has been drawn from the waves  connecting the feet to the board and flowing through the legs.  I think this is how  legs should look when doing sword cuts.

 We have been doing sword cuts the last week or two in class.  I have been watching the legs of the students as they do their cuts.  The legs need to have a vitality that allows the body to spring up from the earth, very similarily to what is required in a good ground stroke in a tennis forehand or backhand.   The power is generated from the relationship of Aikidoist or person hitting the ground stroke and the earth.  The arms are just an appendage going for a ride.