Kotsu Kotsu

I made the apple pie in this picture. When it was finished I had to laugh. It looks so good with that perfect, flaky, whole wheat pastry crust. Unfortunately, I used apple slices that had been too long in the freezer. The pie was inedible! Sensei uses this metaphor to describe technique. He'll throw someone with big, flamboyant movements, with his arms and fingers extended and a mean look on his face. Then he does the same thing, only this time he tells uke to resist. Impossible! The technique looks great until uke resists, and then we see that it's ineffective. Just like the apple pie, beautiful, but not what it seems. Then Sensei will do the technique again, only without the showmanship: more relaxed, with correct internal feeling . Amazingly powerful. No one can resist. And he can throw hard or soft, throwing large, flexible and fast people, or small, inexperienced beginners, all with the same effect. I've watched this in person, I've watched on videotape, I...

From the moment we first bow onto the mat in a Kokikai Aikido class, we can work on finding the best feeling.  One mistake many students make is practicing too fast. This encourages stiffness and does not allow the opportunity to be sensitive to how you feel or how your partner feels. Once you're comfortable with practicing a technique slowly, then you can start to increase your speed, but always stay aware of how it feels. You may decide to slow down again to try to catch a new idea, or to regain your best feeling. Another mistake beginners often make is to focus on the outcome. It's easy to pay most attention to whether, or how hard, your attacker fell, or whether you could overcome his or her resistance. Remember that if you practice stiffly and without the correct feeling, you  will  get better and better… at being stiff and having incorrect feeling . In order to help their students practice with correct feeling, some instructors  discourage  resista...

Think of making an apple pie. The basic recipe is easy. But each pie is different depending on the sweetness of the apples, the humidity, the oven, etc. etc…A great cook knows how to adjust the recipe each time so that every pie is delicious. The practice of self-defense through Kokikai Aikido involves coordinating our mind and body in order to lead the attacker’s mind and body. In other words, there are two (or maybe more!) minds involved. And two (or more!) bodies. Everyone, nage and uke , experienced and inexperienced, moves in the way that is natural for their body. Every attacker, every attack is slightly different. Both uke and nage have a slightly different mindset each time. Just like an apple pie, every Kokikai technique has a recognizeable form. The basic techniques may be simple. However, to work toward a “perfect” technique, just like a pie, we have to learn to make it just right  for that situation . As students we must work very hard not to  rely  on ...