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Sensei Ron Boyd
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The Ron Dori series is now available on DVD.

Hits since Feb16,'07

 
If you touch a swing at just the right time, you can change it's direction and move it as you will with but
a feather light nudge.

If you catch a swing coming toward  you, you must fight the power of a moving force and change it's direction. 

If you wait too long, you must hurry to catch up and spend energy to little effect.

 

If you catch your opponent at just the right moment, you can guide him as you will.

"The meaning of  do in aikido is...obtaining "maximum effectiveness with minimum effort."  In every movement, every situation, you try to avoid direct opposition to the opponent's force, but rather to accept his force, merely adding the vector of your own intention and movement, so as to re-direct ( or guide) his power to your advantage." ¹  

"...the effortlessness of aikido movement is a matter of precise timing (de-ai) and rhythm.  If the timing  is accurate, power is transferred smoothly, like two precisely timed waves that reinforce each other without interference.  When the timing is off, the effect is more like waves timed to different frequencies that produce turbulence when they cross.

A simple analogue for the use of rhythm in aikido is to push a child on a swing. ...a push at just the right moment, even with your little finger, adds its quantum of energy to the system and make the swing go higher.  A push too late adds nothing.  A push too soon may get your finger broken.  An attacker's movements are not nearly as predictable as a child on a swing, but they do have a certain rhythm that can be caught and used.  One reason an  uke is a t a theoretical disadvantage is that he must give his intentions and his rhythm away, to a nagae sensitive enough to catch them.  When you catch the rhythm, a minimum force at just the right instant is enough to throw an opponent much lager and more powerful than yourself."²

"It is one thing to generate power, something quite different to apply it with precision.  To avoid unnecessary labor, both the trimming and directing of forces must be controlled exactly.  the "magical" effortlessness of aikido technique is a consequence of applying correctly generated force in the right direction (or along the right arc) at the right time.  The problem here is that our instinctive responses are wrong.  When someone pushes you, the natural response is to push back ....  
The ideal strategy...is to deter combat....  The next best, ...is to rig the situation so that he's own aggressive persistence takes him off balance, and vulnerable to a precise application of force."³

¹  ON THE PRINCIPLES OF AIKIDO, Richard Ostrufsky, Ottawa Aikido Circle, Version 2, September, 2004, p. 3
² Ibid. p.10
³ Op cit. p 15

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Page created February 16, '07