“Wisdom” by Gregor Erdmann

“The predominant philosophy of Kokikai Aikido is “Minimum effort, Maximum effect”. There are two parts to achieving this.

Firstly, the application of correct technique, blending and moving into our attacker’s weaknesses ensure that we don’t expend energy by fighting and aggravating the situation. This is too large a topic to effectively cover in a single article, so I will focus on the second part – efficient movement.”

By only moving the parts of our bodies that are necessary, our techniques become efficient, elegant and assist in producing the maximum effect for the minimum of effort. It’s more than simply conserving energy or course. After all, the movements involved in every day tasks are hardly taxing. The real benefit comes from maintaining balance, generating speed and keeping joints limber which would otherwise have been locked through muscle tension. In the midst of performing a technique, it could mean the difference between being caught by a kaeshi-waza and effortless execution.

Please click here to read entire article.

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Posted by Aikido Journal on Mar 20th, 2009: Recommended link (post a comment)