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Brian Kagen pick: “Aikiphysics,” by Daniel James

“These pages look at basic physics and biomechanics in order to help us understand some of the simple things about Ki. Thus we present Aikiphysics. (Some thoughts are more mature than others… feedback is welcome.) Unfortunately Aikiphysics still leaves a lot of unexplored territory to explain and ultimately - even for a reductionist scientist - it is often easier to teach and understand it as simply Ki.”

Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.

Click here to read entire article.

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Posted by Aikido Journal on Mar 13th, 2010: Reader Pick (post a comment)

Reader Comments

Nev writes:

Mar 13th, 2010 at 5:30 pm

Manual farming work is difficult to find nowadays. Work with a furniture removals company for a few months and people will start to ask you, “Where else are you training?” Especially those dam pianos and heavy old fridges which should now be obsolete. A word of caution. If you’re an unfit office worker who likes to mindchatter forget it. The risk of injury is present. The requirement of total mental presence, zanshin, mindfulness is mandatory.

charles warren writes:

Mar 15th, 2010 at 2:19 pm

If you live in a house in the suburbs you can do a fair amount around your yard. Simply forget anything that uses gas or electricity.

The problem I see in the “physics” approach is that while classical mechanics are very applicable, they aren’t simple. The human body has a finite number of parts and joints, but the combination of possible movements is VERY large.

Daniel James writes:

Mar 25th, 2010 at 5:42 pm

Physics like ‘Ki’ is just another tool in the belt to help learn aikido, sometimes it’s useful sometimes not. Yes, too many equations on the other hand just paralyzes the mind.

PS Delighted to see my labours appear on the aikido journal (been submitting stuff for a while to no avail) and to be mistakenly penned as Jearl Walker somewhat flattering too.

best,
dan

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