Beyond basic training

The Mind, driving force behind Aikido

Author: Eddy Wolput °1948 – 7th dan Aikido (JAA-Tokyo/Japan) – 5th dan Iaido – 5th dan Jodo

Part of the material in this article is not directly linked to the Japan Aikido Association (NPO) program or Shodokan approach. Other concepts are incorporated into the study of the subject presented.

I mentioned on several occasions the importance of the mind during Aikido training. Training or exercising is not always done during the training hours provided in the dojo. Exercise is also possible in the park, at the seaside or in a place where you can do your workout. This may include solo training or practicing with a partner. Whenever and wherever that is possible.

I like to start the day with about 30/40 minutes exercises.

Warming up – 7 minutes
Kiko/qigong – 15 minutes
Ritsuzen/zhanzuang – 10/15 minutes

The morning workout is before breakfast, but after a few major things… Obviously, you can’t practise with a full bladder…

It’s important to practice before reading your social media messages or email messages in your mailbox. The mind is free from good sleep and ready to practice.

Exercise in the morning prior to breakfast became a routine. However, do not be frustrated if you can not do your morning routine. You may have time by day or evening.

Focus on what your are doing

You should feel how your body moves during warm-up. Never do it with power, just let the body do the movements and act as an observer.

Start to breath

Kiko or qigong are practised by breathing much. You need to sense how the diaphragm works. You may feel the fresh air in the morning. All the good things of fresh morning air are absorbed through the body. During your sleep, all the waste is stored somewhere and ready to be expelled when you breathe out.

Move your body without moving

Now it is time to move your body with moving. If someone else watching you, that persons doesn’t see any movement. But within your body, there is a lot going on. Ritsuzen (Japanese) or Zhanzuang (Chinese) is practiced with the mind. You create “dynamic” pictures in your mind and your inner body will react to these pictures. My favourite pictures while “standing” are:

You are somerwhere peaceful. Perhaps by the sea. Standing with a natural posture (shizentai). Allow gravity to help you with relaxing mind and body.

Standing in the seawater with a big balloon in your arms. The water is at “kyokotsu” height.

The water pushes you at the back forward and when the rebound arrives, the water pushes to the rear
The water is pushing you alternately onto the right side of the body and the left side.
Push the balloon down and let the balloon go back up. Keep the balloon in your arms.
The balloon transforms into a big heavy ball. Lift the ball up and let the ball fall down. Keep the balloon in your arms.
Finish with “shizentai” posture, image you have a heavy kettlebell in your hands.

The mind game and the influence on your body

Does your mind has an influence on your body?

Where the mind goes the body will follow.
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Heart rate control is used to see how it affects your body during practice. Ritsuzen/zhanzuang has certainly an impact on heart rate. If you use a dynamic image in your mind with a heavy charge, the heart rate is raised. The example below, shows during ritsuzen/zhanzuang a change in the heart rate when the load of the image is changing. A low impact gives a heart rate of about 89 bpm, a medium impact gives a heart rate of about 100 bpm.

Heart rate will vary according age, gender and condition. The example above:

Age: 73 yrs
Gender: male
Resting heart beat: 56 bpm
Condition between 46-50: We use cardio fitness score in combination with gender and age to calculate cardio fitness level. 15 – 30 signifies a low cardio fitness level, A score between 30 – 38 is considered average cardio fitness. Anything above 40 qualifies as a high cardio fitness level.

In “The search of Wu” a book written by Dr. Yu Yong Nian, some clinical experiments are described.

Before training and in resting conditions your heart rate is 74 bpm and respiration rate is 19 pm, now assume ZZ and bend your knees so that your total height is 3cm less that in ordinary standing (straight knees) after 40 minutes you will reach 106 bpm heart rate and 30 bpm respiration rate. So by just tuning your bending knee angle and the time of standing position, it results clear responses from your heart and respiration: external conditioning has been changed into internal conditioning which I call qualitative changes.
Dr. Yu Yong Nian

The description by Dr. Yu gives an indication about the influence of a standing exercise on your body. Many more experiments are described and are documented with a lot of data.

There is another interesting item in this book.

Physiologic changes appearing during non-moving exercises are differing completely with moving ones.
During the non-moving exercise, although heart rate is growing up, the increase is steady and can be maintained even during a certain time, but also very important fact is that the respiration rate is never irregular so that suffocation/oxygen debt is avoid, no surplus of carbon dioxide, in a word all internal metabolism is running harmoniously well and adapting hand in hand with the physical effort. How come the body can reach this high level of compensation in front of growing physical demands? We explain it as the harmony in the mental and the Qi.
Dr. Yu Yong Nian

Here is talking about oxygen debt during physical exertion.

In post standing you can control precisely the amount of physical effort, set it up according to each physical condition and maintain during a long period a steady increase of Heart rate during exercise. But according to our experimentation in most of the case you cannot exceed the double of resting HR. Because when the amount of physical effort is exceed this value, muscles and tendons will feel like a painful electric shock contraction and cannot but stop any physical exertion.We can finally say that in ZZ you will progressively reach the maximum amount of physical effort you can bear: regular increase of HR, but without any oxygen debt or out of breath situation common to conventional sports as described previously.
Dr. Yu Yong Nian

As a last item about visualization (imaging).

Using visualization during ZZ exercise refers here to Imagination activity or Recall activity, it is involving high brain functions from the Cerebral Cortex such as memory, attention… so that the practitioner can benefit a faster internal control/monitoring.
Dr. Yu Yong Nian

The result of modeling in your training.

While most studies are focusing on the benefits of physical training on the mind, using the mind to improve physical performance is a field of study mostly for top athletes.

A study quoted in Verkhoshansky and Siff’s book Supertraining , showed a group of athletes who were instructed to lift an empty barbell while visualizing or imagining they were lifting the maximal weight they could lift for that movement. When retested they showed an increase in strength for that lift despite doing no other training for that lift.

Skill training can be more efficient with “modeling”. Some studies have been carried out with a positive result. For example, a study in 1985 took thirty college students of equal (perceived) skill and gave them a putting challenge, telling one group to imagine the ball going in the hole, another group to imagine the ball missing the hole, and giving a third group (the control group) no mental task (Woolfolk et. Al., 1985). As you would expect the group imagining a successful shot saw skill improvement overtime with the control also showing improvement, though not as large as the visualization group.

But even beginners can have the benefits of imaging during the physical training.

Using the mind in your Aikido training

Modeling

Modeling is the application of nonhuman phenomena as a template for improving your performance. Examples of nonhuman phenomena include earth, wind, fire, water… It is up to your creativity to use images to create a model within your brain.

As a matter of fact, a person can also be a role model for improving your performance. “Sensei” may be regarded as a model.

The model that we create in our mind has a tremendous impact on the functioning of our body. In the beginning, when you start using images, your conscious mind is the manager of your behavior.

After sufficient training, your conscious mind will act as an observer and your subconscious mind will take control of the operation of your behavior. Of course, it only works positively if the entry was right. When the entry is wrong your programming may crash your behavior.

Martial Arts examples

Te-kagami – hand mirror technique

Tenchi-nage – Heaven and earth throw

Toraissoku – Tiger’s footwork

Oroshi – Wind blowing down a mountain

Uroko-gaeshi – Turning fish

Nami-gaeshi – Returning wave

Taki-otoshi – Waterfall

The final Image

After all, Aikido is the way to harmonize the “ki” or life energy among people and the environment.

Fibonacci, tenshikei, meguri

Practising for health purposes is an assumption often made by marketeers for a martial art like aikido, based upon a balance between soft and hard. Movements are created following a spiral pattern. It gives a perception of harmony which is another assumption.
When aikido is promoted as a competitive sport, other factors become also important. Fitness, stamina and muscle power come to the foreground.
Although it is said “sport is healthy”, we cannot deny the many injuries of competitors. These injuries come mostly from abusing the body with the purpose to win a game.
On the other side, self-defense is also built upon using our body as a weapon against an opponent. It takes time to internalize aikido patterns in the brain. Fitness, stamina and muscle power are a solution to work around the long term vision of aikido training. Of course fitness and stamina are necessary in order to carry on the training of aikido.
Harmony during movements is a sign of aikido skills and it takes time to become skillful.

If we look around in nature, harmony can be seen in everything where human kind is not involved. Even the eruption of a volcano has harmony in the movements of the lava.
Is there a secret formula in nature for harmony?

Fibonacci sequence or spiral

The Fibonacci spiral based upon the sequence is already mentioned in another blog post, namely The Switch.
But as your read more about these magic numbers more confusion will come into your mind.

The Fibonacci sequence is one of the most famous formulas in mathematics.
Each number in the sequence is the sum of the two numbers that precede it. So, the sequence goes: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on.
It’s true that the Fibonacci sequence is tightly connected to what’s now known as the golden ratio. Simply put, the ratio of the numbers in the sequence, as the sequence goes to infinity, approaches the golden ratio, which is 1.6180339887498948482… From there, mathematicians can calculate what’s called the golden spiral, or a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor equals the golden ratio.
more Fibonacci

The Fibonacci sequence and human movement

Can we use mathematics to create a better movement? Some consider that there is a relation between our movements and the Fibonacci sequence.
Unfortunately there has not been much research on this matter.
In the field of dance and performance art Fibonacci sequence is utilized to make an image of harmony for the spectator.

Some research is done in the field of athletic sprint.

And Martial Arts?

In karate tsuki ( straight punch), some practitioners are alluding to the Fibonacci ratio. The fist is turning at the end of the trajectory following the Fibonacci ratio.
And what about Aikido, especially Tomiki’s method.
There is no real research in Tomiki Aikido to explain some movements according to the Fibonacci sequence.
Why should we use of Fibonacci formula?

How to transport “force”

The source of power under the best conditions is the ground, the body with all the elements – skeleton,muscles,tendons,fascia,….) are the tools to transport the force to the target.
Internal constructions are spiral force pathways and can be used to change the direction of the force. As we see above in the runner picture, there is a possibility to add a Fibonacci spiral. The picture at left is from the article “athletic sprint” mentioned earlier.
Eventually we can use kyokotsu to trigger a kind of internal Fibonacci spiral like the runners spiral.

The power at the target

The power at the target can be optimized with the Fibonacci formula. Think about “meguri” or spiral action when applying a technique. Or what about tenshikei or rotational power. Spiral power will be generated most efficiently when our structure is optimized. The Fibonacci spiral is not powered by itself, but is a tool to increase the acceleration during the transport of the force from the ground.

The power at the target can be compared to the power of the waves at the sea

An example how to adjust with a Fibonacce spiral

The picture above at the left gives shows a Fibonacci spiral in “uchi mawashi” movement. The picture at the right is from an old Tomiki book “Goshin Jutsu” and the Fibonacci sequence cannot be seen in this drawing.

Tenshikei and Fibonacci

Using the concept of tenshikei and the Fibonacci sequence will increase the power of acceleration due the longer distance. See further about Tenshikei.
Uchi mawashi will become more efficient together with the appropriate displacement of the feet. See “Tsugi Ashi“.

Tenshikei or the rotational power is generated by rotation of the body internally and is expressed by the movement of the arms or legs.
Using the spiral construction of the body, the length of the transport from the floor to the hand can be compared with the bullet in the barrel of a rifle. The construction of the riffle’s barrel creates a spiral action on the bullet and increases the acceleration of the bullet.

Leg spirals can also make the force at the target more powerful.

Final solution?

There is no final answer for the problems we encounter during martial arts training. Our body is a very complicated construction and many movements facets will influence our way of moving around. Also the mind has an influence on the body movements.

The Fibonacci sequence can be used as a proportion rule in our movements. Sometimes we start with a small circular movement which grows to a big one. In another situation we go from big to small. A perfect movement can happen but we cannot copy because the circumstances are always different.
By keeping to the principles, our body will react with the best solution at the right moment if we don’t interfere with the conscious mind, let the unconscious mind do the job. Nature will do it’s job.

Tomiki Aikido has a very simple basic training system: On jujutsu and his modernisation.
This text is written by Kenji Tomiki to modernise old jujutsu into a new training system, suitable for our modern society
Basically most of the practitioners have a 1 or 2 times a week training schedules. If this is done on a regular base, progress will be consistent but slow. Burning calories or becoming fit again can be a goal.
Sometimes, you just have to put more effort in your training when you are preparing for grading or competition. Unfortunately the depth of knowledge will not go deep. It will stick to the “sporting side ” of a martial art.

Nevertheless Japanese Budo can fulfill your search for spirituality. In Japanese martial arts literature, there are numerous testimonies about the deeper meaning of Japanese Budo. Mostly the authors are describing an almost mystical experience during their training somewhere in the mountains. Our modern society is of course not suitable for such a training program. We have responsibilities towards our family and friends.

A different approach to Japanese Budo

What is the attraction to Japanese Budo beyond the sporting side?

To answer this question I suggest you read 2 books:

Musashi: An Epic Novel Of The Samurai Era by Eiji Yoshikawa
Gorin no sho by Musashi Miyamoto

The former book is a romanticized story of Musashi Miyamoto’s life, he is a hero and also a loner. In Western society, we also have stories of heroes and their magic. Many comic books are based upon the stories of a hero who has incredible powers.
The latter is “A book of strategy” written by the master. It describes the process for searching the deeper meaning of Japanese Budo.
The attraction to the magic of Japanese Samurai was and is a driving force to start seriously with martial arts. Many aikido practitioners are revering Morihei Ueshiba for his technical but mostly for his spiritual approach to martial arts.
This driving force we can see as a kind of “elevation” of the mind. With this “elevation” we feel ourselves more positive.

The same feeling we can see in the behaviour of Kenji Tomiki & Hideo Ohba followers. Although it is lesser spiritual, if we go deeper into the philosophy of those Aikido masters, we will discover a very fundamental moral code. Some elements of this code are commented in another article : Cutting and striking.

The “Tomiki Aikido” syllabus

Most of the Tomiki Aikido groups are using a similar syllabus to teach aikido.

Behind the syllabus there is a logic with an origin in Koryu Bujutsu, old style Japanese martial arts. 3 levels of physical and mental are the training objectives.

Lower level – focus on technique and “ma” (distance and interval emphasis)
Middle level – focus primarily on “hyoshi” (cadence, rhythm, tempo, speed)
Upper level – focus on taikan, mushin, kokoro…..

In other words the SHU-HA-RI mantra.

The “Ma” dimension

Mostly, ma is translated as distance. This is of course correct but also limited in understanding. In a most basic understanding, ma is distance but also interval. Interval can is a time based concept and is related to “timing”.
Techniques can only be succesful if distance and interval are correctly applied. The concept of rikakutaisei is basically an application of “Ma” as distance and interval. Of course on a deeper level, rikakutaisei has more to offer than distance and interval.
Ma is the distance and interval for using “Ki”, the vehicle for using power in your movements. This happens always in relation with your opponent’s mental and physical movements.

The “Hyoshi” dimension

If we cannot understand life is following a certain rhythm, we cannot understand the actions of the opponent, because it is closely related to the rhythm of life.
Movements are following a certain pattern, which is not linear. Movements are expressions of spiral actions in space and time dimensions. More info: Spacetime.

Hyoshi is the skill to change the rhythm of the opponent and to create an opening in the movement cycle for further actions: killing or controlling. The concept of “Sen” is an application of Hyoshi.

The “Yomi” dimension

Yomi comes from the Japanese verb Yomu, and is translated as “to read”. Yomi is closely related to something which is not following scientific proofs.

In the context of martial arts, the yomi concept is about reading the opponent actions or his movements in space and time. This skill is only possible when you understand

taikan
kokoro
mushin

The yomi dimension is going beyond the physical expression of our being, but is closely related to our mental and physical movements, in other words an application of our body.

More information about the non-physical aspects of martial arts.
In his book Kokoro no katachi, Akira Hino is describing many concepts of martial arts beyond the idea of sports martial arts or in our case “sports aikido”.
If you like to know about the practical skills of changing your (martial arts) life, I suggest you to read some articles or books about “Kaizen”, the skill of change in a positive way. Although kaizen is related to changing the workflow in a company, it can be used also in your personal life. Remember the book of strategy “Gorin no sho” by Musashi Miyamoto. He describes a the strategy to use for a fight with 1 opponent or with 10,000 opponents.