I went and played with the local aikido guys nearby.

[greytowhite]

Approaching an Art with an Open Heart

I had a really good time. Haven't done breakfalls in a while. My body is sore in a good way but my shoulders are going to hate me at xingyibagua practice later. I hope you enjoy what I wrote.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Cool. I'd love to hear the details of what weaknesses of your structure you felt were exposed by the aikido guys and what openings you saw to potentially compromise their structure.

 

[greytowhite]

Cool. I'd love to hear the details of what weaknesses of your structure you felt were exposed by the aikido guys and what openings you saw to potentially compromise their structure.

Tony, I'd say that I've fallen away from using taiji-like lower abdomen mechanics in favor of the upper body based xingyi mechanics in the art I practice currently. I feel it's time to start applying myself to the bagua side of my art and develop my lower body some more. So with the xingyi I've been learning how to consciously open and close the ribs by rotating my arms and shoulders as well as how to open and close the hips abruptly and force a vertical lower dantien (tanden) roll without rotating the waist horizontally much. The bagua has a much more horizontal upper body focus and the footwork is more obviously worked on if usually tighter than the aikido footwork.

The tighter circles and higher stances I am used to walking in were not present much really, with many of the stances going lower and wider than I was comfortable. There are some slightly different approaches to what I've practiced in the last few years and I've had to do modified version of my art due to disability. Mainly, aikido's stances were out of my comfort zone and much larger and less structurally connected through the upper body especially. Considering that my scoliosis is worst in my upper back behind my heart (thanks heat attack!) the upper body work I'm doing now really requires a small frame or compact structure to remain powerful all the way down to the feet.