An old
friend and Alexander Technique colleague, Bruce Fertman, sent me this video
with an intriguing request – analyze the movement from an Aikido perspective.
Bruce is comparing how differently trained people see movement. I found this fascinating, and my answer
continued to grow . . . so I thought it would live well on Riding Between
Heaven and Earth.
Marj placed
great emphasis on observing movement. My involvement with horses and riding has given
me a new appreciation of that aspect of her teaching. Marj was a horsewoman who raised and rode
quarter horses on her ranch. Now I
understand how significantly that informed her Alexander Technique teaching. My riding mentors are all extremely keen
observers of movement. But I have been
asked to answer through the lens of Aikido.
My response looks at how much power is generated with the least amount
of effort though use of the body as a whole and through a harmonious relationship
with the tool.
I’m
noticing how much body integration each worker seems to possess and how they
are trying to maximize the effect of their effort; how energy is moving through
them and their sledge hammers; what is their relationship to the tool they are
using -- if they make it a natural extension of their movement or if they
seem very separate from it. All of them are standing in right hamni, the
triangular stance used in Aikido and in Aikido weapons training. The worker
in the green hat is using himself in a manner closest to Aikido body
movement. He is the most efficient, initiating the movement from his
center and allowing it to spiral up his torso through his arms. He is using the
dropping of his center and maximizing the movement of his hip, knee and ankle
joints, and his torso has a lot of integrity. He maintains his vertical
axis nicely -- he is not twisting himself off axis. He allows his hip movement to swing the hammer
back and behind him, which carries through as his arms raise over his
head and he then lets the hammer drop with gravity, enhancing the effect of that
with the timing of the dropping of his center, just slightly before the hammer
strike. Sugano Sensei had this quality of timing in his bokken (wooden
sword) cut.
“Green
hat” also has the best ma-ai (distance) between his center and the center of
the post. The other workers’ distance appears not quite comfortable.
Possibly the different distances are necessary to coordinate the
movements of the four of them. The third
worker from the right has to throw his hammer out forward to reach the post,
which puts some extra stress on his upper body. Green hat‘s efficiency
means that he does not need to reposition his grip each time he swings the
hammer. The worker to his right repositions his grip for each strike to create
leverage with his upper body and arms against the hammer, but this means his
upper body is taking more impact and also doing more work – he is actually
lifting that heavy hammer with his arms for each swing – you can see his left
elbow come away from his body creating the stressful relationship to his
hammer. The other two workers are
focused on hitting with their upper bodies as well; the worker in the left
front is at least moving his center laterally and using his large joints (like
the rowing exercise in Aikido) which gives him some whole body power; however,
his upper body has an energetic break mid-chest, as he is still overworking with
his arms and upper body, so he dissipates some of the useful energy generated by
the movement of his lower body. He and the worker in the white hat are each
tensing their upper back and neck against impact of the strike which indicates
to me that they are using “hard eyes” or a narrowed field of vision, focusing a
lot of effort on the end goal and slightly anticipating each impact. I
also notice that green hat’s efficiency with his body mechanics, timing and
distance makes his striking seem slower and more spacious, even though I
believe they are all striking at about the same actual speed.
So, the
worker with the most ease, awareness and integration within his own body is
able to work most efficiently. In Aikido this efficiency translates into the
martial quality. The beauty of the movement is not separate from the effectiveness.
What an interesting opportunity to see four
people’s unique relationship to the same activity! Thank you, Bruce, for asking
my perspective. I suggest asking Gail Field to give an Alexander Technique/Centered
Riding analysis, and Maria Katsamanis to talk about
movement from a Classical Equitation context.