Budo Body Part IV

Yesterday, at training, I had an epiphany. As most of you will be aware, in martial arts you might be told how to do something but do not fully realise what the instructor means until years later. This was one of these moments. In TSYR we are often told to pull with the front leg. This in itself was not enough for me. I realised that what I actually had to do was pull down and forwards with the front leg so my weight sat in the middle of that foot. This creates an angle that wedges down into my opponent. It also creates tone in that ankle. As I am tall and therefore often taller than my training partners I have to bend the knee and ankle joints far more than I thought I needed too. 

Creating a budo body in the TSYR sense requires stacking and coordinating of the joints in such a way to gain the most stability and power at the same time. This is not easy. Learning to adjust ankle, knee and hips joints is a start but then think about all the joints in a spine!  Then the shoulders, elbows and wrists. That is a lot of variables to consider. This is one reason why I think developing subtle internal power takes a long time. Once you have skeletal alignment you still have to adjust muscle tension. Which muscles should be on, which should be relaxed? What we experienced in training yesterday was that the smallest amount of incorrect muscular tension can result in feedback to your opponent and they have something to fight you with. Finally, but by no means the least, is having intent. This mental aspect connects mind to body and is very important. Threadgill sensei mentions this often. 

Even if you manage to get all these things right while standing still, how do you achieve this state while moving? While on your knees?  With a weapon in your hands? It starts to make sense why this discipline is life-long.

Jack's Budo Body.

Usually with one of these "Budo Body" posts I speak about my own anatomy. One thing that has progressed for me is joint mobility and a more stable midsection. My ankles, especially are stronger and more mobile due not only to idori practice but also with the above mentioned, knee bend. What I battle with is joint stability. My joints are naturally flexible, I have been called "Noodle Man" by my fellow deshi a few times. However, this can lead to my joints not holding their position when I need them to. This is most problematic around my midsection. The transmission of power from lower body to upper body must come through the midsection. If this is soft and yielding then the power is lost. I have had to work hard to develop a strong core/hara. This is different to having strong abdominal muscles. I came from an aikido background where I had at one point routinely done 100 sit ups in one session. The muscles I talk about here are deep ones, around the spine and pelvic bowl. These ones required conditioning. As I was not naturally stiff through the middle I had to train that area and now as I take a position on the mat I turn this area 'on'. When I hold a sword this area is 'on'. I guess this is what is traditionally called the hara or tanden. When this area is engaged, a slight movement in the legs will turn the upper body without muscular tension from the arms or shoulders. As the power is coming from "below", the opponent does not feel how or why they are being moved and taken off-balance. 

Once my structure is set I can try different things. Imaginary lines can be traced vertically down the body, horizontally across joints and even on diagonals. I am just beginning to manipulate and use these planes/lines of movement.

Keep training!

Budo Body Part III

I would like to discuss more about how my body is changing due to the training I am doing in Takamura-ha Shindo Yoshin Ryu. In this martial tradition there is a set of exercises called Nairiki no gyo. These exercises are supposedly descended from southern Chinese martial traditions. These exercises attempt to create a body that is "capable of unified, powerful and relaxed movement that also manifests an extremely expanded level of sensitivity." As quoted by Threadgill sensei.

Practitioners that develop this body skill to a high level can not only feel acutely into their own bodies but through a sensitive neuro-feedback network, they can also sense someone else's center of gravity the moment they are touched.

Threadgill sensei demonstrating a connected body.

In the above picture, Threadgill sensei is not leaning on his training partners, he is simply channelling the force through is body and into the ground. The two men might as well be pushing directly at the floor, they would get the same result. If the two men were to suddenly jump away, Threadgill would not fall over, but merely stand up a little straighter like a spring released. 

There is a mental component to this as well. Intent is very important but after the physical skills are learned. Threadgill sensei says that after 20 years of training he can now think "right shoulder" and the adversary will fall right. This is a very advance mind-body connection. Everyone is capable of this sort of control. For instance, we do not think, pick up the spoon, we just pick up the spoon. Same thing but we are manipulating another person in doing so.

I like the word 'tone' in describing how my body is set up. Threadgill sensei used this term once on a forum and I find is fits perfectly. Without tone in my body, I can't begin to do some of things this training asks of me. In aikido I was always told to 'relax'. The problem with this direction is that I would relax ALL muscles involved and go sort of limp. This is the wrong idea, I think a better way of saying this would be to relax the unnecessary muscles and leave the others firing to generate the tone sensei talks about. I have spoken in the past about the posterior muscles playing an important part in this training. Without certain muscles firing we would have no structure at all. However, when only these muscles are firing, this sets up a body with sound structure that makes the most of the hips and legs in a unified manner. If you use your muscles in an isolated way, tone is going on and off and changing direction which leaves you open to counters. When I am training with someone and I take the role of uchitachi (uke) if I feel my training partner lose connection with me, I can re-establish control and counter-attack. At that point, he or she has lost the unified tone required and given me an opening and vice versa if I lose tone during a technique. A large part of our training these days is trying to perform the technique from start to finish with tone so that our opponent does not have a chance to get the upper-hand at any moment.

The extreme of this type of sensitive connection is using swords. If I touch my adversaries blade with my blade, and I do it with tone it gives me a connection to their entire structure without them knowing and I would have them from the beginning. This, however is beyond me at this stage. I find this very difficult.

Along with the Naikriki no gyo there are a series of kunren (drills) we do to help develop the budo body. Many involve another person providing resistance so we can work on channelling force through our structure while manipulating the other person.

So where am I with all this?

I would like to talk about the hara. This is difficult to discuss but I will try. Hara is a Japanese term describing an area just below the belly-button and is associated with esoteric things such as ki and life force etc. I will be using the term to describe a feeling I get in this area when I am moving with correct structure in my training and I feel my 'hara'.

My current understanding of what my hara is involves the muscles around the head of the femur, the pelvis area in general including the front and the back. When I am using my hara correctly I feel all my weight sitting in this area. As I manipulate incoming force it feels like I have a ball the size of an orange rotating and moving in this area, almost like a gyro.  The challenge I have is to ensure tone throughout my body so that I get this heavy feeling in my hara. In fact when I nail it I feel the weight seep all the way into my feet and the ground. A very important part of this is the alignment of the spine. The spine must be correctly aligned to prevent 'kinks' that would cause a part of my body to be isolated and then prevent a unified structure. So this includes the angle of the pelvis, having the back straight and head pulled up. The spine is a chain of bones and this means it can take a while to find this position. Constant training allows you to feel the right position for your spine. In the resistance drills your partner slowly adds force and you will find very quickly if your alignment is out because you will not be able to withstand their force without exerting your own. This is the wrong thing to do.If you find yourself pushing back, this is incorrect.

The muscles around my shoulder girdle are thicker than they used to be and I think this is partly due to my poor shoulder alignment. Over the years I have learned to pull them back and down so they sit on the skeleton correctly. This has resulted in the muscles around this area strengthening to maintain this position. I have always had small shoulders with very flexible ligaments. This extreme flexibility has worked against me as this meant my shoulders were disconnected from the rest of my structure. In fact many of us have found that the shoulder joint is one area that becomes a 'choke point' when trying to establish connection. Through life-long habits we engage the deltoid muscles readily when they are not required in the exercise. This is one group of muscles that need to relax. They are unnecessary to the movement. When those muscles relax, the force can travel to the hara and be felt there.

Another area that I have developed is the cross-connection. The left hip moves the right shoulder or vice versa. This is useful in fooling your opponent in not knowing where the power of a technique is coming from. They expect the power to be coming from that arm, but the opposite hip (and leg) is powering it and they can't counter.

The more I train my budo body the more I am finding the alignment of the skeleton is important. The tone generated by the muscles is there to keep that alignment in place. There is much more I could talk about but I think that will do for now. 

Masakatsu Agatsu

Lately, I have been thinking about a quote from Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido.

He once said, "masakatsu agatsu or "true victory is victory over oneself."

Like many of his quotes, this can be interpreted in many ways. I often find my self thinking about this quote in my own training.
During my aikido practice I often thought of the quote to mean if I had control of myself emotionally and had a calm approach to an assailant, then I could control the situation. In other words, if I had self-control then I could control others. This is of course true in a verbal confrontation, in fact I use this idea everyday in my job. I'm a high school teacher in a state-funded school and staying calm with teenagers is very important. Teenagers will often resort to verbal abuse like put-downs and swearing to disrupt your influence. Being able to use body language, precise wording and a calm demeanor is important.

I find one flaw in my own logic here. Even if I could be calm under a physical assault I would still have to be technically proficient to survive such a confrontation. Just because I could be calm under pressure does not guarantee success. 

When I began practicing Takamura-ha Shindo Yoshin Ryu an important aspect of the training focused on correct alignment of my body, 'structure' is the term we use often. The more I train, the more I realise that without proper structure I cannot possibly control others. If my structure is not correct, then it becomes more difficult for me to take control of my opponent. So on a simple, physical level masakatsu agatsu applies. 

While in the draft stages of this post I came upon this blog:

Predator or Protector?

In this blog the author talks about how anyone who studies martial arts, studies violence. There is no other way to look at it. We can wrap it up in soft fluffy philosophy but at the end of the day, the definition of martial arts is forms of self-defence or attack. We learn how to use physical violence to get an end result. So the author then goes on to say, "How does this make us any different to bad guys?"  

It is an interesting point. People who rob, rape, assault or kill use violence or at least the threat of violence. How do we differ? The author's point? We use violence to protect while the bad guys use violence to prey on others.  He then goes on to say that in order to protect we must be better at violence than the bad guys. What a thought.

A quote from the blog:

"So it is imperative that GOOD people be skilled at violence.

What does that mean?For the most part it is helping good people give themselves permission to do what is necessary.
Unless they are competing for the same resources, it is rare for a predator to hunt another predator.
So protection can also be achieved by helping folks remember that they are also predators.  The confidence that brings can remove someone from some victim profiles."

The author continues to say that should you allow yourself permission to do what is necessary and be violent, then how much is too much? When do you turn the violence off? How do you turn the violence off? Masakatsu agatsu. True victory is victory over oneself. This mental level is something I have been chasing all of my martial arts journey. As I have trained I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone, then once that was comfortable I looked for more discomfort. The problem I had was if the people around me didn't want to amp things up like that I was left with no one to train with. When I started aikido, taking a physical risk might mean taking a high break fall or letting someone twist on my arm. As that fear disappeared, I wanted faster attacks and to dance more on the edge of what I was capable of. Unfortunately for most of my training partners, they weren't interested after a certain level of stress. 

Then I started TSYR. Here my training colleagues were more capable and used to higher levels of stress in the dojo. The training involved committed attacks often with wooden training weapons. I know at even higher levels of training, shinai and armour are used and permission is given to move away from kata and really try to make the hits land. Sensei has a systematic approach to amping up training and getting the adrenal dump to occur in the participants. I am not at this point and Threadgill Sensei has said that not everyone wants to go there. I want to go there. 

One of my TSYR buddies is an Air Force Medic. He had the opportunity to train with the Australian Special Forces at one point. Members of the Armed Forces were asked if they would play the part of terrorists on a Special Forces exercise. My friend put his hand up. One thing he noted when he meet these men is the absolute confidence they had in their abilities. It was a quiet confidence, no bravado what-so-ever. The exercise simulated a takeover of a bus. The Special Forces guys were to storm the bus and take down the 'terrorists'. My fiend said he had never experienced anything like it. The Special Forces guys went from quiet, confident men to aggressive, violent soldiers in a second. They moved with absolute precision, with calculated violence. My friend found himself taken to the ground with a knee on is chest in seconds. He said there was nothing gentle about how they dealt with the situation. He said these men carried  a presence that none of the other soldiers carried. One of utmost confidence in their abilities in moments of high stress. They had gained victory over themselves. Masakatsu agatsu.

I have read many articles by Ellis Amdur. He wrote this one:

Hiding in the Shadows of the Warrior

How can I, a civilian studying martial arts ever get to the level of calm efficiency that the Special Forces guys get to? Should it even be a goal for me? A part of me wants to find out what I am capable of. What happens to me, psychologically if I really feel threatened? Ellis Amdur's article addresses his own training under stress and one of the outcomes for him. It is sobering reading. 

Part of me wants to go into this psychological space. To see where my breaking point is. To see what demons lurk within. And then quell them. 

Then, and only then do I think I will have achieved masakatsu agatsu.

The Legacy of Takamura Sensei.

If you go to the TSYR hombu dojo homepage you will find a PDF of an interview between Stanley Pranin and Yukiyoshi Takamura. I have read this article many times as it gives me an insight into my Kaicho's teacher.

Yukiyoshi Takamura

After reading the interview with Yukiyoshi Takamura, I was left pondering a few things he said.

One of his quotes from the article, "Appreciation of fear and the appropriate reaction when confronting fear is the sign of a mature martial artist."

This was in answer to the question regarding how rough his training methods were. He was trying to explain that the dojo is an environment where you can experience the fear response while training with people you can trust. People who can look after you while your mind and body adapt to high levels of stress. This is one reason I enjoy TSYR. The training does challenge me often. Especially the kenjutsu practice. I also know that at higher levels things get cranked up more but I have a strong relationship with most people in that dojo and know that they will do everything they can to ensure my safety. If I get hurt it was probably through something I did, not them. 

Another quote related to this: "Without a struggle, the character never really is challenged and never matures."

So if you enjoy martial arts because it is easy, then maybe there is something wrong with the training. 

He goes on to say, "Remember that most people who call themselves martial artists are nothing of the sort. Most dojos are not martial arts dojos either. They are glorified social clubs thriving in an environment of emotional stimulation which is heightened by a false or extremely limited perception of danger. When real danger shows itself in such a dojo, the participants run for cover. In a real dojo the participants run towards the conflict."

I'm sure he is not advocating the old school approach of looking for danger and picking fights rather that the people of 'real dojos' are mentally prepared for serious confrontation or stress in whatever form that may be. 

Having a background in aikido, I know what he is talking about when describing glorified social clubs. Some aikidoka I have known come to the training for the buzz they get from throwing people or being thrown by people in a slightly choreographed fashion. It is fun, no doubt about it but the reality is, that no one is really resisting and balance-breaking often results from the attacker over-extending, leading to a false confidence of one's ability. Disclaimer: this is not all aikido or aikidoka. There are some devastating examples of aikido in action out there. 

Takamura was certainly clear on his views with regards to the right mental attitude and the conditions for training and I like to think he instilled in Toby Threadgill that same sense of credibility in his teaching and therefore our training. What Toby can do is impressive but he doesn't make it into some mystic rubbish. He is careful to explain his abilities are simply the result of years of practice and refinement and he can show us how he does it. Immulating him is a different story, however!

Getting back on the horse (mat)

It's been awhile since my last post. However, my training has not stopped despite the passing of sensei. In fact we have not missed a single training session. Somehow being on the mat with others who knew sensei allows us to capture his essence. I have been wondering what to write about. The culture of our dojo has changed now, as to be expected. I think this post will simply be an opportunity to reflect on some of those changes.

The first point I would like to mention is that I have realised how much I relied on sensei to make sure I was doing everything correctly. I did not own my learning as much as I could have. In fact I think many members of the dojo feel this way. As a group we have had to take up the mantle and forge ahead providing our own direction. One of us is a licensed instructor but the reality is we are all learning this art together and the knowledge and skills as a collective are now more important than simply relying on one exceptional martial artist to pull us along. This means taking turns running certain aspects of the class. For example we have been asked by the senior member to take turns leading the body conditioning exercises at the start of every Saturday class. We all adhere to the main principles of the exercises but each have our own take on them. It has been interesting to see and hear the others' interpretations of them.

The second change to the group as a whole is that, for me anyway, the group is now tighter for having gone through the grief of losing sensei. I have two young children and they are associating with these people more often. It is nice to know they will most likely grow up around people who I trust and respect. I am trying to involve myself more in the other activities outside of the training sessions. Make my presence felt by the others to show my full support. Of course this is limited by family and work obligations.

This brings me to my third point. I didn't realise it at the time but the eight or so other people I train with on that mat I count as friends. I don't say that lightly. I keep a very small group of people in my 'friend zone' and I feel privileged to count my dojo partners in that group. Of course the strong support from Toby Threadgill and hombu also mean we still have a source of guidance and structure in place to continue growing in our practice.

So on the whole the passing of sensei has strengthened the group. It is something very positive for us to take from such a sad experience. I am a realist about this though and some people had been shaky on their commitment when sensei first passed, mostly from shock I expect but we have supported one another and I hope for the sake of the art and for the effort sensei put into us, that we don't lose too many people. Of course like me, some of the others have attacked their training with even more vigour than before, determined to keep the flame burning.

Budo Body Part II

A while ago (during my first year of TSYR training) I mentioned that the body conditioning exercises were changing the musculature of my back and some re-wiring of the nervous system was going on.
This is an update.

After 2 and a half years of doing these conditioning exercises this is how things have progressed...
When I work through some of the exercises and then carry this feeling of good body alignment into my techniques it feels like most of my postural muscles are engaged. So all those muscles that allow for good posture fire. For me these are the trapezius muscles, lats, some deep abdominal muscles, hamstrings, calf muscles, even muscles that pull my flat feet into better alignment. Everything feels like it gets pulled tight like a spring. Now this is not a tensing of the muscles to the point of rigidity or stiffness. The feeling is spring-like. There is stability but bounce - for want of a better word.
Other muscle groups that seem to get attention during training are the triceps. Basically every muscle group on the posterior of my body gets some sort of workout when I train. Now this intrigues me because when I think of strength I think of rock hard abs and broad pectoral muscles. However, the tone and the muscle soreness a couple of days later is almost always centred on muscles on the rear side of my body.

As some of the larger muscle groups strengthen, the conditioning exercises then seem to target smaller muscle groups to maintain correct alignment. I really do feel like I am ironing out the kinks when I perform this routine. This conditioning is having a large effect on my techniques. I move from a place of strength and balance more often. I can power the technique with a coordinated body rather than certain muscle groups trying to force it into happening. It is exciting and empowering at the same time.

I can't help thinking that Morihei Ueshiba, Sokaku Tekada and other men that influenced the creation of Aikido must have moved with this power. Aikido techniques make more sense from this viewpoint. Certainly people like Ellis Ambur and Stanley Pranin seem to suggest this.

Along with this training develops a strong awareness of your own balance and where your body is in space. This sensitivity is key to effective TSYR technique. During some of the faster, freestyle like training we do, one can start to sense when your opponent has lost their balance, or given it back to you. This can result in counters and is incredibly subtle.

Putting Spirit in Sword Kata

Morihei Ueshiba and son.

I'm reflecting on my Saturday training session. We covered many facets of TSYR. Ukemi practice, body throws, some very old, technical kata and finally batto (sword drawing) and sword kata. As I don't yet own my own sword, I was paired up with the only other guy there who was swordless and we practised kumitachi with bokken. We worked on the two sets from the Shoden level. We know these kata well now so we are now trying to refine them, refine them and refine them some more. One aspect we were working on is investing a stronger presence or spirit in our actions. When both people are deeply invested in the kata this creates an almost tangible tension that locks the two together. When the kata finally finishes, I feel a sense of relief or calmness as the tension falls away. It is incredibly meditative. 

I recently read that the key is to ensure that our training is intense enough is to encourage enough risk that we feel challenged but not overwhelmed. By providing a strong fighting spirit for our partner to deal with we help hone their edge. The difference between someone who is just going through the motions and someone who is fully invested in each moment is marked! The idea is to consider each kata a life and death scenario where you are looking for an opening in the other person's defences. There should be a feeling of pressing your opponent at all times, even when you are taking the role of the 'loser'. In this way you both develop and become stronger budoka for the experience.

Solo Practice

What makes a martial artist good? Look at your fellow students in your dojo, which of them would you consider to be fine examples of your martial art? I don't just mean the black belts or senior members. Looking as objectively as you can, which individuals stand out, no matter what the experience?

I can remember a particular black belt that got me into aikido, he had been practising something like eight years before I joined. Even though there were other black belts around, he stood out for me. His posture was always good, his technical ability was sharp and he would not let me slack off on naming the techniques in Japanese or on poor form, he always strived for perfection. On top of all that he was a humble, gentle guy.  

In my current training in TSYR obviously my instructor stands out. He has many of the same attributes as the person I mentioned above. Our headmaster of the school has even called him a 'freak', but in a good way, he  learns new things, fast.

Why do these guys appear to be a step above the others, even of equivalent rank? 

First and foremost, they are talented, there is no question. They learn by doing (kinaesthetic learners). The teaching of martial arts happens to coincide with the best way that they learn, by repeating movements of the body over and over again. They can watch someone else do the movement and pick it up very quickly.

However, there are plenty of talented people in the world. The one factor that I think sets them apart is how  and when they train. They train earnestly when they are in the dojo, they use every moment to progress while on the mat. They always believe they can do better. But this is the big thing...they train outside of the dojo, often by themselves - solo work. 

The aikidoka I mentioned often practised his weapon work at home by himself, going over the kata, refining each one. He would come to the dojo with questions about his training for the sensei. I asked my current instructor what he valued most in his training and he showed me a series of exercises he uses to maintain mobility and keep a strong centre. He has been doing them for years and learnt them from a guy in Thailand.

You are your best teacher. You know yourself best. Solo training, in my opinion, is key to progressing towards excellence in your chosen martial art. 

The challenge of course is finding time. Once you take into account work, family and your normal dojo hours, where do you find the time (or energy) to do solo work. I have set myself a goal. To do the conditioning exercises of my art at least three times a week. One of those times will be in the dojo, so I need to find about 15 minute blocks outside of the dojo in the rest of the week to do this. Incorporated into my own training are the other exercises sensei showed me. I use these as a warm up before the conditioning exercises. I find after 15 minutes that I have quite a sweat up. As time allows, I'll move into doing these exercises every day. Some days this won't happen but that is OK, provided I achieve my three times a week.

Fascia, Anatomy Trains, and Tensegrity

TSYR and other more internal martial arts aims to develop the body in  such a way that it becomes more connected and better aligned to the spine and centre/hara. Some work has been done around what is actually being conditioned by this training. This brings me to talk about the fascia of the body.

The following information was gleaned from an old aikiweb thread and also involves information from some other sources (thanks to my instructor).

This will be a long article but is interesting all the same. This from the aikiweb discussion:

During discussions of internal power/internal strength, we have heard the term "fascia" mentioned as an explanation of what was actually happening, but no one really went into depth about it. So we went out onto the internet and put together a few different concepts we found there regarding fascia, holistic body concepts and sports medicine.

Maybe this is all old news and has already been discussed before.

1: Fascia:

Everyone who has eaten tuna sushi knows what fascia tissue is. The fascia are layers of white stringy fibers running along the muscles. Very chewy.

What is most interesting is that the fascia form large networks or structures within the body, some running from the feet all the way to the top of the head.

The major fascia structures are, for our purposes:

Superficial Front Line
Superficial Back Line
Deep Front Line
Spiral Line
Lateral Line
Deep Arm Back Line

Diagrams can be found at the following link.

http://www.structuralwisdom.com/Anat...ain_Lines.html

Every muscle and organ in the body sits in a bag of tissue called fascia (it's the gristle that butchers cut off before they sell the meat). The bags are twisted at the ends just like garbage bags and also contain fibers that penetrate through the muscles to the underlying bones. The twisted ends form tendons, which have a greater tensile strength than the sides of the bags. If you pick up a full garbage bag from the side it tears but the twisted end does not due to the differences in tensile and shear strength.

The fascia contains contractile and elastic stretchable components as well as blood vessels and sensory nerves. The characteristics of the fascia (thickness, contractibility, viscoelasticity, sensory capability etc) are variable and can be affected by physical training or specific exercises. The sensory components are the major end organs for proprioceptive -- knowing where parts of your body are in space without looking at them. A simple example of this is closing your eyes placing one hand above your head and then touching that hand with the other hand while keeping your eyes closed. You would not be able to carry out that action without the help of fascia and myofascial trains.

The elastic components can be stretched and held in tension. While stretched out, they can assist with the structural integrity of the body. Think of a trampoline or the canvas sail on a yacht or the unbendable arm in Aikido. Also, if they are released from tension suddenly, then the stored elastic energy of the fascia, like a rubber band snapping back, can be accessed and directed.

These fascia springs can hold things together (keep you upright), aid in your balance and posture, and work with your muscles to add power to your movements. They can even recruit organs in the process since the deep frontal line fascial train connects the legs with the back, torso, neck and head muscles as well as the organs of the abdomen and chest. Everyone knows that you can jump higher on a trampoline. The energy still came from you, but the extra lift came from releasing the stored elastic energy in the stretchy parts of the trampoline.

All but one of these fascia structures run through our "center". To put tension (one way is with the feeling of opposite tension on diametrically opposed areas of your body) in them and stretch them around, we can use our waist and stomach muscles. Accessing the stored elastic power and movement of the major fascia groups can be accomplished by Dan Tien turning or moving your spine in and out (ming meng popping) while maintaining structural integrity of the lumbar-lower back spine to avoid injuries and overall body balance (maintain kuzushi).

Visualizing which fascia structure you need in a movement (example, if you decide that it is the Superficial Back Line supporting the load during Kokyu-Dosa), may be useful. Intent and proprioception can play a role.

Interestingly, the lines of tension and force described in some of the Aunkai exercises (and other similar types) seem to follow the major fascia structures.

Most simple "Ki Tricks" can be explained in terms of controlling the fascia structures. For example, by activating the Lateral Line fascia (running from your arm to the back) and the Superficial Back Line, you can perform the unbendable arm trick.

Knowledge of the fascia structures and how they work should improve one's study of movement.

2: Anatomy Trains:

Anatomy trains (or myofascial trains) are lined-up groups of muscle and fascia working together for a more effect end result. An example of how it works would be hanging from a bar by one hand, and the arm muscles, shoulder muscles, back muscles all line up and connect to the pelvis so that the load is not carried just by the arm muscles. Also movement of the arms in spirals in Aikido lines these trains up while arm movement straight back and forth firing the biceps muscle and pulling moves the trains out of alignment.

Check out the links at:

http://www.anatomytrains.com/at/History

Are these myofascial trains real or just a concept?

The below link shows how these chains are connected anatomically. Note: Based on experiments with cadavers, so not for the faint of heart.

http://scottsevinsky.com/pt/referenc...continuity.pdf

This research proves that there are actual physical connections of tissue (that can be measured and described) between muscle groups that were previously considered to be isolated from one another.

These myofascial trains, just like everything else, can be conditioned and strengthened with training. This conditioning requires proper alignment and cannot be done too quickly at first as multiple body parts have to move together in a coordinated fashion. If you practice too quickly at first the body parts will fall out of alignment during the course of the movement. Think of yoga or tai chi and the speed at which they are practiced.

So proper training will physically strengthen the soft tissue connections and improve your coordination and awareness of them (with proprioception). End result, Unified Body. One thing moves, everything moves (Whole Body Force).

3: Myofascia Trains

The myofascia are the very small threads of fascia that surround and penetrate individual muscles. With high resolution ultrasound, these fascia can be studied, and how they respond to different types of training is really fascinating.

The following link has a great article on this.

http://www.somatics.de/FascialFitnessTerraRosa.pdf

Diagram from Terra Rosa e-magazine, Issue no. 7, page 4

In Graphic A, we see the muscle and fascial condition of your average non-training couch potato.

In Graphic B we see the condition in the average weight lifter/body builder. The serial and transverse fascial fibers are thicker relative to the couch potato in Graphic A but the parallel (the ones needed to have several groups of muscles work together) are no different than those in the couch potato.

In Graphic C, the parallel and extra muscle fascial fibers are thickened or developed, but muscle and other fascial fibers are not. This is the condition we see in Yoga practitioners (who are flexible and coordinated, but are not known for having explosive power).

In Graphic D, from loaded stretching, we see that everything is developed except for the transverse fibers.

This is critically important. If the transverse fibers are on, then the muscle feels tense. If there is tension, then your body is not really relaxed and you cannot generate waves of power in one part of your body and transmit it to another.

So with loaded stretching, graphic D shows us that are muscles can be fully activated (can move with power) and be relaxed at the same time. This is the ideal condition for all Budo practice including Aikido.

The myofascia can be trained and conditioned, so over time, the training can increase the activation of these fibers. Someone who lifts weights all the time will probably have a very hard time not being tense while doing budo since that is how his muscles have been conditioned. Someone who only does loaded stretching may have a hard time generating the localized shear muscle power (via transverse fibers) to open a can of tuna in their own kitchen when they are older, but throwing people around on the mats will be a piece of cake.

The type of training (weight lifting, yoga, loaded stretching) actually changes your muscles (well, the myofascia in and around them) and how they function. Knowledge of waza is not enough; your body has to be conditioned at the cellular level to perform high level budo.

Relaxing and generating power is just not about "willing" your body to relax or finding some spiritual place in your mind. It has to be trained into your body over time.

4: Tensegrity

Tensegrity is concept of three dimensional structures being held together with elastic tension. The rigid members of the structure add stiffness and strength, while the elastic structures add a springy strength and distribute the load of any impact over the whole structure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity

The "old" model of the human body was that it was the bones creating the structure and rubbery tendons and cartilage acted like soft cement to hold it together, (brick and mortar model). The "new" tensegrity model is that the soft tissues act like cables holding the bones and the rest of the body together with elastic tension while the bones actually float in space. The more elastic the tissues are, and the higher the amount of tension there is, the stronger the entire structure becomes.

So what does this mean to Budo practioners?

Well, we want to expand our bodies and not have compression in any areas. We will be able to absorb more power and release more power by putting all of our body in elastic tension. A well known example of this in practice is the basic forward roll. We stretch out our bodies and arms to absorb the energy of hitting the mats by stretching the deep back arm myofascial train. We do not fold up into a fetal ball, taking away the stretch and elastic tension from our arms, back and legs. By stretching out our arms and making them feel "springy", the force gets distributed throughout our entire body via Tensegrity.

Of course there are different levels of Tensegrity, depending on your training.

Wrapping it all together (in a collagen bow):

At the end of the day, we have our large fascia structures, such as the Deep Front Line and Superficial Back Line, which with training have become stronger and more elastic. We can control the stretch of these fascia with our posture. We have trained our muscles to work together to form anatomy trains that we can access. The combination of the stretched fascia and the anatomy trains working together create a "whole body" superstructure from Tensegrity. If someone has Tensegrity, then all body parts have elastic tension and no compression; pushing on any area will result in the whole structure absorbing the push and springing back on it (kuzushi on contact). The feeling will be the attacker "loses" at the moment of contact. Of course by changing the tension in different areas of the body, an adept can alternately make their body feel "soft and absorbing" or "hard and springy" at will.

With the loaded stretching, the myofascia have been programmed to have the series and parallel fibers on, but transverse off. When this is combined with anatomy trains, a movement in one part of your body (dan tien, waist), can be efficiently transmitted to the hands or arm without the arms or shoulders tensing or feeling "on". Significant amounts of elastic energy can be stored in muscles that are not really that large, from a body builder's perspective.

All these effects together could be called Ki or Chi.

Loaded Stretching:

So what is loaded stretching? Well, it really seems to be what Akuzawa is teaching with his Aunkai curriculum, it is the Nairiki exercises (at least the few ones that I saw) that TSYR has, and the exercises that Dan Harden is teaching in his workshops. Even the classic breathing exercises in many Aikido warm-ups contain loaded stretching.

Unfortunately, it is easy to perform these exercises incorrectly and not get the full benefits. If you treat them like an aerobics exercise and you are not getting a "loaded stretch" throughout the movement, then you are not going to change your myofascial fibers too much. You will not condition your myofascial trains to work together either. I will step aside and let the experts discuss these exercises in detail, but obviously it has to be deeper than just having the hands and feet in the right position.

When I first saw the Aunkai exercises demonstrated, I was skeptical that they would have much benefit. Now that I have read the articles on how the myofascai work and how anatomy trains can be strengthened, I am now much more open to these types of exercises.

So if there is anyone else out there who had some skepticism about the benefits that these specialized exercises promised, well there now seems to be some scientific evidence that they can work.

There is still an "art" to the martial arts. You still have to put in thousands of hours of blood sweat and tears to get anywhere. Nothing here is a shortcut.

Ki, Ying Yang and those other terms are the terminology that martial artists in the Bronze Age used to describe their high level abilities. It may be useful to modernize our terminology based on science when describing our bodies in a Budo context.

Conclusions:

Modern sports medicine research and concepts can help to explain some of the high level martial abilities of the Elders in the Art.

Specific types of training can change your body at the cellular level and put "spring" in your muscles without them being tense.

Different parts of our body are physically connected with soft tissues that can be strengthened and controlled. Tensegrity unifies all the forces in a head to toe fashion.

Maybe, just maybe, we can incorporate some of the "Fascia Fitness" concepts into our own training and improve both our bodies and our techniques. That would be awesome.

Total Disclaimer: I do not claim to have any special knowledge or abilities in this. I am just summarizing what I found on the internet, with some minor commentary to connect the dots. The transverse myofascial in my shoulders are noticeably active during all of my techniques, there is no measureable tensegrity in my body, I have little conscious control over my fascia structures and they are not very springy and finally my anatomy trains are not well developed at all. I can provide references to back up these claims.

A special thanks to Dr. Aaron Stone for helping to coauthor this article. The disclaimer is all mine though.

Byron Foster