Balance

In Aiki jujutsu we learn to use our balance to take away the balance, kazushi, of our opponent. In order to do this, one must learn to know their own points of balance. If you let your weight settle on either side, this becomes difficult. We float our weight so that it is never stuck in one place. A good illustration is a round house kick. You have the kicking foot in the air while your support foot pivots. If you cannot release your weight from the support foot, you cannot pivot. Transferring this feeling to floating your weight, ukemi, during a throw allows one to transfer their energy from their own hips, through relaxed arms, to the opponent in such a manner that the opponent cannot access the source of your energy.

A great exercise for this can be witnessed in many sumo match preparations. The contender raises one leg, then places it down with no weight on it. He then relaxes that leg while still putting no weight on it. He then floats his weight to that leg paying attention to the point at which the floating balance transfers. He then raises the other leg and repeats. If one pays attention to the exact moment their weight floats from one side to the other, they may use that energy.

If you would like to learn this practice, come and visit my classes at the River of Life.