Paul Linden's Aikido and Body Workshop, Columbus, OH
Dec 4-5, 2000

Contributed by Bill Leicht *

"Paul & Elvis free up your pelvis" could have been this workshop's slogan. We aikidoists still rein in our hips (a hard-dying strain of puritanism?) while believing we have mastered the tan den. Paul Linden, however, goes on to help us ground ourselves through re-experiencing what we actually do and what more we can do with hips and hara. His recent workshop at Aikido of Columbus, OH showed some 25 aikidoists from the East Coast and the Midwest how far even experienced practitioners can to go to maximize their power, "By practicing staying aware, powerful and compassionate in the midst of the self-defense interaction, you integrate that spiritual state into your body and your self" and are more effective in your responses.

We formed a circle for discussions and non-aikido demonstrations, but to apply new learning to aikido techniques we lined up before the shomen, watched, then worked in pairs.

After hearing our opening questions ("What is the vision that motivates technique? What's the difference between technique and conversation? When uke doesn't react [as expected] what do you do?") Paul began with a chart (below and on wall, top left in picture). To a great extent these elements determined the order of the rest of the workshop (although participant concerns and questions took us on many detours).

Applications of Being in Movement® Mindbody Training to Aikido Nine interconnected, overlapping elements: 1) Basic principles of mind/body functioning. 2) Body as a process of self-correction & self-study. 3) Improving nage's body use & movement. 4) Discerning uke & the attack movement. 5) Connecting with uke & the attack movement. 6) Disrupting/controlling uke & the attack movement. 7) Developing basic principles of waza movement. 8) Understanding emotional/spiritual blocks. 9) Working toward calmness & harmony.

Then Paul demonstrated the most basic of basic principles, "center" or "pelvic stability," in a way more powerful and clearer than the usual "center-testing" or "one-point" methods. He asked a volunteer to sit in seiza for the first demonstration and his first instruction, in the voice of an etiquette-conscious mama, was "sit up." On a slight touch even most senior people just toppled over. After eliciting our cultural associations with "correct sitting" he meticulously revised the posture, at each point calling us to study our own reactions and habits, then experimenting:

"It takes a good deal of introspective study of the body and just the right kind of movement experiences to happen upon the particular sitting posture...To understand this, consider that there are basically two ways to tip a bowl forward-lifting the rear edge or lowering the front edge. Using the extensor muscles of the back to lift the rear edge of the pelvis arches the back and creates tension and discomfort, and this is why everyone will sit up 'straight' for a minute when exhorted to and then give it up as uncomfortable. Using the deep, internal psoas muscle (which runs between the head of the thighbone and the front of the spinal column) to create a movement which in effect drops the front edge of the pelvis creates a very strong and comfortable physical organization of the pelvis and spinal column." (Amer. Music Teacher, October 1992)

Later he extended this self-study method to stretching. First we visualized an event or person that "made your heart smile." Then during stretching supported by a towel at the base of the spine to bring the pelvis to the centered position that we just had learned, he talked us through extending out of that center until we found the edge of our discomfort. Backing off slightly from that edge he suggested that we apply the image that "made our heart smile" to the muscle and observe its reaction. Of course, this is basic yoga instruction, but rare in aikido, and even in yoga it may be long before practitioners learn the mechanics of pelvic support so simply taught and applied here.

These principles we then applied to walking. Again he helped us to notice how we could use the internal psoas muscles to rotate and position the pelvis for better stability and flexibility. The picture shows a participant beginning centered walking after guided self analysis, suggestions and hands on adjustments by Paul.

"In examining your muscle tone, breathing, body alignment, flow of energy and attention, and the shapes and qualities of your movements, you are looking at the solid manifestation of your thoughts, feelings, beliefs and intentions and all the choices you have made throughout your life. By learning to move in a way that is relaxed, powerful, sensitive, and efficient, you can access an inner wholeness in which body, mind, energy and spirit are integrated." (website, www.being-in-movement.com, January 2001).

Paul's methods are remarkable and valuable for aikidoists in a number of ways. He presents a whole mind, body, emotion approach, "The body is the concrete aspect of the self and offers a tangible way of examining and overcoming the patterns that [restrict us]...Thoughts, feelings, beliefs and intentions shape and are shaped by muscle tone, breathing, body alignment, energy flow and movement." He has demonstrated that 1) Explanation can take on a much larger role in aikido practice and can speed the core learning of "how to be" that develops so slowly. 2) Careful analysis of aikido movement can help learners to become more effective in their techniques; but, we need to use language that is operational, helping learners "report their experiences in language that refers to specific bodily sensations and events." 3) Aikido's seated postures for watching and learning can become more effective and safer with a prop (rolled up towels under the tailbone for anza) or alternative musculature (internal psoas for seiza). 4) Imagery can provide a way of integrating movements. To incorporate them into training, however, will require our aikido community to find people who will work with Paul as apprentices in order to understand his methods, apply them and learn to teach them to others.

A second Aikido/Body Work workshop is scheduled for June 23-24, 2001 at Aikido of Columbus in Columbus, OH. For more information and to register, please phone 614-262-3355 or e-mail [email protected].