Interactions between the principles

For the past year I've been doing themes, talking each month about one principle in a set of articles. Sensei Strange and Sensei Dan Prager have sorta taken this up as a challenge and have either done their own monthly series or have carried on extended discussions with me on my monthly themes.

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Having done this for nearly a year, it's just about time to begin a new series - a new thing! I've decided to put a different spin on my principle posts. This coming year I'll be doing a series of 1-2 posts per week on the interactions between various principles.

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For example, we can pretty much all agree that posture and relaxation and eye contact and footwork are foundational principles of martial arts, and we've written lots of articles on these principles individually. But what about the interactions between the principles? How does relaxation affect posture? How does proper eye contact change your footwork? Each possible pair of these principles suggests an new area to explore in a post or a short series.

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I figure to do 1-2 more months of the monthly theme thing and then kick off the weekly interactions series. I've already planned out two or three dozen potential articles for this interactions series and I'm really looking forward to putting those thoughts out here over the next year. I'd also like to invite a few more folks to try their hand at these interactions series on their own blogs. Dan? Strange? Anyone interested?

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If so, FYI, the principles I intend to explore interactions for the next year include:

• relaxation
• shizentai - natural, upright posture
• maai - intuitive time/space sense
• tai sabaki - evade offline
• orenaite/kite - the unbendable arm/power hand
• kimusubi - synchronizing your energy with theirs
• kuzushi - offbalance
• zanshin - remaining mindful
• atemi - striking
• osaekomi - holding
• metsuke - eye control
• shikaku - the dead angle
• avoid engagement - aiki brushoff

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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