Appearance has been the driving force of how we interpret what it means to “be strong”… but the things we do to look and feel strong do little to improve our stability or capacity to withstand force.

Imagine the appearance of any warrior, from any culture,from any time in history and what you see is a man puffed out, shoulders thrown back, ferocious. Locked in conflict in a fight to the death there is no way but through.

We assume that because this approach has enabled our survival that we should strive to embody that image whenever there is opposition or just when we want to be strong but the postures and behaviors of the archetypical warrior are designed to produce destruction at any cost, defending a larger goal then our own safety. In day to day life and even in self-defense that strategy is not as effective as we think.

Both of these images are of what is currently termed “internal power” or “ki” in the aikido community. This refers to the fact that the body is designed withstand a far greater force than it is able to exert. Imagine how much harder it is to pick something up than it is to hold on to it. Tohei Sensei is pictured at the top of the post performing what he termed “weight underside.” Essentially this works on taking a shape that aligns your bones and weight in a way that connects you to the ground. You muscles relax other than to hold that shape.

I visited a Ki Society dojo in Elkton, VA where Brian Kelly Sensei guided me in “ki testing.” It challenged whether “being” strong, ready, and relaxed as I knew it was working or not. What was supposed to happen is that as my partner pushed, their force would be directed into the ground but as took a deep breath and felt the initial contact I fell over. I “manned up” and that made it even easier to be unbalanced. After several directed adjustments I was able to be stable; the posture did not look strong in the mirror but I was not falling over.

Ki is really coordinating mechanics for security rather than utilizing energy for opposition. It doesn’t look menacing and grabbing someone from Ki Aikido is like grabbing a foam covered pipe. Soft but unbendable. Pictures of both O’sensei and Tohei Sensei in ki demos are of smiling relaxed men who in the next move topple their opponents with a slight pressure from the side. Not the picture we are used to.