Hello TrueAiki readers. Below is a video introduction of Practical T.C.S. We shot video, and it wasn’t acceptable. We shot again, and again, the quality wasn’t acceptable. Nevertheless, I tried to salvage the video so that it would at least be out there to accompany the series of articles. What I didn’t realize was that my efforts to salvage the video would lead me on a long learning journey. I learned about my DAW, I learned about audio processing, I learned of a newly available app that satisfied my needs and then learned how to use the app. All in all, the end result is mediocre at best. BUT, the learning is satisfactory and should help to provide superior results in future videos. I hope this video, despite its shortcomings, will help provide interested readers with a better idea of what my words were trying to address in the seris of blogs.
Thank you for waiting patiently for the video, and for your patience with, and perhaps even appreciation of, my learning journey.
Stay tuned, more to come!
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4 Comments
Björn Klug · February 10, 2022 at 5:52 pm
Hi Allen, thanks for the video. I found it helpful. It made the concept of triangles very clear to me, and I think I also have a clear vision about what circles/spirals “do”, but I still have some doubts about the square(s) – where they are and how they act. I’m wondering if 1. squares actually transform to parallelograms (in motion) and 2. if the four vertices of the square always stay in the same plane? Does this question make sense, or am I thinking in the wrong direction?
Allen Dean Beebe · February 12, 2022 at 10:51 pm
Hi Björn, Great question as usual. First take a look at the Takeda Mon. It looks like a diamond laying on its side made of four diamonds laying on their sides. The diamonds are rhombuses. Quadrilaterals with four sides of equal length. Here is the confusing part, a square is a quadrilateral with for sides of equal length and four 90 degree angles. All squares are rhombuses but not all rhombuses are squares. A square is a weak shape that wants to deform. If, and when, a square deforms it usually deforms from a square into a rhombus . . . that is a quadrilateral with four sides of equal length but instead of having four 90 degree angles, it has two obtuse angles and two acute angles. What I have done is observe that when a square transforms into a rhombus (or a rhombus transforms from a rhombus, into a square and into a rhombus again) the two pairs of sides open or close equally, the and forces expressed are perpendicular to each other (orthogonal). As you know this results in some curious consequences. I also observed that if one of a pair of these opening or closing sides is in contact with a circle, cylinder, or spiral, the movement induces rotation into the circle, cylinder, or spiral.
In order to make these connections, one must be (slightly deranged like I am) and not just see shapes (as strictly defined) but see the characteric behaviors and properties of these shapes (allowing the square to deform into something other than a square and back again because that’s what they do in real life) to see how they can relate to each other.
I believe the answer to your second question is, “yes.” The vertices of the square/rhombus always stay int he same plane. BUT, the square/rhombus can rotate resulting in the plane rotating as well. AND, in our world, this is a good thing! Because, if, while rotating, it is also traveling through space, while it is also opening/closing, then its sides and vertices are also forming a force spiral . . . and we both know the advantages of THAT!
And, before anyone says, “That is crazy difficult to conceive of and visualize, much less make happen.” To that I say, “Yes!” And it is also crazy difficult to predict, counter or resist, which is the WHOLE point! If it were easy, everyone would be doing what only the few per generation can do!
Thanks for the question Björn. Keep working on it. I honestly, think about this silliness all day, and dream about it at night. It isn’t too infrequent that I wake up with a realization to a problem I’m working on. Yes, the answer is almost always what someone that could do the stuff told me the answer was. But the BIG difference is, is that now I actually understand the answer and 9 times out of 10 can begin to do the thing I’m working on (not just talk about it, or pretend, or talk about what my teacher could do.) Don’t quit, don’t die, keep working.
BTW, we are actively planning (with fingers crossed) picking up training again in Europe this summer!!!!
All the best,
Allen
Gabriela den Hollander · July 14, 2022 at 4:41 am
Thanks very much Alan for your video and for the unhurried pace of your explanations.
This is the first time in almost 40 years of aikido training that an elucidation of the TCS has made sense in a way I can immediately integrate into my understanding and, perhaps over time, into my practice.
I’ve received Aiki teaching from Bill Gleason sensei, Stephen Seymour sensei (in Oz) and from students of Dan Harden.
This is the first time Ive seen your current blog and I look forward to seeing and reading more of what you are studying and practising.
Kind regards
Gaby
Allen Dean Beebe · July 15, 2022 at 2:33 pm
Hello Gaby,
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. I am happy to hear that you found my efforts beneficial to your understanding and, hopefully, to your practice. I hope your further reading of TrueAiki.com will be just as rewarding. I have found that sometimes just the right words at just the right moment have induced the “scales” to fall from my eyes and suddenly brought the teachings of former teachers into focus for me. In such instances I find myself feeling grateful to all of the teachers and training partners that supported me while sought my way forward. I think we are all on a continuum of understanding and ability. This thought gives me patience, understanding and gratitude when a student I have long sought to learn something suddenly “discovers” that which I had be trying to convey from someone else. It also helps me to recognize that no teacher is an “all knowing being” or a “one way path” to understanding. Consequently, this recognition opens my mind to potential input from famous sensei’s to newbie neophytes alike. It is a big world and we are all ultimately responsible for our own learning and progress. I’m gladdened to be a part of yours.
All the best,
Allen