AIki as an energy minimisation problem

Aiki = Gamma, del F ??

Just back from a weekend in Sydney, where Andrew Sunter Sensei’s dojo held some inspirational gradings (see  Sydney Aikido facebook group for more info). Congratulations to one and all, and Brett from Grafton dojo who also graded.

The day before there was some opportunity to share a little something we have been working on up here in Brisbane. I’ve been banging on about toppling for a while now (see Toppling – How to throw), but something crystallised during the exploration with Sunter Sensei and collegues – and brought in a little of my doctoral work on glaciers (WOT the!) into all this.

Gamma.Del.F is a step wise technique used in solving all kinds of complex problems in physics, antenna design and even financial systems. It turns out its exactly the same methodology used in Aiki which seeks to find the minimum path to reducing an incoming force to zero . While its true there is ‘nothing new under the sun’, sometimes a new view point can be helpful.

Look forward to sharing on Tuesday night, after being away almost three weeks I hope I can find my hakama though 🙂