Japan

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Mo'Dawg axs, does Ki mean belt buckle in aikido?  No way to tell whether he was pulling Dr. D's leg, but hey, it's an easy URL  ...

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Ki in Japan, Qi or Chi in China, is an Asian (not aiki) concept that presumes your life force emanates from your body like electrical fields (in fact) do from your brain.  I'm highly dubious about the metaphysics, at least in the form usually stated, but 1 billion good, decent people (and their doctors) may be on to some thing.

Usually "Ki" is taken to be seated in the hara, the center of gravity, a couple of inches below your belly button -- where the knot on your black belt is tied.  Or a couple of inches above the belt buckle, in Saunders' case.

Ai-ki-do:  Ai = harmony, Do = way.  The way of harmonizing your ki with your attacker's.  Odd to think of blending your intentionality with a mugger's?  That's what Michael Saunders is trying to do as a 94 MPH fastball attacks him, in front of 30,000 people.

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Metaphysics aside, Westerners would be a lot better off if they incorporated the idea of Ki into their vocabulary.  There are many aiki sensei with zero interest in metaphysics, and they speak of an imaginary "ray of intentionality"with profit.  There is no question that this is a core concept in sports.  A beginning tennis player needs to think in terms of his weight moving forward as he strikes the ball.  Then he learns to get his weight moving in the direction of the shot ... then to visualize the shot ... then to synch the CG with the visualization, which organizes his four limbs... 

I seriously doubt that any elite athlete moves without Ki organization, at least subconsciously.  When Junior says "let the ball get deeper and then get on top of it" he's speaking of his bat as though it's him personally - as though he and the bat are one.  The visualization idea is universal.

Mike Marshall's driveline mechanics are an obvious use of the idea.  After you get to thinking of MOVING your weight in the right direction, you then must attend to the idea of ACCELERATING your weight with the correct degree of aggressiveness.  Ask scratch-golfer Mo'Dawg how much it matters, whether he accelerates his club with the right smoothness and launch.

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