I have been meaning to blog on my budo (martial arts) practice (Aikido and Kashima Shinryu Kenjutsu), and thought I’d start with the topic of gravity. I am working my way to potential links between budo and subjects like software development and configuration management, but don’t want to get too airy fairy and draw invalid analogies, so for now will just keep the topics separate and perhaps see what emerges.
It took me a while to realise that when he “discovered” gravity old Isaac Newton was helping out budo practitioners! Gravity is our friend in budo, and I find it particularly true of kenjutsu (sword work).
Try holding your sword out with one hand and then just dropping it. If you’re on the same planet as me then it will drop to the ground pretty reliably and consistently 
After having dropped it a few times, try holding on while you “drop” it. This means that you drop your whole body and hand together with the sword, in such a way that the sword falls at the same speed as if you had just let it go. In my experience people find this surprisingly difficult at first. You have to relax your knees and hips in particular and just drop. Best practiced on a mat to protect those knees a bit. Most people can’t let go of their leg muscles and get in the way of gravity – they interfere with the sword dropping. Once you are really getting the feeling for it you can start ever so gently making a cut whilst dropping the sword. This I find is very useful when working out the cut for Kihondachi number 2 (Ashibaraiukefune)..
A variation is to kneel in seiza and just hold your sword out in front of you balanced vertically upright. Let it overbalance and just fall to the mat. Try that a few times, and then do the same thing while holding on to it. Make sure you are just letting it fall. Relax and just drop the sword and your hand together.
Another interesting exercise from standing is kesa giri (diagonal cut). I find this helps to get a much smoother cut than just giving people a bokuto (wooden sword) and showing them how to cut. In that case it tends to be all arms and shoulders. With left foot forward slightly hold the bokuto in your right hand only and just swing it gently up and rest it on your left shoulder. From that position just “pull” it down in a very natural manner so that it just falls to the ground in an arc (you keep holding the sword so the tip strikes the ground – again mats help here to protect the sword). An alternative is to have a partner just hold a bokuto low down and across the path of yours so that you naturally strike it (in a way they catch your sword). Once you are comfortable with doing this in a totally natural and relaxed manner, letting gravity do all the work, you can then try holding it with both hands in the normal way and doing the same thing. This is usually substantially more difficult – people mess up the perfectly natural stroke with muscle!
Of course gravity also relates to balance, particularly of swords – finding and being in contact with the balance of your sword at all times while moving it. Another key related factor is relaxation which I will talk more about another time. Also the relationship between power, relaxation, speed and control.
Cheng Hsin. I recently got a copy of his DVD which is well worth watching. Also, read his book Effortless Power.
Karel Koskuba, who teaches Yiquan, also puts it interestingly when he discusses mobiliser muscles and stabiliser muscless. The stabilisers are the ones that allow us to stand up against gravity and are tremendously powerful. If we learn to use them more we can then access much greater strength than just through the more conscious muscles of the arms say.
So let gravity do as much as possible and really learn how to harness it, particularly in sword work. Requires quite a bit of sensitiviy and slow practice to really be aware of how your sword is moving, how it wants to move and what is happening in your body.
