Aikido, 9/19/15

It was so good to get back to doing some aikido over the weekend! We worked on Merritt Stevens' self-defense methods, mainly from an overhand right punch. Lots of good practice! It's always fun to see our stuff work in a slightly more realistic way. So many techniques can come off of the initial "hands-up-get-off-the-line" reaction!

Aikido, 6/20/15

Today I was able to get back to Pat's for some aikido. After walking kata and releases, we worked on junana. Pat talked about how in a way, our aikido works only when uke resists us. So when uke gets solid, or resists in some direction, he's weak 90 degrees to that direction. The old "you can't be strong in two directions at once" principle.

It felt like kind of a deeper look at what's going on in the techniques, and some practice moving from one technique to another when uke resists. Pat pointed out that causing a vibration by bumping or "juking" uke makes him resist and allows you to execute another technique. It reminded me of the old "strike to lock, lock to strike" idea from kung fu, jeet june do, etc.

We played a little randori, and for some reason, I kept reverting to junana 13. My tokui for the day I guess.

Finally, we looked at owaza, and how it's different from junana. We looked at both the distance uke attacks from and consequent late timing in some of the techniques, as well as the greater separation in some of owaza compared to the same techniques in junana.

Hopefully I can train aikido more frequently from now on. Even with the other martial arts I'm dabbling in, aikido is still my favorite. If I had to pick one traditional art that best fit my self defense philosophy, aikido would still be the one. Judo and karate are great when the context calls for them, but in my opinion, aikido allows for more options, and might cover a wider range of circumstances.

Aikido, 7-19-14 - Bode Clinic

Last week we had a clinic with JW Bode. I wasn't able to attend the whole thing, but the few hours I was there were pretty great. We worked on covering the attacker's hands as a sort of light-touch sensitivity drill, and worked most of our basic 17 from there.  Of course we emphasized Bode's method of not throwing an attacker away, but keeping him under control the entire time. It's a great option to work on.

Here's my biggest takeaway: for the second time in a couple of weeks, and from different sources, I was shown that speed isn't the same as timing. Consequently, I don't need to be in a big rush to do whatever thing I happen to be doing. At least not if I'm doing it correctly.

Another concept we worked on can be summed up by a Bode quote:

"If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough to survive"

Right up my alley!

My toe is healing up slowly-but-nicely, and I'm looking forward to getting back to regular training!

Aikido / Judo, 7-5-14

Yesterday was the first time in quite a while I've been back to Pat's to train. We camped out mostly on Release 1, and the new way Pat's been doing it. It feels brand new to me again, and it's a little confusing. I think I "get it" conceptually, but doing it correctly is another thing entirely. It reminds me of when I first started and felt like there were a couple dozen things to keep in mind for each release. Looking forward to getting enough reps of this new way that I don't have to think about it much. It will be nice when can I gather with my students again and see how the tweaks figure in to the way we've been doing releases.  There was an emphasis on keeping the slack out of the uke/tori connection by changing the direction of the energy. I need to remember to maintain a "push" throughout, not a bunch of alternating pushes and pulls (which keeps creating slack). I also need to remember to "release with my feet" and not try to do the whole thing with my arm. Like I said, I'm feeling like a white belt again with this new approach!

Pretty much all of the aikido portion of the class was spent playing with Release 1. That was really cool, but it got even cooler when we started terminating it with iriminage or aegamaeate. And it reached the Miles-Davis-level coolness when we ended it with a hip throw! We went from there into using Release 1 as an entry to other judo throws. Blew. My. Mind.

We focused on ending every technique in a dominant position (ukigatame, or knee-on-belly). Lastly, we played judo/aikido randori, including a little ground work. It exposed a great need I have: to get back to training judo and drilling hundreds of reps of basic throws. I stopped training judo while only a green belt, and that was two or three years ago. It's time for me to go back and relearn the alphabet, so I can relearn how to form a few words, and move on to some communication, figuratively speaking. Our randori ended with my little toe getting dislocated or broken - my first injury in about 7 years of aikido, less than that of judo. Hurts like the dickens!

Aikido, 9-7-13

This weekend was our fall "Aiki Buddies Gathering".  I could only attend this morning's session. There was a good turn out, and we warmed up with a few throws from koshiki no kata. I've been enjoying these throws. The newer ones I was introduced to today had an almost owaza feel to them.

The main content of the morning session was a handful of aikijo sword disarms. Lots of good info, but descriptions are failing me at the moment. I'd like to experiment and see if any of those techniques can translate to long gun (rifle or shotgun) disarms or throws.

Walking, Part 1

Pat recently issued a blogging challenge: write a blog post every day for 12 days, about tegatana no kata, Tomiki Aikido's walking kata. While I don't think I'm going to take up the full challenge (I won't even try for every day), I'm going to try to write 12 posts about walking. I'm not sure I have that much to say about it, so some posts might be very short, and not worth reading.

Tonight as I was thinking about what I might write, I thought I might as well go through the kata once so it would be fresh on my mind. I went into my man cave and had an idea: The room was already a little disorganized since I taught a concealed carry class in it last night. I decided to leave it as it was, and clutter it up a little more for an experiment.

So I began the kata among stacks of CDs, plastic containers, and a chair. Maybe a dozen obstacles in all. I was trying to keep the motions in correct directions, relative to where I was when I began each step, but allowed myself to randomize the direction I was facing before beginning each new step.  I found myself needing to take bigger or smaller steps, even in the same section of movements. Keeping my mind on the footwork to avoid tripping or stepping on something was a new thing. I figure any time I need to move in an aiki-like fashion, it probably won't be under ideal conditions.

So the things I might have gotten out of the experiment were as follows:

• A slightly more "realistic" practice
• Confusion that distracted me from doing the arm movements and prearranged "dance steps" just so
• A more interesting repetition of the kata
• Avoiding tidying up my room for one more night

Kazoku, 1/16/13

After a short review of our shomenate lesson from earlier in the week, Kim and I worked on release 1, focusing on:

• Timing your footfalls to coincide with uke's.
• Following uke from a safe position behind his arm.
• Synching up our feet, and recognizing when and in what direction to push, as determined by uke's steps.
• Not using strength to lift uke's arm in order to make the technique look like it's "supposed" to; rather, moving our body in such a way that the arms naturally come up, and the "bump" at maximum distance facilitating the rest of the components (lifting the arm, getting behind it, etc.).
• Evading in such a way that doesn't leave you in a dangerous position. I was having trouble getting this across, until I used Pat's patented "put-a-knife-in-uke's-hand-and-watch-tori-magically-learn-to-evade" trick. Realizing uke could be dangerous really helps you forget about "counting the steps", and get the heck out of the way.
• We briefly looked at how release 1 provides entries into other techniques. We specifically looked at a release-1-to-junana-3 combo.

Kazoku, 1/14/13

Worked with Kim on Shomenate, focusing on:

• Keeping your center pointing at uke (demonstrating the advantage of doing so) and getting your hands up, via the "cow catcher" drill.
• Making sure the hands are coming straight up from the shoulders vs making a circular, sweeping motion that imitates what the kata makes tori seem to be doing.
• Evading to a relationship that allows room for unbendable arms rather than being so close to uke that you have to, you know....bend your arms (demonstrating the disadvantage of doing so).
• Pointing out a couple places where a kuzushi (off-balance) could be found in the technique (on uke's initial footfall and their recovery step, into kind of a spine lock).
• Waki gatame as a counter to shomenate.

Aikido, 5/5/12

This week we practiced outside on the sloping driveway, and that always adds a new element to our training.

We started with walking, then tried it with an object in one hand (to simulate a knife). That always seems to change your awareness during the kata. We talked about how when using a knife, it's best to not put any of your body (hand, arm, etc) between your knife and your opponent.

Next we worked on Releases. We camped out on #3, then practiced moving from release 3 to junana 10, then to junana 12, and back again. Lastly, we worked in junana 3 & 4 to the rotation.

Pat showed me an extremely cool entry into a modified gedanate (junana 4) from release 3 that used more of the elbow and upper arm to create a structure. Pat talked about how it could be kind of a "structure game" in which we're not trying to out-muscle each other, but build a structure that makes the technique more stable and effortless. This particular modification reminded me a lot of the "fire" element Nick spoke about in this video discussing 5 conceptual "elements" that are possibly found in aikido.

It's Been Too Long.....Again

I'm trying to get back in the habit of blogging my training logs so here goes:

Saturday we began with walking and releases, then moved on to Junana 1-17. There are some days I feel like putting my yellow belt back on, and this was one of them. Junana 1 through about 10 felt pretty unsuccessful to me. 11 felt a little better, but 12 was the pits. On a positive note, numbers 16 and 17 might have felt better than they ever have before. We practiced "trickle-down aiki-nomics" on number 4, and that felt a lot better to me. Felt more controlled, and kinder to uke. We also added an ouchigari footsweep to number 16 when it wouldn't quite "go", and that was fun and effective.

We talked about the fine lines between effortlessness, efficiency, and effectiveness. That's a balance I'll be trying to find for a long time to come.

Kazoku, 9/12/11

Just me and Michael again. We started with tegatana (He'd done his ukemi practice before I arrived), and this time went through the entire thing.

I intended to work on Releases 1-4, and briefly introduce 5, but we ended up looking at 6 and 7 as well. Some very cool body-drop stuff kept turning up in Release 7 that I don't recall noticing before. In retrospect, it's been there all along, but for whatever reason, it revealed itself more tonight.

We uchikomi'd the heck out of Junana #1, then did several reps completing the throw. By the time we got to Junana #2, we only had time left for a handful of uchikomi reps. For some reason, my #2 was lackluster tonight. Them's the breaks sometimes!

Kazoku, 8/30/11

Just one student again last night: Michael.

We were pressed for time so we skipped ukemi. We reviewed what we've learned so far in the walking kata, and added the first two turns.

We did an extended review of releases 1 & 2, then introduced 3 & 4. Pat showed me a tweak that I think helped Michael keep that unbendable arm in release 1. His #2's felt pretty good and natural. We focused on synchronizing footfalls and letting uke determine where and how you step after the initial evasion. We also talked about having a relaxed arm (as tori), but not one that's completely turned off.....one that yields and fits and blends with uke, but also redirects his energy. Being directed, and directing. Welcome to the wonderful, frustrating, amazing, dichotomy that is aikido, haha! He picked up releases 3 & 4 just fine.

Next we had an extended review of Junana #1 (shomen ate), then I introduced Junana #2 (aigamae ate). We talked about how the evasion/off-balance for #2 shows up a lot from here on out. Michael's "#2 off-balance" was quite nice and effective. He seemed to get it very well, and almost threw me a couple of times with the off-balance alone. We worked on the "kata version" as well as Pat's "hiding around the corner" version. I did a quick intro to junana #3 (gyakugamae ate) just to demonstrate its relationship to #2. Something he can keep in mind as he practices is to wait for uke's reactionary step(s) to do the throw. I still have trouble "waiting on uke" as well, particularly on #15 - it's an easy thing in a lot of these techniques to jump ahead of and rush.

With the little bit of time left, our Cool Ninja Technique of the Day was Junana #10 (waki gatame) as the ura waza (countering technique) to Junana #1, and we cooled down with a little light randori.

Another great class!

Kazoku, 8/25/11

Last night was the second class for our little group. Littler, even - only one student this time: Michael.
We started with ukemi (back falls), and Michael said he felt better about them this week than last week. He was eager to learn forward rolls, which I attempted to teach, and he picked it up much faster than I did when I was starting out.

We reviewed the first 3 parts of tegatana (walking kata) and added the next 4 (the pushes). Focus was on staying on the balls of the feet and moving our arms effeciently (not trying to pick an arm up when our body was dropping).

Next we reviewed Release 1, and ended up spending most of the class on it. I felt like we got a lot of good work in on this release. Really productive reps. It was a challenge for him to do the release without bending his arm too much to get into position, but there was a ton of stuff he was getting very right (synchronizing footwork, footwork timing, off balance, etc). And we all have things to work on in the releases, so he can join the club, haha! Some of the reps went a little haywire, but he was good at doing something (as opposed to freezing up), and usually it was enough - it got him off the line and made me unbalanced enough to have to take another step.

We discussed how some schools adhere more closely to the kata forms in order to internalize the principles, and others are less bound by the kata and primarily observe the principles (we're more in the latter category). We talked about not getting so focused on the kata that we forget what we're doing is getting out of the way and getting hands up; we try not to get the kata before the horse (sorry, I couldn't resist, and if said in a certain way, is a lot funnier than reading it).

For the last part of the class, we worked on release 2 as an option when release 1 won't go.

In the spirit of Pat, we ended with a couple "cool ninja techniques of the day". My ninja-ness being modest at best, I showed him a neat kote hineri from someone putting a hand on your shoulder, as well as something I can't remember the name of (uke grabs lapel or pushes, you feed that energy back to him in the form of a push or a strike or an eye rake - just giving him something to think about while you take possession of the hand he gave you to control his wrist and destroy his posture).

I was more aware of my time management - which is to say I noted how much time I spent on different things. I felt more prepared and more orgnaized, but there's still lots of room for improvement.

Kazoku!

For the past few months, I’ve been working on getting an aikido class together that I could teach locally (My teacher is 75 miles away). Well, it didn’t pan out exactly like I originally thought it might, but last Thursday, I did teach my first aikido class. It’s a milestone I’m pretty excited about. I’ll be keeping track of training logs here for that class too. We’re calling our group “Kazoku Dojo” – “kazoku” means “family” in Japanese.

Students for the night were Michael, Melissa, and Kim. 2 of the 3 were being exposed to aikido for the very first time, so we began with simple back falls, concentrating on sitting-more-than-falling, and tucking our chins to make sure our heads didn’t hit the mat. Then a brief introduction to forward rolls from a kneeling position.

After a short explanation of what kata is (solo and paired), we went over the first 3 sections of our walking kata. We focused on “dropping” into the step rather than “shifting our weight east in order to travel west”. We also focused on bringing the “following foot” along without dawdling.

We then practiced using those same steps to evade an incoming zombie-arm attack. Just to demonstrate the idea of getting-out-of-the-way. We moved from that into the “aiki brush-off” concept that Pat teaches, which led nicely into Junana #1 (Shomen ate).

We ended the class with Release #1, and a little bit of Release #2, with a focus on synchronizing with uke's steps and finding the right timing to seperate and create distance.

Somewhere in all of that we talked about the how and why of “same-hand-same-foot”.

I’m thrilled about the prospect of teaching, and acutely aware of my insufficiency to do so. But it’s all part of learning, right? I do need to learn to organize the class time better….we have class again tonight, so we’ll see how I manage!

Aikido, 8/13/11

We started with walking, then moved on to Releases, with a focus on 1-4. We worked on creating an off-balance by continuing uke's line, and not providing him a stable base with which to regain his balance. One of the big takeaways for me was to let uke determine where my second step in the release is placed. We also worked on using releases 2 and 5 as options for a failed or stuck release 1.

Next we did some "cow-catcher" drills that evolved into junana #1, and we spent the rest of the class on junana 1 & 2. We played with getting a junana 2 from each release as well.

We ended the class with some fun randori and a little groundwork.

Aikido, 7/9/11

I'm still pretty behind, but I'll catch up soon!

We started with Walking, then moved to releases, which I found were still jacked up for me. Pat added “sticking to uke” to the other 2 new ideas we’ve recently been trying to keep in mind (structural weakness and the footwork in release 6 & 8). Altogether mind blowing, but so much fun! We explored the “release” feeling vs the “sticky” feeling for a while.


Then we did all of Junana as a big chain, and began mixing and matching different techniques from here and there in the kata. After that we looked at floating throws, and focused on #17. It was pretty cool: we discovered that it didn’t make too much difference how you float the guy, as long as you float him. Could be the typical kata, or another "whatever-presents-itself" variation.

We ended the class with some fun (as always) randori, and a review of the second part of Ichi kata.

Aikido, 7/2/11

We started with walking, and I had a ton of mental hiccups. We talked about the cyclic feeling of regression & progress, and about how everything in aikido can be practiced in the walking kata.

We worked on releases, but mine were pretty jacked up for 2 reasons (I think):
1) I was thinking about the "Structural" component (as opposed to just the timing component) Pat introduced the previous week.
2) I was thinking about the footwork for 6 & 8 that Pat "fixed" the previous week. It seemed like this round of releases was worse than before he "fixed" them!
I think I was just thinking about too much. We discussed Thomas Edison's "Failures" as a way to encourage me, haha.

Next we worked on "light touch" wrist releases with an emphasis on connection and sensitivity, and moved into randori with a focus on finding the right times to yield and the right positions to smack.

We worked on junana #17 which is a really weird animal to me. We played with a couple different ways to float uke, including an "aiki-strikey" version.

We looked at ichi kata, and I'm getting a little more familiar with that. We discussed different emphases in teh advanced kata: Big, fast, light, hard, etc.

We also looked at a technique from judo's goshinjitsu and a similar technique from san kata.

We ended with a tricky version of junana #2. It was like a "micro iriminage" and is useful when uke resists being smashed with #2.

Aikido, 6/25/11

We started with ukemi and walking, then moved on to Releases 1-8. Ever since I’ve been training with Pat, he’s emphasized getting off the line and synching up with uke (evasion and timing). Now he’s introducing another concept to think about: This "mechanical/structural" dynamic. I probably won’t do justice to an explanation, but it involves stepping onto the line of uke’s weakness. Pretty cool, and it has a dramatic effect on kuzushi.

Next we played with the first section (I think) of Ichi Kata, then moved on to Junana #14. While practicing 14, Pat tweaked my footwork in such a way that (at the time I thought) he completely fixed my Release 6 & 8! A quick foot switch seemed to have my R6 & R8 working like magic.

We looked at our “Junana chains” (consisting of Junana 1-5) with an emphasis on finding opportunities for atemi between the techniques. Made some good “aikey-strikey”. Then we did the same thing, but looked for floating throws instead of strikes.

At some point it really struck me how differently various aikido techniques can be applied. It’s like there’s a way to do things with “Oomph” (more muscle, less dependable, but possible), and there’s a way to do them more effortlessly…..more efficiently….more “aiki-like”. And I’m starting to get a peek behind the curtain at how people much farther along than me are doing what appears to be magic. I can’t wait till I’ve been doing this 20 more years.

We ended the class with some fun randori.

Aikido, 6/18/11

Yes, I know - I'm behind on my training logs again. I'll catch up soon!

We loosened up by walking through a few karate stances before doing tegatana, then moved on to releases. We played with release 7 as a brush-off, and it was surprising how effective it was at creating space. Next we added a "glancing" elbow strike to uke's ribs as we passed under his arm, then played with a "hip chock" to keep uke off of us. It was a great exercise in "aiki-strikey".  We played with these "gravy" techniques as alternatives to pushing uke in the face or chest on the way through, which tends to stick your feet and kill your mobility (or at least be less efficient).

Next we played with releases and randori "through a stick" about 2 feet long. Uke and Tori both held one end of the stick rather than each other's wrists. The stick was like a magnifying glass that helped demonstrate principles that are harder to see otherwise. The contact was more "slippery", and it really makes you move your feet correctly. Maybe it was just the stick, but my footwork during randori felt like it was getting better.

We moved on to an introduction to junana 14-17, my next rank material. We played with 14 with an "unhooking him from the ground" feel, 15 with a garuma motion which made it feel WAY lighter and more "aiki-like". We looked at 16 on either footfall, and 17 was just a big puzzle (we explored how it works as an otoshi).


This was one of those mornings I REALLY didn't feel like making the 1.25 hour drive to train, but I'm so glad I did. Seems that's always that's always the way - the classes I don't feel like going to end up being the best ones.

Two

Since I didn't get around to posting my training log last week, I'll do last week and this week in one post:

6/4/11

We started with tegatana, then did releases 1-8. They're feeling better and better to me.

Next we worked on getting Junana 1-17, all from release 1. Then we did it again, all from release 2. These were really interesting variations, but my feet kept getting stuck due to the unfamiliar footwork.

We worked mostly on Junana 11, 12, and 13, focusing on 13 (with and without the turn).

Next we did a "4 Rule" hand-centering randori exercise that led nicely into free randori to finish the class (if I remember the rules correctly, they were 1) arm can move freely up and down at the shoulder, but not side-to-side. 2) to move to the side, keep center pointed at your "do-ing" hand. 3) if you couldn't, switch hands and keep center pointed at the new "do-ing" hand. 4) If you have a hand free, stick it in your opponent's face).

6/11/11

Short class today, aiki-speaking. We started with tegatana and moved to releases, as always. Next was my nikyu (2nd brown belt) demo. I was pretty comfortable with Junana 1-5 (well, 4 was sloppy), but I rushed number 7, as well as number 12. Otherwise I was mostly happy with it.

After the demo, we played with chaining Junana 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 for a while. We played with a REALLY slick "gravy" technique - slipping a number 3 between 6 and 7. One of my favorite evil tricks! Then we discussed and explored concepts of ma-ai.

At the end we brushed up on karate kihon, as well as tennokata, taikyoku, and a little bit of heian shodan. I plan on beginning to practice karate again on my own time.