We started the lesson with tegatana, as usual. It's so hard to think of too many things at once! This time I was focusing on my taisabaki and the direction of my following foot. I think my posture suffered because of it, and that was displayed by my lack of balance in the turns. I still love the kata though.
We went through Releases 1-8. Release 8 felt better to me than 5-8 have been lately. It felt more natural and less forced.
We camped out on Release 3 and Chain 3, just as we did last week. This time we looked at different iterations of wakigtame (near, far, different grips, etc). I was fussing over my grip, and Pat noted that my focus on the grip was screwing up my synchronization (with uke) in my steps. We spent most of the remaining time on kotegaeshi. We looked at "ratcheting" uke's arm while taking the slack out. Not a forceful thing at all. Really neat. It creates a situation in which uke's efforts to improve his position actually worsen it. There are many directions of "slack" you can take out of uke's arm - all long the range of motion for each joint. We also looked at the unbendable arm's role in kotegaeshi. Subtle, crazy stuff!!
Sounds like your getting quite a grounding in your aikido, a little bit of advice try to enjoy what you are being taught it makes things easier when you learn aikido. Great post thou.
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Aikipad
Always practice the art of peace in a vibrant and joyful manner
Oh, I enjoy it thoroughly! Thanks for the comment!
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