Hi everyone,
I just got back from a seminar with Kevin Choate sensei (6th dan,
Chicago Aikikai) and I thought I'd pass on some of my thoughts.
The seminar took place at what I consider to be my home dojo in the
Bay Area, Aikido of Tamalpais. It's always great to go back to see
old friends and training partners as well as just be in the place
where I got my shodan. I especially wanted to come this year as I
missed coming to this seminar last year.
Choate sensei's teaching style at a seminar isn't your conventional
"show a technique four times and let the class go at it." His
seminars revolve mainly, from what I can see, around the experimental
"stuff" he's working on currenlty. As such, the concepts are usually
very interesting, often subtle, and almost never meant to be one
that's a "technique" but rather a principle or a thought to chew on.
He would, of course, call up an uke and show something for a
demonstration for people to work on, but during the fifteen to twenty
minutes of letting the class work on what he showed, he would walk
around the mat and offer something a bit different to let us evolve
what we were doing to something else. One of the people who attended
the class likened it to his going around to each partner and changing
their "channels" one by one until the whole class was doing something
different.
As such, it would be tough for me to try to go through everything that
we did, but I'll list some of the thoughts that Choate sensei left me
to chew on. Please note that these are my interpretations of what I
got out of the seminar, so they may very well not reflect anything
that Choate sensei thinks...
- Footwork does not need to involve the moving of the feet. You can
do footwork without lifting either foot off the ground. Make your
feet "breathe" into the mat -- expand right into it. Avoid getting
double weighted and learn to use those calf muscles for subtle
weight shifting from heel to toe and back.
- Get rid of the tension and you'll have a lot more time.
- When someone grabs you, you and your partner become a system of
sorts. Usually when you're attacked, your attacker is stable and
you are not. Rather than trying to make the attacker unstable from
this position (which would only make you further unstable), fix your
instability. This will, due to the nature of the system, cause
instability in your partner.
- Even before a thought of a movement begins, your body moves. Tap
into that and you'll see what your partner is going to do.
- Open the shoulder. Lift your partner not with your arm but with
your pelvis.
- The point of contact is where we perceive the conflict to be.
Because of this, we tend to push against the conflict, thereby
creating more conflict. Let the conflict dissolve from this point
and your partner will not have anything to push against.
- Treat the point of your elbow as the base of your partner's spine.
- Most people in aikido do not know how to retreat properly. As an
extension to this, most of us do not work on footwork enough. Every
other martial art spends a lot of time on precise footwork --
taichi, karate, kenjutsu, and so on.
Taking ukemi from Choate sensei has always been a treat for me. I get
to attack with full force and take any advantage I can. Because of
this, Choate sensei may not get everything "right" 100% of the time;
often times, he'll have a string of several tries in which he gets
caught up in some tense spot in his body or get unbalanced. I very
much appreciate this sort of teaching style myself as it lets me see
that not being able to do something 100% of the time _is_ the reason
why we're training; it lets me be honest both in the roles of nage and
uke during training.
Sometimes during everyday training when I get off-balanced as nage and
let uke "have" the technique, uke looks puzzled at me like I did
something wrong. I would rather be able to acknowledge, feel, and
understand when things don't work for me as nage rather than cover it
up with some smooth little transition or with what little strength I
have.
But, I have to say, that when Choate sensei "get it," it's pretty
amazing for me to feel. I have no strength in the grab and, often
times, I feel like my hips and legs begin to melt -- no foundation in
my structure. As such, when I try to keep pushing or pulling, I only
make myself more instable. He'll sometimes let me grab and feel the
tension in his arm, shoulder, or other part of his body and then let
it "shift" and dissolve away, only to have me suddenly lose my balance
and find myself going to the ground. It's really good stuff.
To be honest, I think that this kind of exploration is what really
keeps me in aikido. If anyone else is interested in this kind of
stuff, I very much encourage you to see Choate sensei.
Jun
