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I teach Aikido at a small dojo in Winnipeg, Canada. Been doing so for many years now. This blog is just a collection of ruminations on teaching, descriptions of the events of daily practice, and the occasional funny story.
It's been a long time since I added anything to my blog here on Aikiweb. Perhaps some of you thought I'd died. Well, no, I haven't. Obviously. Just got busy with other things and quite forgot about Aikiweb.
I've been in a season of transition in my Aikido journey. I herniated my lower back many years ago and the consequence now is increasingly limited physical tolerance for the movements of Aikido. The last time I tried doing simple front rolls, I was horizontal for the next five days. Not good. I can still throw - thank goodness - but my time of high-flying break falls (or falls of any kind) is over. I have to be moderate in my throwing, too. No strong hip rotations, or back flexion that compresses my spine sharply.
My growing physical limitations have coincided with a change in my focus in Aikido. Until seven years ago or so, I was content with classical Aikido. But I never liked the protracted techniques that made up so much of the technical repertoire of classical Aikido, or the sword-based hand striking forms. I didn't want to give up Aikido for a more practical martial art, however. I decided I would work to make what I knew of Aikido more "street effective." So, I've been working on applying technique in shorter forms against attacks that would be common outside the dojo. Here's some of what I've been doing: