AikiWeb: The Source for Aikido Information AikiWeb's principal purpose is to serve the Internet community as a repository and dissemination point for aikido information.
Hello and thank you for visiting AikiWeb, the
world's most active online Aikido community! This site is home to
over 22,000 aikido practitioners from around the world and covers a
wide range of aikido topics including techniques, philosophy, history,
humor, beginner issues, the marketplace, and more.
If you wish to join in the discussions or use the other advanced
features available, you will need to register first. Registration is
absolutely free and takes only a few minutes to complete so sign up today!
4/13/04
Connections without physically touching, playing baseball on the mat, telegraphing on purpose as Uke to give the Nage time to hit you. More on the Job of Uke.
Think of a U when doing Gykute Dori Ikkyo move the back foot across (Not back!) as the Uke comes in so that you don't push back into his energy. This was beyond me completely but I almost got it several times. Sensei was helping out one of the other students with this, when they were working with me. It was interesting, I tried it, it made everything else fail, so I need to go back to the drop back get out of the way blend for the test. Sensei recommended it as a matter of fact. But the U was beautiful to watch, and made the energy transfer much easier and not bunched up like it is when I try direct entry.
When working with Rick (What an awesome UKE!) Sensei came over and spoke to him about how we were working with my personality, and how to help me with that. He said that I had done something this way and that way since the day I started. Since I have felt like I have reinvented myself and my Aikido every day, this was interesting. It makes sense we all have our personalities to work with or through in this art, it was just surprising that Sensei pays that much attention to each of us… What a really great gift to have Tom as a Sensei.
Another interesting thing about this class was that I began to understand the connection between partners in Weapons! Sensei had us play baseball at the end of class so that we understood the connection between the pitcher, and the batter. This was really great, I was the batter for the demonstration. This was a lesson in response to my learning how to give a good Yokoman to Rick so that he could work on some of his 2nd Kyu stuff. It was interesting to see how well connected Sensei and I were when he stepped in and I was doing a Yokoman to him. The technique involved stepping in toward me at the instant that I was about to Yokoman the Nage, and stopping my arm before it got any power. Sensei was always there effortlessly before it got to my center. He was helping Rick with getting to my Arm before my arm got past my center. Then I said that this was magic, so Sensei told me to do whatever to block or get out of his Yokomans way, I blocked because it was easier. He did some where he telegraphed big time on purpose, all the way down to zero telegraphing! I mean zero, I blocked all of them once I understood the game. Sensei said "You got it, was it magic?", "YEP!". Especially the ones that were not telegraphed! Sensei asked that I telegraph more for Rick.
04-15-2004 09:54 AM 