<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<!--
	Downloaded: 05-26-2013 12:14 AM
	From AikiWeb Aikido Forums, http://www.aikiweb.com/forums
	Userid: 3767
	User Name: Terry Donaghe
-->

<blogEntries>
<blogEntry id="1716">
	<title><![CDATA[Relaxation]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Sunday morning's class was pretty darned intense.  We did a lot of techniques where uke was supposed to immediately get back up and attack nage over and over again without pause.  This is a great exercise, but it wears me out very quickly!

After 45 minutes of practice like this (including a lot of suwari waza) I was pretty darned tired.  Then sensei showed us an ushiro choke hold where uke grabs nage under the arms and tries to put his hands back around nage's throat (I think it's a half nelson).  Sensei told us that it was kind of a ki exercise and that if done properly uke shouldn't be able to get his hands all the way around your neck.

I had read about how being relaxed can really help your aikido, especially with ki stuff like this.  Being as tired as I was, I guess my ki was flowing rather well, because my partner couldn't lift his hands anywhere near my neck and I was exerting no effort all.  It was pretty weird and cool.  Maybe using ki is doing that in a situation where you aren't tired at all.]]></body>
	<date>04-18-2005</date>
</blogEntry>
</blogEntries>