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In Humor
A Shameless Plug :-D
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#239
 01-10-2009 11:25 AM |
Just because I had so much fun putting these together as a (belated) Christmas gift for my fellow dojo mates, I can't help but share them here on AikiWeb as well.
"That's Why We Practice": Aikido Bloopers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrylhtH3tjE
"Mat-thumping!": Ukemi Video
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v17165363ak7j9naH
*chuckles*
Not to worry, I'll be posting another serious entry again soon.
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Views: 1624
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In General
Moving Beyond Kihon
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#238
11-15-2008 01:09 AM |
Takumusu Aiki: 武産合気 - A "slogan" of the founder's meaning "infinitely generative martial art of aiki." Thus, a synonym for aikido. The scope of aikido is not limited only to the standard, named techniques one studies regularly in practice. Rather, these standard techniques serve as repositories of more fundamental principles (kihon). Once one has internalized the kihon, it is possible to generate a virtually infinite variety of new aikido techniques in accordance with novel conditions. (Definition is courtesy of AikiWeb's wonderfully comprehensive Wiki :-)
---
I like to think that --- thanks to muscle memory and a great deal of persistence --- much of the fundamental principles of any art become internalized over time via the dogged repetition of action and technique. As with many things, it certainly sounds simple enough. When asked by Sensei at the end of class if they had any questions, my past sempai years ago would often say, "More practice, Sensei!" It became a kind of mantra (along with "This ain't knitting class" and "Suck it up").
How true it is. Yet when asked by Sensei at the end of class, "Any questions?" my own oft-repeated response now as a senior student myself is usually, "Always, Sensei." No matter how much you practice, they're always there.
While we all know that most people learn by doing and there is more value to be gained on the mats from action rather than words (ie. "Less chatter, more splatter" a
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Views: 2054
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In Teaching
On Teaching My First Class
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#237
09-17-2008 11:32 PM |
How odd it feels to be writing this post. The title seems so surreal to me. I've been doing Aikido for almost seven years ago now, began keeping this blog in 2003 and after revisiting the old posts, realize just how quickly the time has gone by. I've spent so much time ruminating and critically picking apart my own study of this art that over the years it has rarely occurred to me to view myself in anything BUT a student's role. Yet for the very first time last night, I found myself as the teacher. Such a strange and foreign feeling.
I never really wanted to be the teacher, after all. Seeing how my own Sensei had become an instructor out of compulsion and necessity, hearing how he'd often regret not being able to practice as he would have liked --- when push came to shove, this honestly rather put me off the whole teaching thing for the most part. I figured that I would just get in the way of my training. I wanted to be a student forever --- to continually siphon off the knowledge and instruction of others and let someone else bother with how everyone else was learning. I'd told as much to Sensei. He'd occasionally "test" me and the other sempai out, letting us each have a taste of teaching by demonstrating a particular technique to the rest of the class. Unsure of myself and my own ability, fearful lest I portray a confidence not yet earned, I would qualify everything I said: "Well, as you know, Sensei would do this or say that, etc." and look over my should
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Views: 2506
| Comments: 2
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In Training
The Heat is On
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#236
09-16-2008 10:16 PM |
Without a doubt, training for 1st kyu has been the most frustrating, challenging experience of my Aikido life thus far.
It used to be that I was simply pissed off at certain techniques. Those of you who have followed this blog from its tadpole-ish beginnings (before I even turned 5th kyu) will remember well. Koshinage was once the bane of my existence. Then came along Aiki Otoshi. In essence, anything that involved me having to heft and --- for more than a nanosecond --- support the weight of anyone more than my size (which is pretty much everyone) was...let's just say: not pleasant.
But bygones are bygones. Now I have a new nemesis. There is a huge elephant in the room. His name is Ikkyu and he wears a brown belt. Where to begin?
We can start with the fact that when all is said and done --- counting numerous variations of: standing techniques, kneeling techniques, knife-taking techniques, sword-taking techniques, staff-taking techniques, combination/adapted techniques and reversal techniques --- Jeremy and I will have to know and perform well over 200 different SANITY-TAKING techniques. The object is "to be able to apply and variate techniques" after all. And at the very end of it: Jiyu Waza, multiple attackers. But then, to me, that's the fun part. 
Not surprisingly, this is the very same test that we will have to perform later for Shodan/black belt. With two vital differences. For Shodan, it will all have to be "shinier" --- more polished,
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Views: 1862
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In Training
30th Anniversary Saskatoon Seminar (09/05-06)
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#235
09-09-2008 01:12 PM |
Five of us (Sensei, Jim, Lisa, Anders & I) recently went to Saskatoon to participate in their 30th anniversary seminar this past weekend and came back happy to have made the trip (cramped legs and sore backs from the long drive notwithstanding). Due to it being a rather "special" seminar, not only did Kawahara sensei instruct, but so did the founding instructor of the dojo, Makoto Otsu. I suppose my only regret (as usual) would be in only being able to train during the Saturday instead of all weekend; mainly due to the long drive that would take up most of Sunday.
I really appreciated how Kawahara sensei focused greatly on Kaeshi Waza (reversals) during his portion of the class. Considering how reversals (along with Henka Waza: variations/combinations) form a part of our upcoming Ikkyu test, it was nice to see how Kawahara sensei in particular does them. I'm sure Jeremy would also have really appreciated seeing this as well. I did feel rather sorry, however, for some of the "greener" Mudansha (white belts) who I trained with that obviously had little to no experience with these techniques and were struggling --- sensitive to the etiquette regarding "shadow teaching", I was allowed to assist very little and felt badly about leaving them in the dark and tried to drop discreet hints here and there wherever I could in the hopes they'd figure things out on their own.
Another unique thing to note was seeing Kawahara sensei demonstrate a sacrifice throw as a variant of
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Views: 2155
| Comments: 2
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In Humor
The Aiki of Sewing (!)
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#234
08-16-2008 12:34 PM |
As further evidence that:
a) I over-think things
b) I really was an English major once
c) I have Aikido on the brain the vast majority of the time (which explains the lack of space in there for much else)
d) I should give up on all these silly metaphors and parallels I always seem to observe the more I train in the art
or
e) all of the above,
...I wanted to share something amusing I discovered while sewing some gifts today. I'm not sure how many other of you Aikidoka have used a sewing machine before, but chances are if you have, you already know that it can be a rather finicky process --- not unlike a certain other process we all know and love. (Okay --- or make that "love-hate", depending on what progress you're making with your training or even on what technique you happen to be working on.) 
Now those who know me well understand that I am nowhere near being a technological pariah (I love electronic gadgets, the mechanics of things and working with my hands in these respects) and that I strive to be extremely detail-oriented. Or anal, depending on who you talk to.  That said, these characteristics are ones that you would think would practically guarantee me success in my sewing endeavours. Not so, I'm afraid. After all, what really does?
First of all, some quick context for those who might not be familiar with how a sewing machine works...in a nutshell, the machine manipulates two threads that bind your fabric together:
- the to
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Views: 2438
| Comments: 3
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In General
The Teacher's Mind and the Student's Mind
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#233
06-15-2008 10:14 PM |
...or should I say: "Sensei-shin" and "Deshi-shin"? 
Sensei will occasionally troubleshoot a fellow-student's technique by asking me to demonstrate it for them on his behalf. I find this at times a somewhat dubious honour --- dubious only in that I am not yet at the place where I can always explain what it is I am doing correctly in contrast with what the other student is doing differently.
Case in point: Yesterday afternoon, Jeremy, Lisa and I were practicing test techniques and during one of Lisa's turns as nage, Sensei told her, "No, that's not right," and asked me to show her how I do it. I did the technique as best as I knew it and at the end Sensei said, "That's correct, but can you explain to Lisa what was wrong?" At which point, I could not, so Sensei continued to clarify for us.
It was then that I realized clearly for the first time that I have been and continue to view techniques from a completely "student" perspective. Never have I, while watching either Lisa, nor any other student, been able to pick up on errors in movement or timing that weren't obvious ones. Subtle discrepancies in technique are still quite beyond me. I find myself viewing other students with what I can only describe as a passively observant mind --- one which sees without, for the most part, a critical judgment towards what they are seeing. When I view Sensei, Kawahara Shihan or any other Yudansha practitioner performing technique, my mind towards what I see changes int
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Views: 3197
| Comments: 3
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In General
Rootedness on Unstable Ground...in Life
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#232
03-30-2008 01:58 PM |
I like to think that a person's truly defining moments are found in how they handle adversity. You can either sink or swim. You can rise to the occasion, face the challenge head-on or concede defeat. Either way we choose, the process shapes us. And it's always nice to see in times like this that you're not alone.
For the past eight to nine months our dojo has gone through a huge transition. The space it has occupied for 15 years was to be demolished, leaving us without a place to practice. Last Summer was spent holding practices in the park and despite having many merits in and of itself (I found the challenge of fighting not only my own allergies but the inconsistency of environment inherent in simply being outside in various kinds of weather a valuable and eye-opening experience), it just doesn't replace traditional waza on the mats. As the saying goes, "It's a nice place to visit, I just wouldn't want to live there."
And boy, did I miss doing ukemi. Though this feeling changed somewhat --- at least for a short time --- as soon as we did find a temporary space and were able to get new mats. Forty-two, bea-uuuu-tiful brand-spanking new Zebra tatami-style mats. Hard. Tatami. Mats. Yowch. In short order, I realized just how spoiled we were with the cushy foam and fuschia vinyl deal we had at the old dojo. Really, really spoiled. But soon enough, we started getting used to them. They're what you'd call "fast" mats...though this was not necessarily a go
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Views: 3687
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In General
For Love of the Dance...
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#231
08-02-2007 04:10 PM |
Last Saturday marked my fourth public demonstration of randori so far. In some ways, it feels the same and yet quite different: I'm no longer nervous like I was the very first time; I've done the same movements enough times over that it feels like second nature --- at least the sabaki/strategy of it feels like I could do it in my sleep. Yet I've found myself, in retrospect, with a greater awareness of my body: a better sense of when things flow right and when they feel forced. Thankfully, it is a moving chess match --- dynamic, not static --- such that one can adapt one's sabaki on the fly in order to put yourself in a position to better "complete the circle"/blend and flow. Still, I would say that only 25% of the time, it's good flow --- the other 75% of the time it feels contrived. Let me tell you, though, that scant 25% always feels divine, effortless. Truly, it's like you're dancing on air --- as for the other 75%: there's always tomorrow, and the mats will always be there welcoming more practice. Or so we hope.
My one saving grace of course is that the audience never seems to notice that which I so very obviously feel in my movement. Sensei asked me afterwards how I feel after hearing so much praise for my performance at the demo. Honestly? I said --- it doesn't matter. They see just a few minutes, a mere snapshot of me --- the seemingly finely-honed end result of what ultimately becomes years of training, innumerable bruises, injuries, blood, sweat and tears. They
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Views: 1918
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In Humor
Note to Self for the Future
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#230
07-18-2007 09:50 AM |
A public demonstration is not the time to try to pull off waza that one has not practiced for over a year. *pokes Jeremy violently with her Jo*
(A full update re: last weekend's Gasshuku to follow shortly)
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Views: 1868
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