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3 quick ideas about how aikido training can enhance your fitness regimen.
Your fitness regimen can be enhanced by aikido training. Imagine become safer, more flexible in body and mind and having tons of fun.
Aikido is a Japanese martial art that was developed in the last century by Morihei Ueshiba. Often called the art of peace or the way of harmony with ki, Aikido training will affect your life in many ways but I will start with a quick 3.
Often overlooked in Aikido is the self-defense aspect because until you have trained for at least 3 or 4 years the techniques can seem ineffective. On the contrary, the philosophy of least possible harm and an unlimited set of responses is a great place to start your safety practice.
Aikido emphasizes timing, body and space awareness, along with measuring our responses to stimuli and being in the now.
Just by embracing these ideas a beginner has come a thousand steps into the fascinating journey of aikido and of increased safety in this crazy world we live in. As your training makes your technique's more effective, the awareness you develops is concrete. You will notice the world all the time. Once you make a decision to be in the now you will constantly be called back to it through your training.
Aikido is fun. Yes, it is. The exercise can be moderate or intense. Easily modified for each individual's fitness level and physical limitations, aikido can also be adapted for age and gender. The shared renewal of ki energy is inv
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I started class on this cool late summer morning with free movement. Each person chose a weapon. Charlie, Ron, Ann and Dora picked bokkens. Jocelyn picked her jo and I used my short sword. When you met another person you could engage or simply move on by. After 5 minutes I urged everyone to be more aggressive and to interact as often as they could with each other. This created amped up funness. I got poked once by Jocelyn and had a couple of near misses when the third person attacked me and I was a bit late in response. After some wrist exercises and rolling we explored freestyle with the parameters of not controlling uke in the least. Then we did a 2 person freestyle with none but the usual parameters of keeping uke safe at all times.
Kata Tori Shiho Nage offered us an opportunity to explore correct technique, moving very slowly but still in motion. We brought it into the circle throwing 3 ukes one after the other, moving more quickly than before but focusing on correct technique and ending up behind uke. I urged students to use Shiho Nage as an opportunity to know where their bodies were in relation to uke's body at all times.
Ron explored Shomen Uchi Kokyu Nage and Irimi Nage. Shomen Ucho Koyku Nage was with the baseball throw extension metaphor which allows nage to keep moving even though uke may stop. We did Irimi Nage with a in your face atemi that swept past uke's face and then back again made more challenging because our habits around this technique include
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