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Re: What is good ukemi?
Hi all,
Last week at practice, I just had a one to one talk to a newbie in class. He absolutely loves the high flying flipping ukemi he sees on videos but is afraid to do them. When he practices, he will always ask the tori/nage to go slow and a very erractic technique ensure due to his absolutely frightened state of falling. This half hearted and frightened falls results in a very dangerous and unflowish type of aikido.
However, I told him, forget about the nice looking ukemi you see on the videos... those are mainly for shows. The principle function of ukemi is to protect yourself so that you will be able to get up again. So I went with him a series of basic ukemi, nothing fancy, just old fashion fall. I think his confidence came through. I saw him able to take kotegashi falls later (not the flip over type but those that does not end up with him suffering with wrist pain).
In summary, my 2 cents on what is agood ukemi is any ukemi that makes you able to get up again after being thrown.
Boon.
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