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Old 11-09-2007, 10:23 AM   #88
Mark Gibbons
Location: Seattle, WA
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 177
United_States
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Re: *Tentative* dates for Akuzawa (Aunkai) in Seattle, WA 11/3-11/4

That was a good seminar and my thanks to everyone. I had a couple areas to make comments on, but I'm not at all sure the comments are worth much. I have a hard time interpreting things outside of my aikido filters.

Chris asked if I could feel a difference in the year he's been working on the aunkai methods. Well not so much with Chris, he was just a bit smoother. I never could tell what Chris was doing. Jeremy and I played on Wednesday nights for almost 2 years however. Jeremy moves better, quicker and more directly, very noticeable.

Overall the seminar methods and emphasis look and feel the same as some of the goals at the dojo I train at. The postural things, the ground connections, the internal paths, the frame, the position of the shoulder blades all seemed like things taught in aikido. We did an iriminage in class this week that when I look at it now I see it's almost identical to the synchronized walking exercise we did at the seminar. I'm not really experienced enough, even after the seminar, to distinguish the subtle differences. The seminar seemed like going to a very highly qualified expert in these areas for very specialized instruction. The solo training exercises are much more systematic than what I've been exposed to. If they don't help my aikido I'm very sure they will improve my skiing conditioning.

Regards,
Mark
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