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Old 09-30-2012, 08:33 AM   #9
Diana Frese
Dojo: Aikikai of S.W. Conn. (formerly)
Location: Stamford Connecticut
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 386
United_States
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Re: flow, or technique

i am feeling the urge to jump in just now, because the memories this thread evokes are so powerful. Then I will read thoroughly the other posts to absorb the details, which are fascinating. Thanks, everyone.

I took judo at college, as the winters there caused me to look for something to practice during those months and found it interesting and good exercise, as I was having trouble keeping up in modern dance class (Japanese people call this "modern ballet' although "modern dance" is usually not done with ballet shoes). By the way, I wonder if the term "modern dance" is used these days.

I liked the step by step movements, none of the movements were very difficult because they were explained properly. We progressed to more difficult throws because the basics were worked on first.But when I saw the teacher demonstrate one technique from Aikido, where you let the attack go past, and it was a moving attack, not from collar and sleeve grab, I was fascinated and wanted to learn more about it.

I still liked judo, but downtown our judo teacher's cousin had opened a school so we went there too, for more practice. The last three months I was there, he taught some Aikido classes. It seemed to be ki no nagare in retrospect, he just kept us flying around, since we already knew ukemi I suspect this was his way of getting to train. Fair is fair, we got a lot out of it, although I didn't remember how to do any of the techniques when I arrived at New York City and started to train there. The movement had captivated me.

Then in Yamada Sensei's school there were both flowing and resistance training. We loved the ukes who were smooth, and who made us look good on tests, but Yamada Sensei was always testing our techniques, whether in kokyu dosa or especially the standing double hand grab. You couldn't get away with anything.....

Forgive me for my "attack of nostalgia" now to re read the posts the rest of you wrote. I'm really gonna be fascinated it is such a great topic.... and you all express it very well.
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