Thread: Fear of Ukemi
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Old 07-12-2011, 10:44 AM   #54
graham christian
Dojo: golden center aikido-highgate
Location: london
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,697
England
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Re: Fear of Ukemi

Hi Dave.
You may have overcome this by now but thought I'd add a little something.

I once had a student, also a friend, who when he told me in confidence that he was scared to break-fall my jaw dropped in disbelief. This guy was a pretty well known skydiver.

Thus I learned a new perspective and mention him because it was a mental barrier.

I did two things to get him through it. One was I gave him private help to remove any embarrassment

Secondly and more importantly I got hold of a really thick soft mat
and built up his confidence.

The embarrassment factor is something that in my experience is, for some, a major part of the problem.

Not so much the embarrassment in looking stupid to others but more to do with the feeling so in yourself. A person can feel like they're going back to infant school and therefore feel stupid.

Anyway hope you are back to confident now.

Regards.G.
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