Thread: Forward roll
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Old 11-27-2005, 04:51 PM   #38
MaryKaye
Dojo: Seattle Ki Society
Location: Seattle
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 522
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Re: Forward roll

The three-year-old gorilla at the Seattle Zoo does beautiful aikido-style forward rolls. I was going "Ooh! Ooh! Look at that!" and no one could figure out why I was so excited....

My forward rolls were horrible for about five months and improved suddenly. For about another year they were questionable, and even now they are not quite up to my rankmate's (but he is known for his gorgeous ukemi). The insight for me was that starting from sitting or kneeling and going slow and low totally did not work; I started to become proficient when I lost patience with that approach and began doing rolls from standing and from throws. One teacher had me jump up and down in place and then roll, and noted that those were hugely better than my usual ones. I'm still working on being able to roll slowly or from the floor.

I feel safe when thrown, though, and that's what really matters. It's very liberating.

Mary Kaye
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