Welcome to AikiWeb Aikido Information
AikiWeb: The Source for Aikido Information
AikiWeb's principal purpose is to serve the Internet community as a repository and dissemination point for aikido information.

Sections
home
aikido articles
columns

Discussions
forums
aikiblogs

Databases
dojo search
seminars
image gallery
supplies
links directory

Reviews
book reviews
video reviews
dvd reviews
equip. reviews

News
submit
archive

Miscellaneous
newsletter
rss feeds
polls
about

Follow us on



Home > AikiWeb Aikido Forums
Go Back   AikiWeb Aikido Forums > Training

Hello and thank you for visiting AikiWeb, the world's most active online Aikido community! This site is home to over 22,000 aikido practitioners from around the world and covers a wide range of aikido topics including techniques, philosophy, history, humor, beginner issues, the marketplace, and more.

If you wish to join in the discussions or use the other advanced features available, you will need to register first. Registration is absolutely free and takes only a few minutes to complete so sign up today!

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 10-05-2005, 10:54 PM   #1
Eric LeCarde
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 13
Offline
Opinions on my situation?

Hello. I recently joined an aikido dojo ran by two very good teachers. Its been about two weeks since I started going.

My problem is, I feel as though I am making no progress whatsoever. I'm just having a difficult time understanding the moves themselves. The footwork seems to be the most difficult for me, trying to concentrate on both that and what my hands are doing gets a little confusing. It seems as though I can only focus on one at a time.

Its a little humilitating to be shown the same basic technique multiple times only to continue to botch it. I imagine its just due to a bit of a learning disability I struggle with.

My question is, does anyone have any kinds to diagrams of some of the moves? Typically, I need to have an understanding of something before I can put it into practice.

Of course, I don't expect any over-night enlightment . It just seems as though I'm going at a very abnormal rate.

Many thanks
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-05-2005, 11:05 PM   #2
aikigirl10
Dojo: Aikido of Ashland
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 395
United_States
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

2 weeks?? give yourself a chance.
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-05-2005, 11:13 PM   #3
Abasan
Dojo: Aiki Shoshinkan, Aiki Kenkyukai
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 813
Malaysia
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

If its the forms you are after, go look at some aikido books.

Draw strength from stillness. Learn to act without acting. And never underestimate a samurai cat.
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-05-2005, 11:22 PM   #4
Janet Rosen
 
Janet Rosen's Avatar
Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4,339
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

You're experience--both being "all left feet and thumbs and no brain" AND feeling embarrassed and frustrated--is really really common!!! You don't know how many of us start sentences by saying "hey, if I learned it, ANYbody can...." :-)
You are asking your body to do totally unfamiliar stuff and yknow what? NOBODY expects you to remember most of it for quite a while. Just show up and keep doing your best--whatever your best is any given day. Eventually your body/brain will start to sense patterns and learn them.
I think it was the first yr or so I described myself in terms of aikido as a "happy idiot"

Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 12:35 AM   #5
Thom Hansen
Dojo: Aikido Yuishinkai Cleveland Dojo
Location: Brisbane
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 28
Australia
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Patience young apprentice you took more than 2 weeks to learn to walk ... Aikido is a new start in life and we have to learn to crawl before walking. I could go on but i think you get the idea

Cheers Thom

Life is a gem .. Treasure every minute
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 02:23 AM   #6
Yann Golanski
 
Yann Golanski's Avatar
Dojo: York Shodokan Aikido
Location: York, United Kingdom.
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 406
United Kingdom
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

I've been doing Aikido for 8/9m years now and I still need to be shown how to do the basics right. That's the whole point of basics! They are the only thing you really need to work on. The rest just builds on them and if they are no good, guess what?...

The people who understand, understand prefectly.
yann@york-aikido.org York Shodokan Aikido
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 04:50 AM   #7
Karen Wolek
Dojo: Kingston Aikido
Location: New York
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 322
United_States
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Sounds like you're right on track to me! <grin>

I remember once when I was pretty new, I said, "I 'm gonna try to remember this..." after a class. My teacher said, "Don't." My sensei used to tell me ALL the time, "You're doing fine. Just keep coming." I did....and now after about 3 years, I'm 2nd kyu....and he no longer has to tell me that anymore.

You're doing great. Just keep going to class.

Karen
"Try not. Do...or do not. There is no try." - Master Yoda
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 05:07 AM   #8
bogglefreak20
Dojo: Ki dojo
Location: Ljubljana
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 102
Slovenia
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Imho the problem you are addressing is one of the most common in Aikido and also a first "test". It's not really about how fast you can learn the basics, it's about "getting over" the idea that you need to be at a certain point in a certain moment. Relax, train, get used to feeling embarrassed every now and then (we all have to) - that's one thing that lasts and.

Aikido...ehm...You either stick to it or quit. I hope you stick to it.
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 05:09 AM   #9
bogglefreak20
Dojo: Ki dojo
Location: Ljubljana
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 102
Slovenia
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Quote:
Karen Wolek wrote:
I remember once when I was pretty new, I said, "I 'm gonna try to remember this..." after a class. My teacher said, "Don't."
Funny you should say that - after the first year of training our sensei told us: "And now forget all I said to you in the past year." We were but got the grasp later - you have to find your own Aikido at your own pace.
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 08:05 AM   #10
SeiserL
 
SeiserL's Avatar
Location: Florida Gulf coast
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 3,902
United_States
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Welcome to Aikido. IMHO, that's how we all start. I too tend to need to get my head aaround it before my body can move. First year of training I just wanted to quit.

I found that reading books and watching videos helped be train the mind on off days.

I also practiced the footwork patterns at home (100-200 tenkans a day) until I wired them in.

Discipline and patience is part of the benefits received through training.

Relax, breathe, and enjoy yourself.

Lynn Seiser PhD
Yondan Aikido & FMA/JKD
We do not rise to the level of our expectations, but fall to the level of our training. Train well. KWATZ!
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 09:37 AM   #11
John Boswell
 
John Boswell's Avatar
Dojo: Aikido of Midland
Location: Midland, Texas
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 597
United_States
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Everyone has good points. And listen to Karen... don't try to remember stuff, it will come to you eventually.

When I first started aikido, it was just a few of us: Sensei (who was 3rd dan at the time, now 4th dan), a Shodan student and a 2nd kyu student... and me. It took me 3 MONTHS just to learn to roll properly and have enough confidence to actually try it! I would come in on Saturdays and roll for an hour... every weekend, for 3 months.

It will be 4 years next March since I started and Sensei is still correcting me. I imagine I will be corrected all my life! Don't look at it as a learning disability or problematic or anything else. And you really do not have to be embarressed at all... though you, like the rest of us, probably will feel some degree of embaressment.

Just blow it off! Try to enjoy yourself, enjoy watching what your instructor is showing you and have a little faith that eventually... someday... down the road... you to will be doing what everyone else is doing.

As for books, I'd recommend Basic Aikido 1 & 2 by Doshu. There are excellent pictures illustrating footwork, hand work, ma ai (distance between you and the attacker) and so much more. I also have gotten a lot out of "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere." Just about every book and every aikido affiliation will spell things differently, but terms and things will start to make sense over time.

Good luck! Keep going and just try to enjoy the moment. Don't push it and don't put yourself on a schedule. Even if testing requirements say,"4 months and you'll be tested on X, Y & Z" Let your Sensei worry about that. Show up... have fun... and the learning will come.

Good luck!

  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 03:00 PM   #12
Eric LeCarde
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 13
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Thanks for the great replies.

After thinking about it a bit more, I realize I am in that trap of expectations. Growing up, I typically picked things up very quickly, much faster then my peers. You can imagine that would create less-then realistic expectations for myself in everything that I do, not to mention major difficulty accepting situations in which I do not catch on quickly. Such is the case with aikido, I believe.

The prospect of learning aikido presents a unique challenge to me. Up to this point, if I was unable to accomplish a physical feat, my response was "APPLY MORE FORCE", and generally the method worked. As I'm sure you all understand much more then I do, this approach does not seem to have any effect during aikido training .

The comment that learning aikido is like "learning how to walk all over again" is very profound. Looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of learning from the ground up

I'm committed to at least a year of training before I make any choices, leaving before that would be disrespectful to my teachers along with the other students who have put forth the effort to help me out. But even such talk is premature, I haven't even scraped the tip of the iceberg yet
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 03:43 PM   #13
justin
Location: swansea wales
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 250
United Kingdom
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

i to am very new to this art so i can relate to you very well, i try not to practice at home as i am worried about drumming bad habbits into myself so i leave the practice for class, maybe you could do as i do and just practice the stretching you do before class i find that very helpfull to become more flexable its one less thing to worry about in the dojo for me at least.

enjoy
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2005, 04:14 PM   #14
gstevens
 
gstevens's Avatar
Dojo: Aikido Of Berkeley
Location: Alameda
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 47
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Imagine that there is no last chapter in your favorite book, it just keeps going forever. Imagine your favorite movie always with one more great scene which you have never seen before.

The more you PRACTICE Aikido the more to it there is. The more you learn the less you know. (I was sure that just before my 5th Kyu test I had Ikkyo down, really, seemed pretty simple, your feet go there, your arms do this, the other chap falls over. What could be easier.....) Now two really really short years later I don't know the first thing about Ikkyo, really,
If I stop even for a minute to think about all of the parts of Ikkyo It goes like this in my brain:

How do you maintain focus on Uke center; What is the best Ukemi for this Nage when I am uke in Ikkyo; How can I work with new people that are stiff?; How can I control my own energy?; My own aggression?; My own fear? What if I am doing Ikkyo from tsuki and I am afraid of the tsuki?; Yes a little afraid even here on the mat!; How can I get over that fear?; How can I capture the center of the technique?; How can I watch the entire room while doing all of the above?; How can I guide my partner so they land where they won't get trod on?; BREATH?????? WHAT?????? YOU mean I am not supposed to hold my breath during Ikkyo!?; Atemi? Really? Where? HOW WHY WHAT.........

So if I know so much less about Ikkyo two years after the day that I walked on the mat how much less am I going to know about it 30 years from now.

Thanks to O-Sensei for the art, the practice, for something that does not get boring after a month of doing it.

If you like it you never can completely get to the end, there is no finishing Aikido. If you try it and you don't like it, there is no end, there is no finishing Aikido.
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-10-2005, 12:02 PM   #15
aikidojoe
Dojo: Aikido of Center City
Location: Philadelphia area
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 25
United_States
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Eric,

There is some great advice throughout this thread. A good boiling down of it is True Victory is Self Victory (MasaKatsu Agatsu), which is a saying from the founder. As long as you keep trying, and showing up, that is a good enough self test for now. 2 weeks? Yeah, don't worry.

As for the technical aspect of your question. You're having trouble remembering footwork and doing technique? Try a couple of the following, or just one at first;

- Keep breathing, and breathe out when throwing or when about to take ukemi

- imagine a line going through your center and hands (hands should be in front of your center). Now make sure your feet and head are facing in the direction of that line (or to put it another way, imagine your feet, arms, and head are arrows, and need to point in the same direction your center is pointing)

- before class just practice basic footwork (tenkan, kaiten, irimi-tenkan, etc) for like 4 mins, not too much

- enjoy class for the training. Remember, it's the journey that's important, stop worrying about the destination.

Joe
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2005, 12:52 AM   #16
mathewjgano
 
mathewjgano's Avatar
Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
Location: Renton
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,276
United_States
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Quote:
Eric LeCarde wrote:
The footwork seems to be the most difficult for me, trying to concentrate on both that and what my hands are doing gets a little confusing. It seems as though I can only focus on one at a time.
Its a little humilitating to be shown the same basic technique multiple times only to continue to botch it. I imagine its just due to a bit of a learning disability I struggle with.
My question is, does anyone have any kinds to diagrams of some of the moves? Typically, I need to have an understanding of something before I can put it into practice.
Of course, I don't expect any over-night enlightment . It just seems as though I'm going at a very abnormal rate.
Many thanks
No worries, lad! When I first began studying Aikido, two other guys joined at the same time. They seemed to get it much faster than I did. One day I noticed that when I wasn't worried about getting the technique, i learned it quicker. Learn to enjoy making mistakes. It's perfectly ok to learn something slower than some, or even all the people around you. What matters most is that you keep trying. Ultimately, my greatest lesson from Aikido has been the lesson of sincerity.
Perhaps the initial stage of learning is more difficult for you, but perhaps, too, a later stage will be easer for you than someone else. I've come to be a firm believer of this aspect of learning something like Aikido. The first month or so is very frustrating and often makes one very humble. But this is only a good thing if you ask me. It is humility which allows us to see past our presumptions and reach greater states of understanding.
Ganbatte! And never give up.
Take care,
Matt

Gambarimashyo!
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2005, 11:23 AM   #17
MaryKaye
Dojo: Seattle Ki Society
Location: Seattle
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 522
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

My teacher is a fourth degree blackbelt. At the last seminar sensei showed her something she couldn't immediately do, and she very patiently tried it on me, over and over until she got it right. I figure, if she doesn't mind doing things badly at first, I shouldn't either.

I'd recommend picking just one or two things to work on by yourself. The plain back fall and the tenkan foot movement would be good choices--you can work on that with no partner and once you get them to "riding a bicycle" stage you will have lots more brainpower to do other things.

Also, my teachers have a piece of advice for anyone confused by a new technique: You probably can't grasp it all at once, so start at the feet and work up. Try just the footwork a few times if necessary. Once you have the feet going the right way, the rest of your body will be in the right place, which makes everything else easier.

It does get easier--I mean, it's always very challenging, but with a year or so of practice there's a lovely sense of flow that makes up for the tough parts. Being able to take ukemi well is *fun*; I know several people who go into withdrawal if they don't get their ukemi fix.

Mary Kaye
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2005, 07:30 AM   #18
beanchild
Dojo: Aikido Academy, Columbia, SC
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 40
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

ukemi fix. that's a pretty cool term. a good solid ukemi is a wonderful thing. ahhhh!!!!! mmmmm!!!

let me also add to the patience theme going on. eric, the first time i started aikido, it took me months to learn how to do a forward roll. months!

not only that, but it's been about 5 years at my current dojo, and i'm still having trouble with techniques i learned in that 1st year. it's like i can never internalize enough nuances; there is always an "oh! so that's what it is!" or an "ooh, but how did that happen, and how can i do it again?" moment going on.

the deal is i continue to come in and train. and hopefully i am continuing to learn. this is what aikido is for me -- always learning. the joy really is in the journey.

best with your training!
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2005, 09:17 AM   #19
merlynn
 
merlynn's Avatar
Dojo: lone pine ryu school of aiki kyusho jujutsu ,woking & guildford
Location: kingston upon hull
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 188
United Kingdom
Offline
Re: Opinions on my situation?

Eric don't worry about getting things a little wrong still after only 2 weeks I've been doing aikido for about 6 months now and i still cant do a ukemi backwards or forwards, and as for techniques well erm yea don't get them right either, but just have a laugh when your in class,heck there's even a guy who goes to my dojo and he still cant ukemi properly or do techniques correctly and hes been going for 2 years, it will come with time and practice

some things are so dear and so precious you have to let them go
  Reply With Quote

Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
What to do in this situation? Shakahl Training 17 04-07-2006 10:05 AM
What's the Irish situation? Lnr General 16 02-21-2006 07:08 AM
Heh, heres a different situation for ya. Eric LeCarde General 27 11-11-2005 08:05 AM
Opinions and thoughts please... Jordan Steele General 62 10-13-2004 04:24 AM
Aikido used by its self, in a real life situation IceLandElf General 12 03-15-2003 01:40 AM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:20 AM.



vBulletin Copyright © 2000-2024 Jelsoft Enterprises Limited
----------
Copyright 1997-2024 AikiWeb and its Authors, All Rights Reserved.
----------
For questions and comments about this website:
Send E-mail
plainlaid-picaresque outchasing-protistan explicantia-altarage seaford-stellionate