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 > General

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 10-31-2011, 01:24 PM   #26
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
United_States
Offline
Re: It's fall.

How awesome, dojo has no power because of the I'm-not-allowed-to-call-it-winter weather.

2 + 2 = how much again? Oh, well, if it's 5 for you...
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2011, 07:05 PM   #27
Mary Eastland
 
Mary Eastland's Avatar
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,476
Offline
Re: It's fall.

You can call it whatever you want. And you can be as cranky as you want...it doesn't hurt anybody but you.

Mary Eastland

Dare to Tenkan
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 08:11 AM   #28
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
United_States
Offline
Re: It's fall.

Ya know, Mary, when you preface namecalling with a smiley, it just seems to me like you're trying to award yourself a get-out-of-jail-free card. And when the best response you can give to someone having a perception different than your own is always a form of, "Oh well, if you insist on having that wrong-headed point of view, you're just hurting yourself," it's hard to interpret it as anything but disparaging.

I leave you to your thread. It's your sandbox (well, it's not really, but whatever), so have it however you want.
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 08:31 AM   #29
Mary Eastland
 
Mary Eastland's Avatar
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,476
Offline
Re: It's fall.

Lightness...smiley was supposed to be lightness....cranky isn't a name...it implies cranky...that is all.

I wish I knew why our communication is always so snarky...I would rather it isn't. Maybe we could start over...

Mary Eastland

Dare to Tenkan
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 08:40 AM   #30
RED
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 909
United_States
Offline
Re: It's fall.

Hope the snow isn't too bad for you Mizz. Eastland. Bet it is beautiful though. I miss that part of the country. Even when it is snowing hard in the Fall, it is different from the hard snow fall in the winter. Fall snow was always soft when I lived up New England. Winter snow made me want to crawl by the fire...Fall snow always made me want to bake a pie and make tea. I know the snow is destructive in some parts. My mother says it is looking good in her parts... comfy snow fall weather,

MM
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 09:21 AM   #31
Mary Eastland
 
Mary Eastland's Avatar
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,476
Offline
Re: It's fall.

It wasn't bad here...we got a lot of snow but did not lose power...My daughters live in and near Springfield and they still don't have power. Emily said that Springfield looks worse than when the Tornado hit.

Mary Eastland

Dare to Tenkan
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2011, 09:22 AM   #32
RED
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 909
United_States
Offline
Re: It's fall.

That part of Massachusetts just can't get a break this year.

MM
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-02-2011, 02:25 PM   #33
Mary Eastland
 
Mary Eastland's Avatar
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,476
Offline
Re: It's fall.

On my walk today I came across a huge oak leaf…it was mostly green with red edges. This leaf would have been huge on a big tree. However, this really big oak leaf was clinging to a single twig that was growing from a dead wood pile. The twig is about a foot and a half high and literally a twig. I can't give you a dimension because I can't talk that small.

So the huge leaf is hanging there and I started thinking about what would happen to this leaf when it let go. It probably would fall directly under where it hung and eventually turn into soil. I went out this afternoon to take some pictures of the leaf for my blog and it was still hanging there. I wonder if leaves let go easily or do they have to have their grips pried off like I do sometimes.

I notice when I let go of things and don't try to fix me or others, my life is just fine. When I get into fix mode is when I get into problems. I neglect my own work, play and study and get busy with others. I notice that others don't love to be fixed. They don't love to be fixed even when I am undercover and they don't know I am fixing them. They can still feel the energy they may just not know where it is coming from. I can tell, though. When I am sticking my hand, head or heart into somewhere where it's not supposed to be it hurts. I feel really uncomfortable and often my stomach is in knots.
Aikido practice helps me notice when I shifted out of myself and onto fixing someone else. There is a difference between fixing and really helping. Fixing feels bad because my motives are bad. I have the, "I know better" state of mind. Helping feels okay because I am not attached to the outcome. I can help and have no hands on the results.

When I am nage I can practice patient and tolerance, and then guide my uke. If I am feeling impatience or lack of tolerance, I notice in my body. My hands will feel grabby or I will feel frustrated with how uke is moving. I know when I am trying to muscle my uke around by my inner reaction. If I am complaining about my uke in my head I know I am doing something ineffective.

Uke is like the big green, red tinged oak leaf hanging on her tiny branch until it is time to let go. When that time comes I guide her gently through the motions of the throw to a positive resolution of a gentle but powerful fall.

Mary Eastland

Dare to Tenkan
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-02-2011, 02:35 PM   #34
Janet Rosen
 
Janet Rosen's Avatar
Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4,339
Offline
Re: It's fall.

Quote:
Mary Eastland wrote: View Post
When I am nage I can practice patient and tolerance, and then guide my uke. If I am feeling impatience or lack of tolerance, I notice in my body. My hands will feel grabby or I will feel frustrated with how uke is moving. I know when I am trying to muscle my uke around by my inner reaction. If I am complaining about my uke in my head I know I am doing something ineffective.
So true!

Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-02-2011, 04:54 PM   #35
Cady Goldfield
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,035
United_States
Offline
Re: It's fall.

Quote:
Mary Eastland wrote: View Post
On my walk today I came across a huge oak leaf…it was mostly green with red edges. This leaf would have been huge on a big tree. However, this really big oak leaf was clinging to a single twig that was growing from a dead wood pile. The twig is about a foot and a half high and literally a twig. I can't give you a dimension because I can't talk that small.

So the huge leaf is hanging there and I started thinking about what would happen to this leaf when it let go. It probably would fall directly under where it hung and eventually turn into soil. I went out this afternoon to take some pictures of the leaf for my blog and it was still hanging there. I wonder if leaves let go easily or do they have to have their grips pried off like I do sometimes.
I know you were using the oak leaf as a metaphor for uke, but I couldn't resist throwing in a horticultural "fun fact," since it's what I do for a living. Oaks originally were a Southern tree, their range expanding into New England only after the climate started warming following the end of the last ice age 10,000 or 12,000 years ago. Northern deciduous trees, such as sugar maples and birches, have been here longer and are adapted to the drying, frigid weather of northern winters. They get rid of their leaves in order to conserve water during winter, since their leaves would lose vast amounts of water through their surface areas. They do this by creating abscisic acid and ethylene, which form a rubbery plug between the leaf's petiole -- stem -- and the twig it's attached to, thus cutting off the water supply and letting the petiole dry up and disconnect from the twig. Oaks do not fully have that ability.

So, oaks' petioles cling to the twigs until a strong-enough wind blows them off, or otherwise they hang around until spring, when the buds of the year's new growth push the old leaves off. That's why you'll often see oaks with clumps of dead, brown leaves still hanging on them in January.

Not sure how that would relate to uke's grip on nage, but I'll leave it to aikido folk to find a connection.
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-02-2011, 06:03 PM   #36
Mary Eastland
 
Mary Eastland's Avatar
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,476
Offline
Re: It's fall.

Thanks for the feedback, Janet and Cady.

Mary Eastland

Dare to Tenkan
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2011, 08:21 AM   #37
hughrbeyer
Dojo: Shobu Aikido of Boston
Location: Peterborough, NH
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 653
United_States
Offline
Re: It's fall.

A memory of ice and shattered branches--
October snow
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2011, 08:23 AM   #38
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
United_States
Offline
Re: It's fall.

Quote:
Hugh Beyer wrote: View Post
A memory of ice and shattered branches--
October snow
So this is how we know that you finally got your power back on ;-)

(seriously, hope it wasn't bad for you)
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2011, 11:45 AM   #39
hughrbeyer
Dojo: Shobu Aikido of Boston
Location: Peterborough, NH
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 653
United_States
Offline
Re: It's fall.

Power was okay, but I was driving saturday night and it was horrible. I think you guys got hit harder than we did.
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2011, 02:26 PM   #40
Mary Eastland
 
Mary Eastland's Avatar
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,476
Offline
Re: It's fall.

My path through my yard and woods is circular. I walk it every day. Every day, nature looks different even though it is the same path.

Today the path is covered with large brown oak leaves. The poison ivy is mostly gone or turned to red. There is much more brown and gray than this summer when many shades of green were the dominant colors. Soon the path will be covered in white. Yet it is the same path through the same woods and yard during all these changes and cycles. Each day a new me walks on a new path even though it is the same me and the same path.

Testing for one point is an important part of ki development for both tester and the person being tested. By pushing with an appropriate amount of pressure the tester provides the person being tested with the opportunity to find their center and then, to learn to trust their center.
As a beginning reference we teach the center is 2 inches below the belly button. I could not feel my inner center at first so I had to practice feeling my center was where my hand rested on my skin 2 inches below my belly button.

As I continued to do ki exercises and aikido technique I learned what my inner center felt like. When I was a second kyu I decided to trust that feeling and my real inner strength started to develop.
The repeated falling, rolling and contact of aikido techniques with a partner presented me with opportunities to experiment and learn what felt most dependable for me. I progressed though times of power bursts and complacency. Both periods affording unique opportunities for me to meet myself and work though ego challenges.

The process of having one point and developing strong ki is a remarkable journey. No one can hand you the secret. Correct feeling can be developed by anyone through devoted training. Part of becoming an integrated martial artist is developing a sense of self. We don’t need experts to explain secrets to us anymore than we need priests to define the word of god to us. The secret is there is no secret.

Ki development provides one way to develop inner strength though the practice of ki exercises aikido technique and principles of non violence. Power over is discouraged as we train together so we all become stronger. A sense of compassionate understanding and appreciation of differences are all by products of non-competitive training, along with the desire to continue to learn and teach. There are no short cuts on this circular path. It is an enduring practice.

Mary Eastland

Dare to Tenkan
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2011, 08:34 AM   #41
Mary Eastland
 
Mary Eastland's Avatar
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,476
Offline
Re: It's fall.

The oak leaf has fallen. The wind is very cool, with a promise winter. My back is warmed by the still balmy afternoon Autumn sun.

A connection,
a blending,
a movement,
power together,
connection made deeper by attention to detail,
tenkan,
irimi,
soft swooping arms,
curled wrist,
open posture,
dramatic movement or not,
there again and again,
ego subjugated by the desire to connect and learn.

Last edited by Mary Eastland : 11-21-2011 at 08:43 AM. Reason: too many warms

Mary Eastland

Dare to Tenkan
  Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2011, 07:49 AM   #42
Mary Eastland
 
Mary Eastland's Avatar
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,476
Offline
Re: It's fall.

What a difference a day makes. Tuesday night I was a half a bubble off all night. I hurt one of my ukes. Hurt not injured. I felt bad. That stayed in my head for a few minutes. I went to "I suck". The good thing is that Aikido is so interesting to me I could not stay there for long because Ron was teaching something cool. I had to pay attention despite my venture into self loathing. Then I had a nage that wasn't taking my balance. It seemed to me that nage was getting impatient with me. Their heaven hand kept landing on my clavicle and pushing. It is not very effective but it does cause pain. I got to watch a thought of "why don't you just quit Aikido?" march by in my mind. That is a drastic thought for me. I have a dojo right at my house, for Christ's sake. I had a little chuckle at my negative thoughts and attacked my nage again. This time I just fell down because my clavicle was getting sore.

Last night I showed up again. I started class after doing my warm ups and a whole different perspective was available. We had 7 people on the mat and then Robin showed up a little late. We were all so happy to see her. Class was lively and interesting. Nobody got hurt. Class is always more fun when I am not taking myself too seriously. I can be committed to my training without being self abusive. I would never talk to someone else the way my mind talks to me sometimes.

Mary Eastland

Dare to Tenkan
  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
Instructor got mad because I didnt fall actoman Training 192 05-02-2012 02:55 AM
ukemi - How necessary is high break fall? Andrew Macdonald General 35 11-20-2010 11:25 AM
Poll: For the basic version of tenchinage, what kind of fall do you think is more appropriate? AikiWeb System AikiWeb System 41 02-15-2006 12:46 PM
AikiWeb Store Fall Discount Sale AikiWeb System AikiWeb System 5 11-08-2005 09:55 AM
When to take a fall (it's not that simple!) Phillip Armel General 22 07-28-2003 11:52 AM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:24 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