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Old 06-09-2005, 10:03 AM   #51
John Boswell
 
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Dojo: Aikido of Midland
Location: Midland, Texas
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Sensei Riggs often (more often than I care to admit) says to us "students often times ADD steps to the technique. I'm just taking things away."

Lan mentioned "Breath." That's a good one

Other comments I've liked:

"Whereever you go, take your feet with you."

"Don't stop! Do something... anything, but don't stop!"

"Once again... with feeling! Allegro! Allegro!"

"Don't think too much! Just do it..."

"Don't forget to breath." Oh yeah...

And of course the ever popular," Just relax! " Like we never heard that before? hehe

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Old 06-10-2005, 02:13 AM   #52
Natasha Bradley
Dojo: Aikido School Leiden
Location: Leiden
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

The other week, during randori, "smile, you're supposed to be enjoying this!".

Natasha.
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Old 06-10-2005, 09:33 AM   #53
MaryKaye
Dojo: Seattle Ki Society
Location: Seattle
Join Date: Dec 2003
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Sensei (to the 41 year old woman in a class full of teenagers): Relax your hands! You look like Emperor Palpatine zapping people with the Force!

(The teens haven't let me forget it yet.)

Sensei, examining the wall: I can't believe you made such a big hole! (I didn't stop hearing about that one until there was a patch and three coats of paint on it.)

Sempai: Never stand still in the middle of a fight. (I had triumphantly stopped his shihonage tanto disarm. So he took my tanto away and scalped me while I was still standing there triumphantly flatfooted. It was a great lesson.)

Mary Kaye
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Old 06-10-2005, 02:12 PM   #54
lwoodcock
Dojo: River City Aikikai
Location: Tennessee
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

I never post, but I had to share this comment sensei made to the dojo after a lot of people had been skipping practice:

"You can learn aikido if you are tired. You can learn aikido if you are sick. You can learn aikido if you've had a bad day.

You cannot learn aikido if you are not in class."

Best guilt trip ever -- it still gets me to class some days!
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Old 06-15-2005, 07:38 AM   #55
eekthecat
Dojo: Queensland Aikikai
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Australia
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

From a much loved Sempai

"too many minds!!! ..mind the people, mind the bokken, mind the floor... forget all and just do.."
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Old 06-15-2005, 08:05 AM   #56
Jory Boling
 
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

in the middle of iriminage my senpai told me this gem "study the tiger." needless to say i stopped in the middle of the technique to say "what?" and then "what?" again after he repeated himself. finally, i realized he was saying "stay in tighter." it still makes us laugh when i offer it to him.
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Old 06-15-2005, 12:00 PM   #57
Mike.Ordway
Dojo: Massena Martial Arts
Location: Massena New York
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

"If the other guy looks uncomfortable you're probably doing it right"
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Old 06-15-2005, 12:48 PM   #58
rogueenergy
Dojo: Aikido of Lincoln
Location: Lincoln, NE
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

"Lower your center."

"You're thinking too much."

"It's not like that, it's like this."

"It's like the universe, always move"
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Old 06-15-2005, 01:50 PM   #59
malsmith
Dojo: Masters of Aikido in Fogelsville
Location: Bethlehem
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

my shihan once said "mal, you're really good at following the rules, so i am making a new rule... no more trips to the ER during class!" (that was after a guy almost seriously ripped my eye out of my head during some "freestyle" striking and blocking)
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Old 06-15-2005, 11:18 PM   #60
Jeanne Shepard
 
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Keep moving!

Jeanne
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Old 06-16-2005, 10:27 PM   #61
Sue Trinidad
Dojo: Island Aikido
Location: Bainbridge Island, WA
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Sensei never says that we're doing something wrong. Rather, "ok, that's something different." (and then proceeds to show what we're supposed to be doing.)

Also this: "when you walk, the universe walks."

And, most often, "Don't say CAN'T!"
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Old 06-17-2005, 05:21 AM   #62
Nick Simpson
Dojo: White Rose Aikido - Durham University
Location: Gateshead
Join Date: Oct 2003
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Who says that aikidoka have no sense of humor?

They're all screaming about the rock n roll, but I would say that it's getting old. - REFUSED.
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Old 06-17-2005, 01:35 PM   #63
guest89893
Dojo: Jihonjuku/ St.Pete. FL
Location: Palm Harbor, Florida
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

"It helps if you get out of the way, first."

& on doing quiet forward rolls:
"I find if you just match the rotational movement of the Earth you don't make a sound."

Still working on both of them.
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Old 06-18-2005, 09:48 AM   #64
MikeCallender
Dojo: NATO Aikido Club, Kiryoku
Location: Brussels, Belgium
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Shut up and train!

Mike

Train Hard
-Mike Callender
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Old 06-20-2005, 09:54 PM   #65
Tubig
Join Date: Jun 2005
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Australia
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

* Blend like a blender!

* Love the mat, Kiss the air, and you will never be scared of ukemi again.

* Dameh!!! I heard a sound on your break fall.

* Relax. your jaw is uptight when youre doing Kiai.
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Old 06-21-2005, 08:53 AM   #66
Eric Webber
Dojo: Aikido West Reading
Location: Reading, Pa
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

"No one makes you angry. You choose to be angry. Look at what we do here: we ask people to step up and swing at us, and then thank them afterwad. Learn to do that in the rest of the world, and you will choose to thank people for helping you practice your aikido outside of the dojo." -My first Sensei.
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Old 06-21-2005, 09:56 AM   #67
dream
 
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

"You are not moving."

"You must believe in what you are doing"

"Aikido is not how you fight, it is how you eat, how you sleep, and how you live your life."

I've been thinking a lot lately.
And i don't recommend it.
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Old 06-21-2005, 06:21 PM   #68
Jeanne Shepard
 
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Quote:
Cromwell Salvatera wrote:
* Blend like a blender!

* Love the mat, Kiss the air, and you will never be scared of ukemi again.
Oh how could I forget! "The mat is your FRIEND!"

Jeanne
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Old 06-21-2005, 10:37 PM   #69
rogueenergy
Dojo: Aikido of Lincoln
Location: Lincoln, NE
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Look for why it works
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Old 06-21-2005, 10:56 PM   #70
Joe Bowen
 
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Dojo: Yongsan Aikikai
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South Korea
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

When I first arrived in Korea and started studying with the Korea Aikido Federation, most of the students and Youn Sensei did not know enough English to converse with me. They really only knew one word which I heard over and over and over and over again......

"Relax"
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Old 06-22-2005, 12:26 AM   #71
Tubig
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Australia
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Breath through your stomach. It is alright to look fat in aikido.
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Old 06-22-2005, 05:26 AM   #72
Simone
Dojo: Augsburg/Haunstetten
Location: Germany
Join Date: Jul 2000
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Germany
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Hi everyone!

I really like this thread.

The last answer woke one incident from my memory: someone was taking pictures during class and took one from my backside. I was really concerned that it looked a bit too fat (I didn't wear a hakama for long then and still think it makes myself look fatter). My sensei came and said: "Don't you have better things to do than be concerned about the look of your backside?". Yep, he was right.

Two other things from my sensei:
don't be stronger, be smarter - move!
to improve, omit everything unneccessary. I'm still trying to figure out what is necessary and what not!

Simone
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Old 06-24-2005, 10:33 AM   #73
Lance
Location: hot springs, ar
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

Student: I Think Im Doing It Wrong.
Sempei: Did You Get Hit?
Student:no
Sempei: Then We Can Work With It

When I Became Sempei I Decided To Use That Line As Well It Really Stuck With Me.

Lance
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Old 06-24-2005, 12:54 PM   #74
ElizabethCastor
 
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Dojo: Castle Rock Aikido
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

So last night while my partner had me in a sankyo pin I heard the dreaded words...

"yeah... that works okay; but if you want to make it really interesting you could do this...<insert technique I couldn't see>" tap! tap! tap!
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Old 06-24-2005, 12:59 PM   #75
Ron Tisdale
Dojo: Doshinkan dojo in Roxborough, Pa
Location: Phila. Pa
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Re: Sempai comments that stick with you...

I really hate to hear things like that! My instructor was demonstrating something or the other in a clinic, and I guess he must have seen me doing something wierd recently on a kotegaeshi standing pin, so he has me lay down on my back and proceeds to show the class how to do it right...OUCH!...the first time I had to tap with my feet as my free arm got stuck underneath me some how (note to self: NEVER LET THE FREE ARM GET STUCK UNDERNEATH YOU!!!).

Ron

Ron Tisdale
-----------------------
"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind."
St. Bonaventure (ca. 1221-1274)
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