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Old 06-30-2003, 02:19 PM   #1
Seth Jackson
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 21
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Freaky! viewing personal progress

ok... time flies when your having fun. I must be having too much fun at aikido class because an hour and a half feels like 20 minutes. This is a bit dissapointing to me because I feel as soon as I am sorta kinda getting a clue as to what I am trying to do I am in car heading home. Now most of us cant train daily and probably get 2 or 3 classes a week I am guessing. Now this is probably just growing pains for a beginner but I dont feel I am catching on quick enough to be getting as much out of class as I should be.
Is this normal for a newbie? I am guessing I will be tripping over myself for the first 6 months or so and not gonna beat myself up over it. I was curious if this is just something I have to chuckle at myself and keep a sense of humor about for a while because everything is still very new to me.

Also does anyone go through the motions by yourself with a shadow partner? Does it just ingrain bad form if your not doing things perfect?
ok enough rambling from me.
Thanks to Aikiweb for providing this forum

--Seth
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Old 06-30-2003, 02:58 PM   #2
Charles Hill
Dojo: Numazu Aikikai/Aikikai Honbu Dojo
Location: Three Lakes WI/ Mishima Japan
Join Date: May 2003
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Seth,

I think that going through the motions by yourself will help if you take care to imagine a partner and how he/she might move. I believe that to not do so will likely do more harm than good.

Charles
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Old 06-30-2003, 03:06 PM   #3
Janet Rosen
 
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Location: Left Coast
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Hi, Seth. I think what you are experiencing is familiar to many of us as we look back. I remember for months just being told:

relax, don't try to remember from one class to the next, because there are so many techniques. Eventually the one we did today will pop up again, and then again, and you will start to notice patterns and similarities.

They were right :-)

Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
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Old 06-30-2003, 03:08 PM   #4
SeiserL
 
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You can practice your Tenkan since this is basic footwork. Work on keeping your spine straight, your hands on your centerline, and your body aligned (shoulders, hips, and eyes facing the same direction). Relax, breath, and enjoy yourself. Aikido takes a while for our bodies and mind to get the feel. I look forward to that day. Until then, just train. It will come eventually, and faster if you don't hurry.

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!
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Old 06-30-2003, 06:30 PM   #5
Bogeyman
Dojo: UW-La Crosse Aikido
Location: La Crosse, WI
Join Date: Jun 2002
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I have found that I do movement exercises at work all of the time and I think it helps me out. I also tend to go through technique in my mind while meditating. I think many of us still feel that we are a bit awkward and need to learn very much yet even after becoming shodan, that is, afterall, just the beginning.

E
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Old 06-30-2003, 06:59 PM   #6
PeterR
 
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Dojo: Shodokan Honbu (Osaka)
Location: Himeji, Japan
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Consider the similarities between Aikido and Driving a car.

Both will improve.

Peter Rehse Shodokan Aikido
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Old 06-30-2003, 10:52 PM   #7
Veers
 
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Dojo: Shinkikan Aikikai Aikido of Corpus Christi
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas
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My truck can't tenkan...can yours, Peter?

Seth, I know what you mean. Sometimes it seems really short! At home, you can do stuff, too...and it doesn't take all that long. Work on the stretches at home. Work on tenkan. Work on bokken and jo kata, if you're into that yet. Work on footwork and hand movements of techniques you're becoming more famaliar with.

And remember, aikido wasn't developed in a day, so don't expect to learn it in one!

The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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Old 07-01-2003, 01:29 AM   #8
JJF
 
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Quote:
Jonathan Lyons (Veers) wrote:
My truck can't tenkan...can yours, Peter?
Actually mine can - did it once during a blizzard.... It was definately NOT as much fun as it sounds like, since the car behind us just barely managed to stop before they hit us.
Quote:
Jonathan Lyons (Veers) wrote:
And remember, aikido wasn't developed in a day, so don't expect to learn it in one!
So true.....

- Jørgen Jakob Friis

Inspiration - Aspiration - Perspiration
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Old 07-04-2003, 07:27 PM   #9
Adrian Smith
 
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We've recently had a spate of new students join our class, which has made it rather overcrowded. I've only been training for six months so I'm not sure why he did this, but our sensei asked me to start the training of the new students - ukemi (mae and ushiro) and basic tenkan, moving into ikkyo. I'm told it's an honor to be treated so, so I'm working on feeling honored rather than dismayed that I'm not getting to train... <grin>

However, it was only when I started training the new students that I realized just how much my technique has improved since I began aikido. It really surprised me to see how simple my tenkan feels, how relaxed I am during it, and how easy it is to manipulate my nage's center.

Please don't think that I'm bragging, because my journey is just beginning. I'm just pleasantly surprised at how much more natural these basic movements feel to me than they did at the beginning of my training.

-Adrian
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Old 07-04-2003, 07:57 PM   #10
sanosuke
Dojo: Seigi Dojo
Location: Jakarta
Join Date: Nov 2002
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Indonesia
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Quote:
Also does anyone go through the motions by yourself with a shadow partner? Does it just ingrain bad form if your not doing things perfect?
I do irimi tenkan, sometimes when I go outside and wants to turn I use tenkan also (but not obviously tenkan we did in the dojo, just try to turn using my center), helps me a lot in training
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Old 07-22-2003, 03:30 PM   #11
Anders Bjonback
Dojo: Boulder Aikikai
Location: Boulder, CO
Join Date: Jul 2003
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When I first started aikido, I felt really slow and clumsy, and went to two to three classes a week. I took it slowly, and practiced irimi tenkan, front rolls, and bokken strikes on my own. Once I felt comfortable, I jumped in and did everything I could while not being overwhelmed.

Now that it's almost been a year since I've started, I'm going to three to four classes a day (except for tuesday when I only go to one, and Saturday, when there's only two). I don't really have a sense of how much I'm progressing because it seems like just another everyday activity. The only way I see my progression is that my rolls seem to be getting smoother. But I might not be getting better because I'm not noticing how much I suck--whenever I feel like I'm doing everything really badly, that's when I'm actually getting better. Right now, though, I could care less how much I'm progressing--I'm just really enjoying training, applying myself all I can towards improving my technique. I really like the quote by Musashi, "The purpose of today's training is to defeat yesterday's understanding."

But, anyway, I'm pretty sure it's normal at first to feel like you're not really catching on at first. Or ever, for that matter. And you're right that it's good to keep a good sense of humor about it--when I started, I just kept getting fustrated with myself and didn't nearly have as good of a time as I do now. It's important to keep a good sense of humor towards yourself later on in training, too, not to beat yourself up about it (although I don't mean that you should not notice your mistakes and not apply yourself the most you can.)

"For peace and happiness are presences, not objects we can grasp and hold onto."
--Lilian Smith
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Old 07-22-2003, 08:38 PM   #12
YEME
Dojo: South West Aiki
Location: Margaret River
Join Date: Nov 2002
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Quote:
Anders Bjonback wrote:
I'm going to three to four classes a day
A DAY?????

I was told i was overdoing it when i went to four a week...

As for being a beginner. For the first few months you feel like a large trucker in a tutu... with four left feet. well, at least i did.

then you progress to being a large trucker who people wouldn't pick on even if he were wearing a tutu.

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
--Isaac Asimov

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