Boulder Aikikai Spring Seminar Day 2 (4/25/2009)

The morning class started at 10 and was taught by Heiny Sensei. Heiny Sensei talked about having a "spirit of generosity" when practicing that we should open our heart when working with our partners. By being generous of heart, we won't automatically tense up when attacked which can drastically reduce our options to respond to the aggression. By being open, we are more generous, we will be more open to opportunities. We must strive for unity between uke and nage, Aikido's ideal is when two become one in the technique but problems occur when one become two again. We worked on ryotedori (two hands grabbing nage's arm) for many of these techniques. I was working with Jun from Boulder Aikikai when Heiny Sensei came by to work with us. Heiny Sensei said my grab was neutral, neither pulling or pushing, and I was surprised during the next techniqua, Heiny Sensei called upon me to demonstrate my ryotedori on her and how because there is not an obvious direction to move when grabbing neutral, Heiny Sensei worked on us becoming more sensitive to uke's energy and breathing to feel the openings.
During the lunch intermission, I took the following photo of the shomen (shrine) at Boulder Aikikai along with Gary from Colorado Springs.

In the afternoon, Heiny Sensei taught the first class and Ikeda Sensei taught the second class.
In Heiny Sensei and Ikeda Sensei we worked on establishing unity with uke in our techniques, that we need to evolve and develop our Aikido to become more aware of these deeper levels to the art. In general, throughout this seminar with both Heiny and Ikeda Sensei, we worked on the more subtle aspects of Aikido.