Today is the mid-week break, none of the senior shihan are teaching but I went to the 3-4:30 class taught by Troy Farrow Sensei from Boulder Aikikai. Farrow Sensei continued the connection and unity exercises from Ikeda and Murashige Sensei classes. We first worked on an exercise where uke made a fist and nage put a hand over the fist and moved all around and to the mat with the goal of maintaining the same connection throughout the technique. From that exercise, we went to ikkyo technique where we felt the fist and the connection and then smoothly transitioned to the full ikkyo throw and pin. The next technique was shomenuchi ikkyo and Farrow Sensei said we shouldn't be focused on the arm and elbow of the hand you are connected to but to focus on moving the opposite shoulder to take uke's balance. He then showed us how to use our forward foot as an anchor and to bring up the other leg to rest on the calf of the forward foot. This decreases the distance between uke and nage as well as providing a solid base for nage when performing the throw. We then worked on related kokyunages both regular and break-falls.
Dinner was an outdoor BBQ, I took this photo of the line of hunger Aikidora waiting to get best meal of camp so far (I thought the ribs were excellent). The photo at the top of the blog post is from where I was sitting and provides a different view of dorm straight ahead and to the right is where the gym where the dojo's mats are.
Tonight I am going to the Aiki Store to buy a new gi and maybe a DVD or two. At ten, I plan on attending the Zen sitting group again. Last night was instructive as it showed just how active and unsettled my mind is without the distractions of life. My goal for tomorrow is attend all of the classes, so six in total.
No comments:
Post a Comment