Aikido for 02/01/2011

Tonight, even with the temperature and wind-chill in the negative double-digits, was great with Ken teaching class. After warm-ups, we worked on the following techniques:

• katatetori kokyunage tenkan variation
• katatetori kokyunage irimi variation

Ken then picked up where we left off last week with these ushiro techniques

• ushiro katatetori kokyunage static
• ushiro katatetori kokyunage dynamic, Ken had nage blend with uke's attack, redirect uke 180 degrees before the throw. I worked with Tip and ended up with some solid break-fall practice
• ushiro katatetori kokyunage where nage becomes solid and throws uke with the body
• ushiro katatetori tenshinage-style kokyunage

Last Friday I left work early to travel up to Denver Aikikai for a special class taught by Cyndy Hayashi Sensei. To make sure I had plenty of time, I left my apartment at 4:15 (the class started at 6:00). As soon as I got on I-25, traffic slowed to a stop. It took me 45 minutes to travel 5 miles. I encountered a couple more travel delays such that I missed her class. I then drove up to Broomfield and stayed the night with my sister Jill and her family. This past weekend I was thinking about morality and Aikido (not dissimilar topics) and came up with this pithy koan that could apply to both my own moral stances and my Aikido practice.

Stability in the core; flexibility in the response