Aikido for 11/22/2011

Ken taught class and after warm-ups, we first spent some time on ukemi and tenkan movements as we had a visitor who hadn't practiced for over ten years. We then worked on the following techniques:

• katatetori kokuynage tenkan
• katatetori kokyunage irmi

Aikido for 11/19/2011

When I arrived at the dojo this morning, Nate said that Garry called and was sick so I agreed to teach the open class. After warm-ups, I wanted to work on moritetori kokyunages today, with six different variations including ikkyo omote and ura styles, and hijinage variations. I finished class with us working on three person bokken katas Saotome Sensei showed us at the Fall Seminar last month. Tip arrived to teach the fundamental class so I didn't have to teach.

Aikido for 11/17/2011

Tip taught class and after warm-ups we worked on a number of techniques including kokyunages, ikkyo, and other pins. We finished class with kumitachi number two.

Aikido for 11/15/2011

Ken taught class and it was just me and Tom, a student I haven't seen in while. After warm-ups, Tom asked if we could practice ukemi, so we got out the blue mat and then practice forward ukemi and backward ukemi for a while and then we started doing techniques with the focus on ukemi. We practiced the following techniques:

• katatetori shihonage omote
• katatetori iriminage
• katatetori tenkan kokyunage

Although there were only three of us, I enjoyed practice (pretty much as always, it is a rare Aikido class that isn't enjoyable for me) and I can always work on my ukemi. I find that if I skip practice for whatever reason for more than a couple of days, the first area that I usually notice where I'm rusty is doing usually forward ukemi. One of the most important things about Aikido is the first to slip.

Aikido for 11/12/2011

The past week was limited in my Aikido practice. On Thursday, I got an email from Tip asking if I could cover Thursday class for him; I agreed when I arrived for class, nobody showed up so I left after waiting around for 15 minutes.

For Saturday morning's open class, Garry started class with weapons work using the bokken. We worked on shomen cuts and on shomen cuts with movement followed by kumtachi number 1. After the weapons, we practiced the following techniques with a focus on following through with the elbow instead of the hand:

• katatetori kokyunage tenkan
• katatetori sankyo omote
• katatetori shihonage omote
• katatetori shomenuchi ikkyo omote

In related news, Sunday night I purchased my plane tickets to San Diego for January's Aikido Bridge Seminar. Ken and I are going to be roommates and I am getting more excited about my trip in a couple of months.

Aikido for 11/08/2011

Tuesday night it was just Ken and I who showed up for class. We worked on a couple of kokyunages and Ken talked about his experiences at the Tai Chi camp he attended last week. He showed how the Tai Chi master talked about using the ground to push off from and conntecting through the joints of the body to build up power to the hands and arms using the 9-link staff as a metaphor of working up through the leg joins, through the torso and spine, to through the shoulder, arm, and then hand. I found just that one observation helpful in my Aikido practice.

Aikido for 11/5/2011

For the open Aikido class, Garry had us work on many of the techniques and exercises Saotome Sensei had us work on during Saturday's class at the fall seminar. What I found useful and helpful is that Garry has a  different perspective and his insights to the techniques. I learned I was not connecting correctly in a jo-extension exercise and to line-up my hips with the my grasping hand to uke's jo I was able to move uke much easier.

Last Wednesday I arrived at the dojo to cover Ken's fundementals class and unfortunately, no one showed up so I left after twenty minutes. On Thursday I arrived to class and it was just Tip and I so we cancelled class because he had some things to do. We need to look at ways to increase our numbers at the dojo. We will be having an instructor's meeting soon to discuss more ways we attract and retain the Aikido students.