Had a wonderful class last night. I base that on how sore and bruised I am the following day. Today I have purple bruises on my biceps and legs. I have deep red, superficial bruises on my wrists. We did nikkyo, which explains the bruises in my wrists, and some throwing techniques that required grabbing uke's upper arms, which explains the bruises on my biceps. The bruises on my legs are not so easy to explain.
When I was uke on a throwing technique, my partner said my calf hit his elbow. Now it feels like I have a big knot in my right calf. It will go away soon, I know. I also have a good-size lump on the outside of my left knee (about three inches across and one half inch high). I have no idea where that came from. So based on all my bruises and lumps, I would say it was a terrific class.
We went to a local restaurant after class - the same one we usually hit after testing. I guess there were about 12 to 15 people there. It was nice, but I didn't stay too long. I had a bowl of soup, and took my cue for a drink from our dojo cho. He had a brandy manhattan - which I'd never heard of before last night. I'd always had my manhattans with whiskey and vermouth, never brandy and vermouth. I have to say I really, really liked it.
The only part that made me shrug my shoulders is how the waitress brought out our orders. Instead of looking at us as a group and thinking we all wanted to eat at the same time, those of us who ordered soup or salads, got our orders first. Everyone else sat there watching us eat. It wasn't until we were finished that she brought out the rest of the food. I don't get the thinking behind that. Why would I want my bowl of soup before the people sitting on either side of me got their hamburgers. It makes no sense. I guess that's why I never took a job as a waiter.
So back to the dinner. One of the members, who went to Japan recently and is aware of all the proper dojo etiquette collected some money from the rest of us, and bought gifts for our chief instructor - two really nice bottle of sake and a gift certificate to a local sushi place - and a bottle of wine for our dojo cho. I'm really glad about the second one. I heard last night that some students got gifts for the dojo cho on their own. I've thought about that in the past, but never had a clue about what to get, or even if that was the proper thing to do. This is my third year at the dojo, so I've only let two years go by wondering what to do. Anyway, I'm glad we got him something.
Then it was Sensei's turn to give us something. Two years ago we got a towel of sorts that he got from Hombu Dojo. It's a thin cotton cloth to be accurate, with kanji on it. I was told it said something about Aikido, and Hombu, and 2010. As a sweat towel, it's worthless, but I still want to frame it and put it up - maybe in my classroom. For that, it's completely cool. This year's towel is blue and it's a real towel. On one end it says AIKIDO in English. On the other end it says Aikido in kanji. It's also terry cloth, so it works at a towel. I'm going to put this one in my dojo bag and use it. Sensei mentioned that he saw Yakota Sensei from Hombu Dojo with the exact same towel when he was at the Midwest Aikido Center seminar a couple months ago. I was at the seminar on Friday night, but I didn't see a towel. It was nice to get something though. I left early (about 10:45), but it was a nice night and I'm glad I went.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Relaxed
Another breakthrough of sorts at the dojo last night. We were doing techniques from Tai no Henko. We did shiho nage, a couple different kokyu nage throws, and some throws whose memory was beaten out of me last night, including some koshi nages which all led to break falls.
On the one hand, my break falls were all nice and light. On the other, as nage, my throws were all pretty good until I got to David, who is about 75 pounds heavier than me. He is also about nine inches taller. Between all that and my arthritis, I was happy that I did it as well as I did.
The real breakthrough was with the Tai no Henko. Our first kyu sensei and I were working together. He was hounding me to relax. I was doing Tai no Henko the way I thought is was supposed to be done. I was using my ki as I would doing the "unbendable arm" trick. He kept telling me again and again to relax. Finally, I sighed in exasperation, completely relaxed and did the technique then really settled down at the end. He let out this "Ah!" as he tried to keep connected with my wrist. "That felt totally different," he said. I will do it this way from now on.
This is just one more breakthrough in my Aikido. I've been astonished at how I've improved since the start of the summer. I am moving so much more effectively these days. My throws are, from my perspective, quite gentle, yet my ukes go flying. I'm afraid to think of what would happen if I used as much energy as some of the other people at the dojo. Changes are if I did, I might just mess everything up. Moving at this speed and this level of energy seems to work for me. I don't see the need to crank it up right now. Why mess with what's working for me?
On the one hand, my break falls were all nice and light. On the other, as nage, my throws were all pretty good until I got to David, who is about 75 pounds heavier than me. He is also about nine inches taller. Between all that and my arthritis, I was happy that I did it as well as I did.
The real breakthrough was with the Tai no Henko. Our first kyu sensei and I were working together. He was hounding me to relax. I was doing Tai no Henko the way I thought is was supposed to be done. I was using my ki as I would doing the "unbendable arm" trick. He kept telling me again and again to relax. Finally, I sighed in exasperation, completely relaxed and did the technique then really settled down at the end. He let out this "Ah!" as he tried to keep connected with my wrist. "That felt totally different," he said. I will do it this way from now on.
This is just one more breakthrough in my Aikido. I've been astonished at how I've improved since the start of the summer. I am moving so much more effectively these days. My throws are, from my perspective, quite gentle, yet my ukes go flying. I'm afraid to think of what would happen if I used as much energy as some of the other people at the dojo. Changes are if I did, I might just mess everything up. Moving at this speed and this level of energy seems to work for me. I don't see the need to crank it up right now. Why mess with what's working for me?
Saturday, December 17, 2011
More from the Dojo
Thursday I was working with a shodan from Los Angeles. He's working on a project in Milwaukee, and decided to join us for the month he's here. I guess he looked at the Aikido dojo in Milwaukee, but decided to join us, instead.
We were working on irimi nage from ushiro katate dori, using a tenshin step. We led uke around behind us and into the irimi nage. For two "passes" we let uke grab our second wrist, on the last two, we did not. What was both fun and surprising was how easily I was taking down my uke. As I went in to the final move of the irimi nage, my uke's legs just folded under him and he slid forward and collapsed on himself. I said to him that I was being gentle (since that's the way I always try to work), and that I wasn't trying to put him down hard. He smiled and told me not to worry, because whatever it was that I was doing, it was working.
I find this happening more and more at the dojo. I think that I'm doing a better job focusing my center, or "ki," I'm using my body more efficiently and effectively. I'm getting more done with less effort.
We also did a series of koshi nage, or hip throws on Thursday. Koshi nage seems such an integral part of Aikido, yet to me hip throws seem to come straight from judo. Perhaps they do. I'm not going to go down that road right now. The point is that we worked three of four different variations of koshi nage on Thursday, and I was getting my uke over my hip very effectively with little effort. It was good.
Today was the same. I worked with a brown belt who started when the dojo was in its earliest years - it's ten years old now. We were doing tenshi nage - the Heaven and Earth throw, both omote and ura. As long as I was driving my "heaven" hand upward I was taking him down like nothing. This was also good.
At the end of class today Sensei had us practicing for randori. Uke were to attack with a shomen uchi, or overhand strike, and nage had to evade the strike with a move to uke's open side. When it was my turn I could hear Sensei saying, "Nice, good work, very nice." I impressed them all. It's not that I was going for impressing others, but if you knew me, you'd know I never think too highly of myself for a variety of reasons. So it was wonderful to be recognized for doing well. I'm not the type to blow my own horn in public. This medium being the one exception, as I know that no one else reads this.
Finally, my student teacher's supervising teacher came to watch her in action. She, like so many others, wanted to see my class in action as they did their projects in Social Studies. To be clear, my student teacher is helping in this one class, and I am the one who brought them to this point in their learning. They were working in groups on their very first group presentations. At the end of the learning and working time, my class went to some special, and the three of us got a chance to talk. The supervising teacher said, although I am putting this into my own words, that she has seen between 60 and 80 classrooms and their teachers in action, and she has never seen project based learning (PBL) done as well as it was done in my class. Never. Then she went on to tell me that she is on the Wisconsin board of Phi Delta Kappa, the professional teachers organization, and she is going to nominate me for some sort of award they give out annually. I was not expecting that, but it felt good. It will be nice if it actually happens.
While I am not the type to sing my own praises, I won't turn my back when others do. It's encouraging to be recognized for doing well, no matter who is the student and who is the teacher.
We were working on irimi nage from ushiro katate dori, using a tenshin step. We led uke around behind us and into the irimi nage. For two "passes" we let uke grab our second wrist, on the last two, we did not. What was both fun and surprising was how easily I was taking down my uke. As I went in to the final move of the irimi nage, my uke's legs just folded under him and he slid forward and collapsed on himself. I said to him that I was being gentle (since that's the way I always try to work), and that I wasn't trying to put him down hard. He smiled and told me not to worry, because whatever it was that I was doing, it was working.
I find this happening more and more at the dojo. I think that I'm doing a better job focusing my center, or "ki," I'm using my body more efficiently and effectively. I'm getting more done with less effort.
We also did a series of koshi nage, or hip throws on Thursday. Koshi nage seems such an integral part of Aikido, yet to me hip throws seem to come straight from judo. Perhaps they do. I'm not going to go down that road right now. The point is that we worked three of four different variations of koshi nage on Thursday, and I was getting my uke over my hip very effectively with little effort. It was good.
Today was the same. I worked with a brown belt who started when the dojo was in its earliest years - it's ten years old now. We were doing tenshi nage - the Heaven and Earth throw, both omote and ura. As long as I was driving my "heaven" hand upward I was taking him down like nothing. This was also good.
At the end of class today Sensei had us practicing for randori. Uke were to attack with a shomen uchi, or overhand strike, and nage had to evade the strike with a move to uke's open side. When it was my turn I could hear Sensei saying, "Nice, good work, very nice." I impressed them all. It's not that I was going for impressing others, but if you knew me, you'd know I never think too highly of myself for a variety of reasons. So it was wonderful to be recognized for doing well. I'm not the type to blow my own horn in public. This medium being the one exception, as I know that no one else reads this.
Finally, my student teacher's supervising teacher came to watch her in action. She, like so many others, wanted to see my class in action as they did their projects in Social Studies. To be clear, my student teacher is helping in this one class, and I am the one who brought them to this point in their learning. They were working in groups on their very first group presentations. At the end of the learning and working time, my class went to some special, and the three of us got a chance to talk. The supervising teacher said, although I am putting this into my own words, that she has seen between 60 and 80 classrooms and their teachers in action, and she has never seen project based learning (PBL) done as well as it was done in my class. Never. Then she went on to tell me that she is on the Wisconsin board of Phi Delta Kappa, the professional teachers organization, and she is going to nominate me for some sort of award they give out annually. I was not expecting that, but it felt good. It will be nice if it actually happens.
While I am not the type to sing my own praises, I won't turn my back when others do. It's encouraging to be recognized for doing well, no matter who is the student and who is the teacher.
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