Aikido roll

[Drunken_Apprentice]

One bit of advice: Don't be afraid to fall. I've been in my dojo for about 9 months. We've gone over ukemi about...oh, 5 times. I only just got it last week. Fear of falling made me tense up right before I hit the ground. And tuck your chin, or you'll get really really bad kinks in your neck.

 

I second this. Tuck, stay big and keep your arms in the "unbendable" (but not locked straight) position, make sure you go over a shoulder and not your head, and stop thinking about it. That makes it 100 times worse. Just do it.

 

A good way to get used to it is to have a high ranking student throw you (with the understanding that you're tyring to learn how to roll!) I learned that way, and you do it so fast that you don't have time to think about it before you realize it happened already.