Aikdio club seminar for 2009

[bushido_man96]

Our Fort Hays State University is having its Aikido seminar again this year, and it goes from the 11-13. I'm looking forward to it, because after last semester ended, I haven't had much opportunity to get Aikido work in. Should be fun! I'll post updates when I can.

[bushido_man96]

Ok, semiar is over, and I am a bit sore, but I made it through, and had a pretty good time.

Day 1: The sensei talked a little bit about conflict resolution, and how it tends to meld into Aikido's overall philosophy. Then, we spent time on working various techniques and how the philosophy went along, like letting them go where they want by leading them, and then using their energy, etc, as opposed to fighting against their strengths. We did a "corner drop" and nikkyo and kote-gashi techniques from wrist and cross-wrist grabs. Afterwards, we did some bear hug defenses, as it was requested by one of the attendees.

Day 2: In the first session, we started off with some basic tai-sabaki exercises, moving in four ways: inside and to the head, inside and to the wrist, outside and to the head, and outside to the wrist. After practicing these, the sensei then had us work on a different defense using each of the different tai-sabaki. This was nice, because it showed that it didn't matter which way you defended, because there is always an option.

The second sesion of day 2 started out with about 20 minutes of meditation, which I really didn't care for, but I think most of the partcipants here on the forums are aware of my thoughts on meditation. My thought was I could have spent 20 minutes on more technique work, but, that's ok. After the meditation session, we got to do paired jo-staff work. Now this was fun! We learned 4 different jo "segments" as that attacker, and the defender. I really enjoyed this session; I'd say it was my favorite. Weapon on weapon work is always fun for me.

Day 3: Sensei asked if anyone had anything in particular they wanted to work on, so when no one spoke up, I offered up Shio-nage, or 4-direction throw. In the books I had been reading, Shio-nage was held as one of the important aspects of Aikido, and learning Shio-nage helped in learning others, as well, so I thought, why not? We did several variations, with a same side and a cross side grab being done nearly the same, which was nice. At the end, he showed us a 2 on 1 Shio-nage, which we got to play with. Then, we finished with Shio-nage free practice.

After each of the sessions, I spent time at home writing in my notebook, and cross-referencing my Aikido books to mark pages that showed the technique we did, or something very similar, so that I could have a reference point to practice it from. Some I found, and some I didn't. I know I won't retain all of the techniques that we learned, but what I have come out with are a better idea of some of the general principles involved with all of the techniques of Aikido...things like unbendable arm, extension of energy, and moving from the center, and keeping the elbows in. It was a fun seminar, and I look forward to next year's seminar, as well.

[tallgeese]

Very cool. Sounds like you had a good time.

[bushido_man96]

It was enjoyable, and the sensei is so smooth, watching him and then going out and just butchering it like I do, really gives me hope that I can attain that level of control at some point.