Griffith Shukan News

Thursday, 23^rd April 2009

CONTENTS:

1. Expressions Of Interest For Soft Ukemi Practice At Grafton Dojo

2. How I Improved My Taninzegake

1. Expressions Of Interest For Soft Ukemi Practice At Grafton Dojo

On Saturday 16^th May, Mark Campbell Sensei will be hosting a day of training, focusing on soft ukemi, at his dojo in Grafton. Gabby, Rico and myself have been invited to facilitate some of the training, to share some of the soft falls we learnt in Brasil and some of the ukemi Rico has learnt in his years of training with Aikikai. Mark Sensei and his students have a real interest in integrating softer falling techniques into daily practice and so have organized this day as an opportunity to exchange ideas and do some dedicated ukemi practice.

So this will be on the 16^th May, the first class at 10:30am and the second around 2pm. The cost will be $25 for the 2 classes. Grafton is about 2hrs drive from Byron Bay and has a dojo of very friendly and enthusiastic students.

If anybody would is interested in coming to this event, please feel free to let me know before or after class or phone me on 0432 780 369. As the dojo area has an upper limit of about 20 students at one time, it would be good to have an idea of how many people are likely to come down.

Cheers,

Paul Sensei

2. How I Improved My Taninzegake

Have you found that during taninzegake your mind goes blank and you can't remember any technique? Have ever found that you can't perform a technique on uke because you feel there is too much resistance?This is because it is easy to get lost in the moment and let emotions takeover.

It is easy to think of all the things we do wrong or the way we look while we are up doing taninzegake. I still remember as a beginner being petrified of getting up there and making a fool of myself. Sometimes this is an ego based reaction. It would be so much easier to do aikido if we all left our ego at the door as we walked into the dojo. In the martial arts, there is no place for ego.

In aikido, most of our techniques start with blending. So rather than thinking about how I look or how uke is attacking and reacting to the situation,I try to simply blend with the energy that's being provided. If you can forget about all else, put aside all distractions (mind and body), and just blend with the energy, you will find that technique flows and your aikido will improve as well.

As uke, the same principle applies. It's not about being resistant and making the other person fail or look bad, it is about providing energy for nage to learn. As uke, I provide energy and adjust this energy to suit nage's level of training to allow nage to learn. Following nage's movement allows both uke and nage to learn and blend. Blending is the first step in aikido technique and when achieved leads to beautiful flowing technique.

Finally the same principles apply in paired or group work or gradings. No matter what we think personally, always listen to Sensei's instructions and do as he/she says. We are all at the dojo to practise the art of Aikido Yuishinkai.Therefore, when a technique is demonstrated by Sensei, we should try to follow his/her example and do that specific technique to the best of our ability. This will prevent injury both physically and to our egos!

Next time you draw a blank with techniques in taninzegake, forget about all else and just see the energy being provided and blend with it.

Shirin

Shirin Mohebbi

Griffith Aikido Newsletter Editor

Email: shirin(AT)internode.on.net