Thinking too much

Keith substituted for Douglas Firestone Friday night. Among other skills, Keith is finishing his degree in physical therapy and has been working like a madman to get his internship finished. He's finally at the end of the tunnel and he has been able to train more regularly.

We did mostly kokyu type throws, ryōte-dori which is not my strong point. Good to get more practice in. ;)

At about half way through the class, however, we switched to a not-quite randori. Two uke each for nage, who should use some of the techniques just practiced. I guess that would really be jiuwaza. Of course, practicing this way, the technical considerations become secondary to movement. And that's a very good thing to practice.

The funny thing, I noticed I performed those techniques much better in the jiyuwaza portion of the class. Left to my own devices, I do tend to over analyze, and in a more free-style environment, that just isn't possible. So it's true what people tell me, "Don't think too much, just move." Hehe.

Here's a clip of someone moving around a good bit in a freestyle setting:

A rare critisism

Just a note: This entry was deleted. I feel some explanation is in order as I had previously said I wouldn't censor this blog.

Foremost, some people who commented publicly and privately managed to convince me that I may have been a bit too uncompromising in my attitude. Specifically,

Olympic sports are for comparing who is best. Aikido is about self development and becoming your best. Some will naturally be better. Some will find it too easy and leave. It's the journey that is important..and everyone has their own destination in mind. Some tourists just don't fit in, that's all.

I really couldn't argue with that and if my post seemed to contradict this idea, then it's sending the wrong message and not the one I intended.

I want to stress I did not delete the post because I was worried about recriminations or because of any critical comments. I welcome all comments and won't delete any that are critical of me -- especially those that are critical of me. Like a letters to the editor section in a magizine or newspaper, I welcome the views of those who disagree with me.

I thank all of you who expressed your opinions, both positive and negative. We're all on this path together, that's for sure.

Tanto

When I arrived for the afternoon class, I knew from the crowd Yamada-sensei must be teaching. Sensei doesn't teach every day, so when he does, people make it. On any day he has a scheduled class, the phone rings off the hook, everyone with just one question, "Is sensei teaching today?"

I don't usually do that, though. I go to the dojo when I can go and am just happy to be able to practice. Maybe I'll get more particular in a decade, who knows? For now, I just show up, though of course, I'm always glad to take sensei's class.

I was mulling around on the mat with Luis before class. Luis is a former 10-year deshi and weekly instructor at the Aikikai. He and I always get along very well. He's a good guy and a very strong aikidoka.

He's so strong, in fact, I tend to not usually seek him out as a partner, even though he's a great teacher. As I was talking to him, I suddenly felt inspired. I'm recovered from my ailments now, right? So I should have all my wind back. Suddenly, I just found myself asking him to "help me out." This will certainly be a test to see if I'm back to normal strength or not. Haha.

We started with kokyuho back stretch and went fairly quickly to suki. From there, we switched over to tanto and did a bunch of less common techniques.

One was based on an odd attack. I kind of cross handed attack to the opposite side. Nage then gets off-line and breaks uke's grip on the tanto with a elbow bend. When sensei did it, the tanto went flying about 15 feet. I only managed a few...

All the while, Luis was pounding me pretty hard, but I was really taking it much better than ever before. Maybe because I'm healthy again, maybe because my ukemi is getting a little better, but I really didn't have too many problems on the mat.

I even tried to mix it up with him and pound him a bit. Haha. Of course, that is still not yet possible. The guy's ukemi is just too good to be pounded by the likes of me. He just flows like water and comes up fresh and clean. Amazing. Someday, I'll get him to at least breathe a little heavy. ;)

I managed to find a photo, above, of sensei with a tanto! Sensei has a fairly new website with his schedule and lots of really great photos. The caption for this one simply says, "During public demonstration, Japan."

Sugano-sensei

After a few days break to recuperate, I was back on the mat this morning in Sugano-sensei's class.

It was great to see Sugano-sensei. He had been nursing his leg recently. He seems now to be in fine fettle.

Sugano-sensei likes to stress maiai and today he was positively chatty on the subject. We started off with katatedori kokyunage backstretch, and I guess he didn't like that some were doing it staticly (is that a word? ;) He didn't like it that some nage were letting uke grab and set before nake would start to move. This naturally led into the concept of distance and maiai. Sensei mentioned that the idea of maiai is not only the distance between nage and uke but also awareness of one's surroundings.

From there, we changed to yokomenuchi and did a few throws. I guess these would be called kokyu thows also. Nage enters and either completes the throw by extending through the chin; atemi-extending through the chin and then cut to the elbow, or irimi and step through. That last one may be irimi nage omote. But for the others... in aikido, when in doubt, it's kokyu. ;)

We then went to yokomenuchi and nage enters and dives down to sweep one or both legs. This was a great technique to practice, but there really was no room to do it in partners. Strangely enough, we did the above techniques in groups, but switched to partners for this one.

Of course, we ended with irimi nage and kokyuho. That's a rule in Sugano-sensei's classes.

But the best news of the day was my returning health! After only a few days of antibiotic, I felt like my old self again on the mat. Admittedly, do to the crowding, it wasn't a heavy workout, but I could tell the difference. No more gasping for breath and needing water after 2o or 30 minutes. I felt quite steady during the entire class. I only hope this stays that way...

The photo above is Sugano-sensei and me at Yamada-sensei's birthday party last week. I guess the photographer didn't check and notice he had his eyes closed. On well, anyway, it's the only photo of the two of us I have at the moment.

An explination

I haven't been feeling well the past few days and I finally decided to go to the doctor. I never go to the doctor, so that really tells you something.

Well, it turns out, that not only do I have an "upper respiratory tract infection," which is a cold, but I have some kind of bronchitics. "But I'm not really even coughing!" I said. Doesn't matter, that's the diagnosis. It's possible to walk around with it and not know it.

Something suddenly starts to dawn on me. "Hey, doc, could I have had this for the past 6 weeks or so?" It's possible, why? "Well, I do this marital art and suddenly this year I haven't had the stamina and energy I used to have and I haven't been able to figure it out. I get out of breath more easily and need to stop and get water much more then I ever did before." It sounds very likely, he says.

Well, as bad as I felt, I wanted to jump up and dance around the room. Finally, an explanation! All this time I've been practicing with an infection in my lungs. Wow. I had no idea.

I've been trying not to dwell on it in this blog, but I have really been confused and unhappy about my performance on the mat lately. I had all these theories as to what may be happening. I never imagined there was such a mundane answer. At least, I hope this is the answer.

So I'm on an antibiotic. If this was really the problem, I should be back to normal in a week!

Ryotedori

I managed to catch Yamada-sensei's class. It's interesting, the longer I practice aikido, the more I appreciate what he is doing. His aikido is really amazingly clear.

We concentrated on ryotedori. We started with that tenkan-and-raise -hands-and-go-over-uke's-head-and- cut-for-a-back-stretch thing. I wonder if it has a name. Of course, tenchinage, kokyunage and a few others.

During kokyunage, I was in a group with Noriko. She is a very, very strong aikidoka with textbook perfect technique. I always enjoy watching her and I'm grateful of any chance to work with her. I try to learn from her movements.

Toast

Junya taught class as usual last night. I really am getting into his classes more and more. The structure and flow are very logical.

After warm-ups consisting of front and back rolls, shikko and pushups and knee bends, we started off with tai no henko and kosadori (cross-hand grab) ikkyo. I think we did them forever, or at least 15 minutes each!

Then we moved on to kotagaeshi. We did this in groups. There was a guy I didn't recognize. He seemed very young, but his technique was not bad so I think he was older than he appeared. We also did this absolutely forever, and I got a bit tired at the end of it. I went to get a drink and Junya was with my partner when I returned. He was really laying irimi nage on her.

Then he seemed to finish, so I thought it was time for her and I to get back to it. Not so fast, however. Junya wanted to throw me around a bit, too. His Irimi nage is quite strong, and I was scrambling to keep up with it. After 4 throws, all the rest I soaked up from the water break was gone and I was more tired then when I left the mat. That'll teach me to get water!

It's funny, when I get tired, I kind of drift in and out of the zone. Sometimes my tired aikido is sloppy. Other times, it can actually get better if I struggle to regain my center and relax. When I was getting tired during the kotagaeshi I was able to pretty much keep it together. But in that last irimi nage, I was toast. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

Presidents' Day

Yesterday was Presidents' Day, therefore no classes at the dojo. This brings up a pet peeve of mine.

There are 10 legal public holidays in the Unites States, and the dojo is closed for each one of them. This strikes me as a little silly.

Of course, there is no point in being open on Christmas, Thanksgiving or New Year's Day: People will be eating and drinking. Even July 4, Labor Day and Memorial Day are traditional 3-day weekends. People probably won't go to class. And let's not forget about Easter. But Presidents' Day? Give me a break.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as patriotic as the next guy, but some holidays just don't affect business that much, but dojo business is closed anyway. MLK Day; Veteran's Day; Columbus Day, too? You bet.

We can be open every Saturday and Sunday, but not on these little holidays? I just seems like a wasted opportunity. I don't know, maybe over the years it's become apparent that a good percentage of people don't come on even those minor holidays, but I can't imagine it. I would go. I have to work, anyway.

Back to basics

Probably owing to all the hold-over visitors from the party on Saturday, Yamada-sensei taught the Sunday morning class, one he is not usually scheduled to teach. I had left the party at about 7 p.m. as it seemed to be winding down, but I asked sensei when the party finally broke up. "Oh, about midnight." Wow, I guess I missed some good party hours...

We did lots of katatetori techniques, very standard stuff for a change. :) Some instructors tend to try more complex techniques, but I tend to prefer a more basic workout. Sometimes it's fun to try those so-called advanced things, but I must confess I take a skeptical view of much of it.

Most of those very involved techniques wouldn't occur in a real world situation, and I doubt they would be of any practical use to any but the most advanced practitioner. Even then, a good fighter would probably get out of them. Of course, we practice aikido for many other things besides its practical application "on the street" -- in fact, that is the least of my concerns -- but one has to draw the line somewhere.

Anyway, there is so much to learn about the "simple" techniques to keep me busy for a very long time. I think doing them to a very high level is already "advanced" aikido. There really is no end to the subtlety and quality that can be found, learned or attempted. Why muck that up with silly moves that seem to be an intellectual curiosity?

One thing that tells me I'm on the right track with this is that most the high level aikidoka I know seem to concentrate on the standard aikido canon. For the most part, it's some guys in the level directly below them -- meaning very good, but not yet shihan -- that seem to be fooling with all the advanced things. Yamada-sensei himself always expounds on "the power and the basics." I guess I'm a clear Yamada student, then. :)

Here's a clip of Yamada-sensei from his video, "The power and the Basics" with a very young Donovan Waite as uke:

Milestones

Saturday was a very special day at the dojo in celebration of Yamada-sensei's 70th birthday. I was amazed at the number of people who came! It looked like the Christmas seminar.

I drove in to Manhattan, which I try not to do too much these days. It's hard to justify all the tolls and gas when my unlimited metrocard can get me there without additional cost. I was running late, however and decided to try to make it. I don't know if it's because of the building boom in Chelsea, but it's becoming harder and harder to find parking near the dojo. It used to be very easy to find a spot on a weekend morning.

So I was late and didn't make the first class, which Yamada-sensei taught. Bummer. I was really surprised when I walked in. Man, the mat was packed.

The second class, usually taught by Mike Abrams, was taken over by a woman who has her own dojo in Europe. (As I said, people came from all over.) I didn't know anything about her, but I think she has never been a practicing member in New York. Yamada-sensei travels all over in his zone of control, which covers large parts of the globe.

In any case, she certainly had Sensei's style to some degree, but her class was filled with what was to me very unusual techniques. I suppose one could simply call them "advanced." Anyway, I had a nice time partnering with Seung Jung and together we cobbled something together. She was a great partner, actually. She takes her aikido seriously and was a pleasure to practice with.

The party started at about 2:30 and everyone was there. I mean everyone. Other aikidoka, especially instructors and shihan came from all over the world, including Claude Berthiaume, a shihan from Canada who I have only heard about, and many others.

Of course, all of our own regional shihan and other high ranked instructors all showed up as well. It was a great opportunity to talk to all of them outside the confines of a class.

The whole day was really a testament to the kind of man sensei is. When he gave his speech, one could really feel the emotion in the room. I had the sense of witnessing a very special moment. Sensei spent his life dedicated to aikido, and it is remarkable to see how successful he has been. So many all over the world owe so much to him.

Aikido has given me much in so short a time, but when I started, I really didn't know how rich the experience would become.