This is WAY overdue

So the experiment failed...mostly due to lack of planning on how to actually load the videos on my part. For that, I apologize. I moved my mats over to mine and Andy's new apartment and we went over Honasu a few times. I don't know why, but this time I felt like doing Honasu over Nijusan, which almost never happens. Andy was going over the 2nd wrist release and mentioned that Pat had been showing him that you can either drop down uke in the hole (for more info go to www.mokurendojo.com), or that you can swing around like a door opening. I remembered something Bryce told me about a key to Judo being able to keep a little bit of tension to lead and follow with, but that slightest bit of tension needing always be there. I tried applying that to Honasu, especially number two, and to my surprise, it made all the difference for me in the world. Instead of dropping in the hole, I gave a LITTLE bit of tension then eased off and as uke came forward I re-established the tension after uke was SLIGHTLY more off-balance. I really need to get a camera. Typing this out doesn't do justice to what I'm trying to say.

Videos

ok, our NEW SITE on BLOGSPOT makes it easier to post videos. The first video is up, and the rest will be tonight. We did not in face practice today due to trying to fix the videos from day one, lol. So to make up for it, tomorrow will be two hours and we'll probably do two hours the next day as well. Follow the new site, we're going to make a post at the wordpress one to redirect people there.

There's more

So yesterday we had our first hour of practice and recorded it...only we're having trouble posting it. It's an avi and even compressing it into an mp4 it'll take over 4 hours to post to any site. We're going to try posting it from the University to get day one up there. Does anyone have any suggestions for an easy way to get the video up there efficiently that we could do daily?

To anyone who checks here anymore

So me and Andy have started a new project now that he's up here in Washington state with me. It's called the JAproject. The idea is me and Andy will be practicing for at least one hour every day on two for a year and filming it. We will post a video of one hour every day (and two hours if we miss a day) on this new site. I would greatly appreciate any and all feedback from ANYONE interested.

Last Class

Ok, I've been putting off writing about my last class because it was pretty straightforward. We went over Tegatana with a notepad and pen to make SURE the steps were understood, then went over Honasu again and again until class was over. The last class was fairly short.
Something happened after class that warrants at least a mention. I was talking with a friend of mine about how his Aikido training was going and he commented lately he has no one to do it with. My natural response is "Oh, well train someone then you have a partner." My friend then told me he doesn't think he has what it takes to actually TEACH Aikido.
I think there are a lot of common misconceptions about teaching. I know I had quite a few in Orlando when I started teaching Rob. First off, you can't expect to teach everything. You can only teach what you do know. Tell your prospective student that, straight off the bat. I don't know know everything, but what I'm sure of, I'll tell you. When you're not sure of something, tell them that too. This is my interpretation of what happens, but only what I think. I've noticed over the past year that my interpretation of something when I explain it to Pat isn't always the same as his, but they both could be "correct" based on what we feel is happening.
After getting over that barrier, remember that teaching someone else something teaches you too, maybe even more than they learn from you. In Aikido (and again, this is just what I think), you learn the moves from your teacher so you can copy them when they may or may not feel natural at first. Then, they feel natural and you just start doing them, likely forgetting HOW you're doing them in the process. It doesn't end there. When you teach someone, you re-learn HOW you're doing what you're doing so you can show it to someone else, and by re-analyzing your own technique you discover things. I noticed that when I do Gyakugamae ate (the link is the closest pic I could find), I used to spread my arms farther and farther apart. I initially thought that at a certain point it became an arm thing. I noticed when I started teaching Rob, I don't do that anymore. When my arm comes across Uke's face, I turn my hips and rise and fall with my whole body. Sort of a Gedan ate feel. I never would have known I started doing that unless I taught someone else.
In learning new things about your Aikido you also start applying those ideas to different techniques. I prefer doing Mae Otoshi like Gedan Ate only with my foot in front of Uke and using my body push to continue Uke's rise. Sort of like the guy in the Mae Otoshi link, only closer.
Another advantage is by teaching Aikido to someone who doesn't know it, you get to really practice honasu (the wrist releases) with someone who has not idea what it is supposed to look like, so their resistance is genuine. They won't move for you, so you REALLY get a look at where the holes are in your technique. In making them softer, you have to get softer first.
All I'm trying to say in all this, and I WISH I could find the article in that book on my list at the bottom of my page called "Black Belt Korean Karate", is that teaching is not just a part of learning. I've learned SO much from it I think it should be mandatory to teach at least a few classes upon getting an Ikkyu or Shodan rank. It improves your techniques, makes you think in detail about what you're ACTUALLY doing, and if forces patience on you. Also, there's no reward in the world like when a student just "gets it" one day and starts doing Aikido on their own and you pointed the way.

Next to Last Class

Next Tuesday will be my final class at the YMCA in Bremerton, Wa. Since I'm down to one student, I decided this week I would use the class time to go through Tegatana, Honasu, then Junana once. Junana would (I thought) give her a peek at what she would be learning as her training progressed. A few observations I noticed were, I do Sumi-Otoshi much better the Junana way instead of the Nijusan way and I need to work on that. Gedan ate went well, but when we got to Mai Otoshi (I think I spelled that right), I could not remember exactly how to do it. I thought for a second and tried Gedan Ate and intentionally missed the timing and caught Uke on the rise coming forward and an interesting thing happened. Usually when I do get Mai Otoshi I have a feeling of almost catching the back of the elbow and it's a toss or continuation of that forward movement. While the catching Uke going upward and getting that forward feeling, I caught Uke just above the elbow and it felt like the throw, or point affected I should say, was Uke's shoulder. Is that right? Is that still Mai Otoshi?

It's Been Two Weeks

So as far as last week's post (I know you're on the edge of your seat), I arrived at class and there was a sign on the front door that simply said "Closed for maintenance. Will open tomorrow." Inside I could see electrical wires hanging from the ceiling...nice of them to let me know they'd be closed, yes?
This week, my one student returned and we only have 2 more classes left together. I wanted to go over a few lessons such as, notice your surroundings. We went through the first 4 wrist releases standing near a wall. It took a few minutes, but hip switches developed and number 1 and 3 worked especially well using those, and the "lost releases".
Some concerns were expressed over release number 3 and 4. She, like almost everyone, enjoys doing number 1 and 3 because they FEEL like they have an end. I explained that neither do 1 and 3, and we practiced what happens after the 3rd step of 1 and 3. In other words, what if Uke keeps going? That moved nicely into a Junana lesson, most notably oshi taoish and ude gaeshi. I was requested to go over that a few more times next class, so my lesson plan is just that....more wrist releases chaining into Junana
After 2 weeks when I move, I don't know how much Aikido I'll be doing. I hear Western Washington University has a Judo club, so I'll look into that. The interesting thing I read about their Judo club is that for randori it's open to anyone who does any wrestling, grappling, or throwing art. There's also a group that just focuses on kata and not competition Judo, and that sounds great to me.