Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 10:34:32 -0500
From: Andrea A. Phillips
Subject: Re: Aikido-L Seminar
On Tue, 9 Nov 1999, Mike Bartman wrote:
Try some Ibuprofen... :^)
Actually, I'm feeling a lot better today. I'm even considering going to
the dojo tonight. :) My only real problem is that blasted bruise on my
shin, which is larger and more vividly colored every time I look at
it...blooming like a flower in the springtime, it is. *sigh*
I don't know...I don't remember a mutual introduction....there were so many
new faces to try to match up with names... ;^)
Oh, we met. I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. We had a little chat
after lunch on Sunday about geeky pranks of times past. =D
You must not have learned not to sit in the front row for Chuck's class!
:^)
I was sort of in front, and TERRIFIED that he was going to call on me to
uke. He didn't though, so I'm guessing he caught a whiff of the abject
fear coming from my general direction. :)
I got a fair bit of that when he came 'round checking on progress
during practice though. A yellow-belt, who's name I unfortunately
didn't get
My pal Nelson, maybe? He and I were the only yellows I recall seeing.
locked into memory, and I were trying to see if you could get out
of that circle/square/triangle sankyo pin. We'd pretty much agreed
that you couldn't, and I'd found that by lowering the peak of the
triangle you could increase the pain substantially, when Gordon sensei
got to us and demonstrated that rocking the peak *back* was even more
effective... ;^)
I'll have to ask him about that. I had a bit of trouble making it work at
all because I was ducking out completely at first and not leaving uke's
arm hanging over my shoulder, and then I had a problem not tenkaning
emphatically enough, and even when I got that roughly right, I could toss
uke, but I couldn't do it with that absolutely SPECTACULAR lance of pain
that Chuck managed to give to me. I'm going to be mulling over that for
quite a bit, trying to figure out what I could do differently.
Other things I had trouble with:
- Identifying the subtleties in all of our shihonage variations. I think
this is because I'm only just now getting to know the general shape of a
technique and haven't locked into specific movements yet? I can see the
difference if it's spoon-fed to me, but I should be trying to hone my
powers of perception so that I can just SEE. I'll have to work on that.
:/
- Nikkyo. I am naturally nikkyo-deficient. I can (sort of) apply nikkyo
once the hand is in the right general position, but getting the hand there
in a way that does not end up with dozens of opportunities for me to get
whapped upside the hand is a Big Mystery to me.
- Ki Exercises! Maybe it was too early in the seminar, maybe I was too
nervous, excited, what-have-you, as soon as someone started pushing me
back, the front of my ankles and tops of my feet tensed up and it was all
over. Another thing I'll have to mull over.
- Randori. I have excuses: I've only done randori two or three times
before, and even then with only two uke. I think I did reasonably well
under the circumstances, but my big problem (as Alan Drysdale himself
said) was my tendency to move backwards. The big problem with this, I
realize, is that anything could be happening behind me, but my instinct is
so heavily oriented toward keeping everyone where I can see 'em that it
was extremely difficult for me to do anything else. I suppose developing
more appropriate reflexes will take time and practice. What doesn't?
:)
I had a truly wonderful time at the seminar. I've never seen other styles
of aikido in real life before, and it was fascinating to see some of the
differences. Yoshinkai was very crisp, and although it wouldn't be for me,
I respect the diligence that went into taking something with as many
mystic trappings as aikido and turning into, well, into a science, almost.
:) So precise, but still all the same emphasis on staying relaxed.
Ki Society was very elegant. It's a lot more internal than what we do (I'm
an Aikikai girl, myself). It didn't seem as different to me as some of the
other stuff, though.
Jim Baker's class was very...athletic. =) I was in such exquisite pain by
that point that I dropped out after nikkyo (as did many people.) I just
couldn't take it anymore. :/
Alan Drysdale's and Chuck Gordon's classes seemed similar to what I'm
taught in overall style, but they had the flavor of something else. Is it
that both of them were influenced significantly by other arts, or is it
just that each teacher has developed his own personal aikido into
something very individual? (Distinct from other styles and from each
other, I might add.)
I was happy that I was able to keep up at the seminar as well as I did. I
was afraid that I'd spend the whole weekend feeling like my first week of
classes, peering at sensei and blinking and trying to figure out how he
DID that. I'm not saying I caught on to everything with great ease, but I
wasn't nearly so lost as I had expected to be. :) Which is to say..I know
I was seriously outclassed, but at least everyone was nice enough not to
make me self-conscious about it. ;)
This has become a very long message, so I should really let it go now and
stop wasting bandwidth. Hugs to everyone I met at the seminar, hugs to the
people who couldn't make it to the seminar, and I hope to see all of you
next year! =)
--Andrea Phillips
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