First of all, hats off to Tonya for pulling off a great seminar. She's been very magnanimous by giving a lot of credit to everyone for volunteering various stuff, but there's no getting by the fact that she was the force behind it. Thank you very much, Whitt Sensei.
And here were Tonya's comments about the things that stuck out for her:
1. Aikido training is about improving me, not my partner (work with the uke you have, not the one you wish you had….and newbies are a wonderful gift)!
2. There are 3 jobs on the mat: Sensei, nage and uke. Each need to do their job with full commitment and focus and if that happens then its good training!
3. Half of your “dojo dues” goes to your ukemi practice so don’t waste that money by learning nothing as uke!
4. If there’s room to drive a truck or even a motorcycle between your hips and uke’s then you have a problem!
5. Give an honest attack….I love the analogy of getting a glass!
6. Some of his attack choices were different than ours: punch/ withdraw and when grabbing kosa tori to get to ushiro kubishimi we should attempt pull/ move uke instead of going around them!
7. Structural integrity: head over shoulders over hips and while a wide stance provides stability it limits mobility!
8. It’s ok to go slow b/c if you are going too fast to be aware of your body then you can’t fix your mistakes!
9. Sankyo lifts and separates while nikkyo crushes (that seated sankyo pin was fun, wasn’t it?!)
10. You can keep knives (and tegatana) sharp and effective by cutting the meat and joints (sword hand – not hammer hand, don’t cut into uke’s strength).
I echo all of what she said, and I'd like to emphasize #8. Tonya is laughing, I'm sure, because I certainly didn't heed that advice when working with her that day! I remember Sensei telling a joke, but I can't remember the joke... something about learning to do something that was hard, and how stupid it was to think that speeding up would make it easier. What was the "something," anyway?
OK... Some other things that stuck out for me...
Stacked Lessons
As do many good teachers (including ours), the day's lessons clearly built on each other. "I never throw anything away!" says Sorrentino Sensei. I love that.
Context
In general, the context for all Aikido techniques is "multiple attackers, weapons everywhere." Sometimes this can be very helpful if something we're doing seems puzzling in a martial sense. Context is important.
Kuzushi
OK, there were three essential elements, according to Saotome Sensei. The second was Kuzushi -- unbalancing, and the third was "posture" (can't remember the Japanese term -- I think it sounded like "says she," or "she say". Help, anyone...)
Hey -- here's an interesting take on Kuzushi. Very deep. I really like it. Remind me to blog about "AABLE" (my own mnemonic).
Final note on Kuzushi. "Kuzushi first -- then 'do a technique.'" Gee -- never heard that before.
Irimi, irimi, irimi
The whole day was about irimi. Entering -- in a lot of different contexts. Some new twists (for me) included:
- If there's only one attacker, maybe tenkan isn't your best option, because you risk turning your back to your opponent (sorry -- "partner"). But, with more than one attacker (which we always assume, right?), turning gives you the opportunity to see the rest of the field.
- Don't dwell on Uke after the technique is done (watch it on YouTube -- ha!) Move on to the next attack.
Dynamic, not static
Sorrentino Sensei acknowledged the value of practicing technique from a static position, but strongly emphasized that he "didn't want to cultivate that" as a mind set, and hinted that our practice can do that if we're not careful. Even tai no henko was practiced dynamically in a number of different ways.
Being Uke
I was honored and very grateful to be called up as Uke several times. Wow, what an experience to try to work with Sorrentino Sensei! I remember him demonstrating one technique, where he was quipping about how Uke "couldn't let go if he wanted to." To me, it felt like I could get hold of him if I wanted to! I just kept trying because I knew that if I didn't, he'd hit me with that hand I was trying to grab!
I was also impressed that he ran the whole seminar without his "own" Uke. Most teachers bring an Uke or two that they're familiar with. Sorrentino Sensei did not, and that's a testament to his abilities as a practitioner, and as a teacher.
I was also impressed that he ran the whole seminar without his "own" Uke. Most teachers bring an Uke or two that they're familiar with. Sorrentino Sensei did not, and that's a testament to his abilities as a practitioner, and as a teacher.
Meeting the Blacksburg folks
I trained with a number of our fellow aikidoka from Blacksburg, and then hung out with them at lunch, too. Great people. I think I'm going to try and make it to the Tuesday night class every once in a while next year.
Tattoos
I gotta get me one. :-)
Sorrentino Sensei was kind enough to respond, via email, to a couple of the "gaps" in my post. I thought I'd post them here for everyone's benefit.
ReplyDelete· On Item #8, the joke I made was that if you are going around the Washington Beltway and you’re lost, speeding up is a bad idea!
· The three essential elements of a technique, according to Frank Doran-sensei (and Saotome-sensei agrees) are:
o Aiki (meeting the energy appropriately)
o Shisei (correct posture)
o Kuzushi (breaking uke’s balance) It’s also worth noting that Doran-sensei has pointed out that shisei and kuzushi are complimentary – if I don’t manifest shisei, it will be very difficult to achieve kuzushi.