Just the basics

This post is for the class we had Wednesday the 17th. I'm a little behind on updating because i've been rather busy with the first week of college and all that entails.

I decided to push our start time to 6:30 to try and have most of class take place towards dusk and it seems to have helped with the heat slightly. Jesse was the only one who could make it so we had a lot of one on one time. After the usual stretching and ukemi we practiced tegatana a couple of times. The first run through was fine and Jesse seems to have the kata down pat. He asked a question about the turns we take in the later part of the kata so I re-explained the idea of having the forward leg create "tension" that unwinds your body into a turn and the third step is more of a recovery to get everything in place. We did a few of the turns until they seemed to be a more comfortable thing then went ahead with a repetition of the kata just to get it all into place. Looks like it's working fine.

The rest of class was almost entirely devoted to working on hanasu 1-4.
Focuses included:
proper footwork
moving diagonally when uke breaks ma'ai
unbendable arm

I'm still playing with the "first step is an escape and the second step is facing uke and where the off-balance is and the third step makes you safe" idea. It could probably use a shorter name. I'll work on it.

We closed class with more aiki brush off randori which is always fun AND educational!

On a side note, after much thought and research, i decided to name my little study group Konwakai "dojo". I say "dojo" instead of dojo for two reasons: it isn't indoors and it really just exists as a study group and not an actual school. I dig the name though as it means friendly gathering which is pretty much the style of learning and atmosphere i'm used to from learning with Pat and the Starkvillans. I'd like to think the people i'm practicing with in my little group feel the same way.