Week one 2.0

This Monday and Wednesday I taught aikido to a handful of friends at a local park as part of a continuing practice group. One successful week in the bag!

Monday I introduced them to tegatana, the first two moves of hanasu and shomen ate with emphasis on the initial brush off. The overall idea for this class was to be aware of ma'ai and to move as soon as uke crosses it.

Wednesday was more tegatana and additional work on hanasu 1 & 2. With tegatana the goal was smaller steps and trailing foot recovery. For hanasu I emphasized moving when ma'ai is crossed. Hanasu 1, the second step has tori stepping away from uke to face him at ma'ai distance. With Hanasu 2 I tried to explain the "open the door" movement tori can use to to redirect uke's strength.

Hopefully in the months to come I can get these guys ready to meet Pat!

A second go round.

Just an update that i'm trying to get another aikido class started at my local park. Nothing much to report at the moment, we're going to be rained out this week. Hopefully next week we can start training. We also have a facebook page!