Changing ideas by building better walls.

This saturday definitely gave some things to ponder on.

With tegatana, i need to devote more practice to the kata. As the first kata we learn in our style of aikido it's seems easy, after so many repetitions, to simply zone out on auto pilot as i go through the steps. I don't want you to think that i flop through it without any care as to what's going on at all, because i don't. Generally, i think of the up and down and how the motion of my arms effects the side to side. As i found out later in class i need to keep from losing track of how my feet are acting. When i have to stop and think about it or explain where they go, i run into a snag. "Does my foot turn out or in?" "Will my hand be on the same side as my foot or opposite?" I have to work on making the katas i've learned stand out of the background haze of my thoughts and become something that i can consciously cite whenever i need to.

My hanasu isn't immune to foot misplacement either. Hon Soto Te Osu (#2) and Gyaku Soto Te Osu (#4) have alway been two moves that have never felt.. quite right. Pat gave me another idea to iron them out. At times the way to move off to the side is to make a full step, then a shuffle adjustment then to move behind uke takes another full step and a shuffle adjustment. As always i need practice practice practice.

For me, our nijusan practice was what gave me the most to noodle on from that class. We worked on shome ate and aigame ate.

The entry to shomen ate as uke attacks with his right hand is for tori to step off to the right with a deflecting qucik/small push against uke's arm causing an off balance. If uke insists on continuing the attack tori makes a block with the left hand and then makes a shomen ate forward with the right.

With aigamae ate, when uke makes a forward right handed attack tori deflects the attack to the right attempting to cause an off balance between uke's feet. If uke is able to recover tori stays behind uke's arm making a series of steps to the left deflecting uke's arm with tori's left hand. When uke gets into a position where he can attack it will cause him to stop moving and face tori. Tori then makes a right handed shomen ate to uke.

Now, if you were able to follow my explanation of these two moves ( i admit it's probably very convoluted in it's explanation) then you noticed that there are a lot of switches from the left hand to the right hand and vice versa. As Pat explained, what really places the strength in these right and left movements is the placement of your feet in unison with you hands as a stable cohesive motion creating a wall that won't move. In my case, as far as my hands were concerned, they were more or less on autopilot. When Pat had me pay almost exclusive attention to my feet things definitely came together much better. Even in aigamae ate as i stayed behind uke my left hand would be in place but having my foot work with it i was able to build a better wall each time.

One of the best ways to practice this simultaneous right side/left side together movement is to stand in front of something sturdy and pick a side to some ate against the (let's say a wall) wall. Then as one side makes firm contact roll over to the opposite side. You can do this back and forth however many times you want to help get that idea to become more natural. It's something that Pat had us do every now and then, but it's importance never really clicked until saturday's class.

All this stuff to readjust my thinking of aikido and we got to do some extra ukemi practice too. It was a great class.

I've something to say on the topic of Saturdays.

Made it to class saturday as part of my "no weekend class left behind" program and had a lot of fun. We went through some ukemi practice and i was made well aware of just how little practice i've gotten with it over the last few months as i couldnt do a backward roll from a laying down position. It was personally embarassing as it had previously been a personal hurtle i had (once) finally overcome. So i'm going to have to re-adjust that setback.

We did hanasu 1 and 2 and some chain work. It's cool having the new people in class, i get to work with someone that's even taller than i am and someone that's almost 2 feet shorter. That big of a change between ukes give a lot to sort of noodle out.

As far as anything else goes the writing is actually going, which is nice. The blog i plan on posting my stuff on will be private for a while (indefinately is more like it) so i won't be linking it here but i am almost through with my first short story. So yay me.

New stuff for a new year.

This post isn't going to be a whole bunch of stuff. I've been way too lazy the last couple of weeks when it comes to out-of-class practice but i am determined to change all of that.

Though i wont call these resolutions, i am re-dedicating myself to edit the layout of my current life.

First off, aikido. I love it, but i haven't been often enough for quite some time. Saturdays will now be designated aikido day. On call or off, i will be making my fat ass show up to at least one class a week. Tuesday and thursday i can't make the concrete guarantee i'd like because of work, but there will be a significant reduction in: "Ugh, it's been a long day. I'm just gonna go home and veg" on the days i do get off in time when im not on call. Get over it self, you know you're going to feel a jillion times better when you're in class so just GO!

As far as out-of-class goes, one of my gamer buddies is going to an aikikai class in town and recently we played around for a few minutes doing some wrist releases and mainly comparing notes on our differences. He seems pretty interested in aikido and wants to do some more so it sounds like i might have an uke to work with every once in a while, i just gotta clear it with Pat first. My buddy's classes are at the local college on monday's and wednesdays from 8:30 to 9:45 and he's invited me so i'm thinking of checking it out. If nothing else it'll give me two more chances a week for ukemi practice. I have to admit im curious to see how "the other guys" do aikido.

Second off, writing. I used to love to just write back when i was in Jr high and high school but i just don't give myself the time to sit down and jot things out. To remedy this im gonna start a different little side blog (not connecting it to this, dont worry. You, faithful reader, are subjected to enough.) to put my stuff on and it give me a chance to look at it later and see what i think.

3rd, but still important. Drawing. It's something else i used to do alot once, and with decent skill and i want to get back to drawing. John's current escapades into comics and just the general desire to see some of my ideas bear fruit has lit a fire under my butt to get back into it. The writing page may go hand in hand with this, there is one huge idea i've had for a while that i'd like to flesh out and set some standard points on.

This has run a bit long, but thats where i'm at currently. I'll have more to write on during the week.

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to share my favorite Christmas song with everyone. I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas.

"It is my heart-warm and world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us, the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, the savage (every man and brother of us all throughout the whole earth), may eventually be gathered together in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss...." - Mark Twain

Aikido ice cream cones

I made it to class today!!

Warm-up was pretty vigorous this morning. Pat and a new student ( i figured i'd forget his name by the time i sat down to write this...i was right) had already been doing Judo when i got there so to catch up quick i got to participate in something new. Setting the crash pad between them, i was thrown back and forth between the two of them like a human game of pong.

It worked 'cause i warmed up reaaaaal quick. It was fun though.

We did a single rep of tegatana and then a few reps of hanasu. It's nice to know after all this time i still need work on hanasu (not meant to sound bad). I have a real problem with 2 and 4 in the kata. Something about the way we sidestep and move directly behind uke i still haven't grasped yet. I can do the motions but it just doesnt feel natural.

As we did the first motion of hanasu Pat talked about the distinction between small circular motion and big circular motion when it comes to moving behind uke's arm. As we sidestep from the grab pushing out our arm in front of us then moving behind the arm it will create either a small conical motion, i.e. a small ice cream cone (in mokuren dojo lexicon) or a large conical motion, i.e. a large ice cream cone (see previous).

The smaller ice cream cone seems to me to be less effective for the first motion. When i did them this morning most of the time it caused uke's arm to break from a straight armed position to bend at the elbow. I think this has happened most of the time i've ended up with the smaller cone. The larger ice cream cone keeps uke's arm straight the entire time and just simply works better.

Who doesn't prefer a larger cone of ice cream anyway? Wakka Wakka.

The main bulk of today's class was aigame ate and the variations there of. A while back there was a discussion between Pat and John over aigame ate that you might want to check out. As we worked on it i couldn't quite remember why John thought the way he learned it in Seattle was different. The way we do it at Pat's is the same, and we've been doing that for years. =)

The only thing that might cause aigame ate to appear different is how uke responds to the initial off balance. In one version as tori sidesteps the attack to put uke's momentum in the hole caused by where his legs have ended up uke might spin around so tori would have to step to follow with him. The other version is when uke's momentum causes him to keep walking around to the right (or left depending on which way tori was attacked) until he finds a position to stop and confront tori, where he proceeds to get creamed.

We worked on oshi taoshi and a few variations of it. I needed to get reminded to side step instead of eating up a bunch of energy as i and uke spins apart.

Anyhoo, it was a great class and i've pretty much been jazzed up by it all day. Long absences make one forget just how much fun aikido is. I was having fun and maybe it showed today, Pat said my aikido was pretty good today. I'll take his word for it this time around, a bunch of stuff just seemed to be clicking right today. Can't wait to trek back after the holidays.

Give some advice!

Yeah, i haven't posted in a while. It's been a while since i've been to class. One of those things. But if you happen to read this you should go here and check out my buddy John's blog. He's teaching aikido up in Seattle, WA and if you can think of any kind of advice or ideas that would help him out as he gets his classes underway would be awesome. Thanks.

Just some pics.

This is from the Aiki-buddy weekend. Just a few pics where i'm not looking terrible.






Group shot.



I thought i had killed him.



Lightening strikes, and it'll never happen again.

Heel instead of toe, d'oh!

Thought of the night

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. - Edmund Burke

A week of aikido

Last week from the 27th to the 1st of November I was at Pat's for the 3rd Annual Aiki Buddy Gathering. John and I were there the first four days for some extra practice at 5am and 6pm with plenty of open mat practice and sleep in between.

The first 9 sessions we had focused on synchronization with uke as tori diffused their attack. The 8 motions of Hanasu and the 23 techniques of Nijusan were broken down, relaxed, tweaked, and repeated often. The chains, which are combinations of two to three of the things from either Hanasu or Nijusan, we went through a few times to give us the chance to continue to avoid uke while staying in sync with his motions no matter where uke chooses to go. I got plenty of practice for my Ikkyu demo.

The sessions from 10 on were the actual Gathering classes devoted to the knife sets of Rokukata, knife randori, and simply adapting your aikido to the idea that even an unarmed opponent is as dangerous as a knife wielding one. It puts a much more fine tone to your movements, making them sharper (pardon the pun).

My ikkyu demo pretty much rocked the casbah thanks to Chops, one of the Starkville students. I missteped on one move because my mind simply blanked during the setup as to wich one i was doing next. The rest of it flowed really well and we went slowly enough to show how each technique worked. The q&a from Pat and Dr. Usher was pretty cool. I think i could have pulled off a shodan demo rather well if i had had the hours to do so...so i'm really looking forward to the real deal sometime next year. Not saying i deserve a shodan or anything, i just think i've gotten decent at aikido. Let me have my delusions. Oh, and for long time readers my ukemi is no longer a problameo, i can roll!

My best bud John got his Shodan over the weekend and was pretty overwhelmed when Pat handed him his own black belt. It's definately something he'll always remember.

All in all i had a blast. Between all the training and crashing on the floor in the dojo to hanging out with the MSU crowd it was a pretty great week to spend hanging out with John before he headed off to Washington state. My aikido has improved and i'm looking forward to all the things i learn in the future.

Presidential Judo

Granted Dojo Rat beat me to it, but here's the video! Vladimir Putin doing Judo:

Questions redux.

So a while back i asked "Does anyone know how to make the world a better place? Can it be done? Is it vain to try?"

I got a good number of replies. I haven't really mentioned it since, but its has still been in the background noise of my thoughts since and it seems to gain more attention every time i get attacked by the media in another scare tactic.... be it non-existent money bailouts or my least favorite of topics lately politics.

In my own vanity i have decided to make the world a better place. How, you ask? I have no idea, but this article has some pretty good ideas. When i came across it i wanted to share. Enjoy!

The motion and the moves.

Aikido class this morning was pretty straightforward. We did a couple reps of tegatana, did a rep or two of hanasu between myself and the other student whose name escapes me at the moment. We moved on to nijusan after hanasu and though i can "do" through 1-10 of the kata there is still a need for some tweaking of each one of the techniques. I've got to try and not only produce the correct techniques but also instill each of the higher principles.

For example, as we moved on to the 11th and 12th techniques, kote hineri and kote gaeshi, it was shown that though i was getting the arm turned and the wrist torqued my hand placement was off so i wasn't really getting the full effect.

It's the little stuff that makes the difference. Most of the way through class today i wasn't syncing up well with the resistance i was getting and so most of the things i was trying to attempt were not coming out smooth at all. It kinda bothered me but it's just something i'll have to work with to be both a better tori and a better uke.

2 for 1

Pat has updated the saturday schedule to include both aikido and judo so i made sure to stay for both.

Aikido (and judo for that matter) has new students from the last time i was there. We went through tegatana (i still remember!) and the first motion from hanasu. We illustrated the two basic ways it happens, basically uke will either strong arm or bend his arm as you avoid it. The two randoris were fun and was just another example of how much i missed class.

Judo was a refresher course for me, i've never really been to many judo classes and what i did learn has been layered in dust. Going back over the ground transfers and footsweeps was a much needed refresher course. During the newazza randori i noticed a bad habit of leaning backwards. So thats something ill have to work on.

All in all a great class.

A different attacker.

I'm still alive and kicking, i'm just currently having to apply aiki principles more towards life than ukes at the moment. Random thought/question of the moment: is having to pause on the path still part of the journey?


I'd like to think so. I hope so.

Rex-Kwan-Do meltdown

Cuban taekwondo athlete banned after kicking ref


"BEIJING (AP) A Cuban taekwondo athlete and his coach were banned for life after Angel Matos kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification.
Cuban coach Leudis Gonzalez offered no apology for Matos' actions.
Matos was declared the loser for taking too much injury time after hurting his leg during the men's over-80 kg (176 pounds) match. Fighters get one minute, and Matos was disqualified when his time ran out.
"He was too strict," Gonzalez said, referring to the decision to disqualify Matos.
Matos angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge, then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden. Matos then spat on the floor and was escorted out.
Matos won the gold medal in this division at the 2000 Sydney Games, dedicating the victory to his mother, who died on the day of the opening ceremony. At the 2004 Athens Games, he finished 11th.
Matos' tantrum followed a day of confusion on the mats.
Earlier Saturday, China's double gold medalist Chen Zhong crashed out in the quarterfinals after initially being declared the winner. It was the first time a match result had been overturned since taekwondo became an official Olympic sport in 1990. "


I think it's probably uncontrolable angst about the lack of tv coverage for his sport. I'm certain a TKD player, in a world where international ping pong gets more press, would be a ticking time bomb.

Office space practicallity

As i'm sure anyone in the cubicle jungle knows, danger lurks everywhere. One must constatly be mindfull of attack from every angle and from any person which, as i learned today, also includes the pregnant ones.

One of the office girls decided to "attack" me today and yelled out, "i'm going to strangle you" after i had applied a perfectly executed smart ass remark. As i turned around she had just broken ma'ai with both arms outstreched to strangle me. After that kind of set-up it was easy, i just stepped forward to the side breaking her balance and set her up for a Ushiro Ate (relax, i didn't drop her). I have to admit i was slighty bemused for hours that i had pulled all that off without really thinking.

But one quention remains, how do you claim real world effectiveness when you've defended yourself against an expectant mom?

A question on my mind.

Does anyone know how to make the world a better place? Can it be done? Is it vain to try?

I'd love to hear opinions.

You need all the pieces to finish the puzzle.

Thanks to my spiffy new C-PAP machine i'm feeling much more the energetic aiki student.

Today's class was pretty good. We looked at how a fluctuation in movement can affect things one or two steps further along by using tegatana as a looking glass. The end of the first set of turns leaves an awkward pause before moving into the forward steps or the tenkan ashi before the shomen te gatane.

We moved into hanasu and after a rep each Pat had us go through some randori while naming the releases as we went. I have to admit this was a bit of a challenge for me. I know the releases well enough in the kata form but trying to name them as they appear naturally wasn't easy. It's something im definitely going to try to commit to memory in the future.

Nijusan. Something i thought i had a decent grasp on. Not quite as it turns out, but all for the best as i learned another piece of the puzzle that makes aikido a complete picture. The way i had been doing the techniques before i was slightly blurring through the different points to sorta force them to go smoothly, basically speeding up to make it work. As i found out today the pieces, each given their due time to fit into the next piece, create a whole that is much more like the aikido we all aim for as we practice. It goes back to something i posted about a while back, having faith that the technique will work frees up your mind and allows you to have a lighter touch to let uke go where he wants. At least that's how it seems to work for me at the moment.

I think i did alright today as far as motion is concerned. I have to admit that i may have been a little stiff to begin with today, in times past my frustration does have a habit of getting in the way even before i begin. Its something i have to work on, the way i absorb things isnt always the quickest and that's usually the source of it. But given enough time i'll get better at my own pace, i just have to be patient with my pace's speed. And that's the hardest part i think i face.

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day everyone. Enjoy your freedom and grilled meats!

Social Responsibilities and Martial Arts

John's got a great blog post i wanted to spread the word on. I'd love to see more people's opinions on this one. CHECK IT OUT!