22nd December Class

Today we looked into beats. Just like the musician that reads his music following a particular tempo, the beginning student of aikido too can practice using tempo.

As uke attacks nage, nage takes that as the first beat. For nage to be successful, his harmonisation must occur in that first beat. Its better to have harmonise at zero beat, but for now, uniting with uke at the first beat should be the goal.

If for example the attack is katatedori aihanmi. Nage cannot start his technique after uke has grabbed him. There is latent potential power within uke that immediately follows that grab, that would overwhelm nage who moved after that first beat. Instead, nage unites with nage at the first beat and the first contact and lead him into the technique.

The second part of the class we concentrated on fulcrums. Again, this has a tie in to the first part of the lesson.

In order to understand unity, we need to understand distinct parts of our power. Again using katatedori ai hanmi, nage tries to move uke using his shoulder as a fulcrum, then his elbows, then his wrist. Finally, he tries to reconcile uke's power on his arm and uses that connection as a fulcrum instead. Done right, nage is able to move uke with ease.

We did explore a few key points on how to actually establish that connection. Simple things like making the connection gapless, not using bone to bone contact, stopping desire to move uke from overwhelming the movement, and other key basic principles being established beforehand.