This time last year I think I was reeling from the ego crushing blow that I had to learn to take backwards breakfalls completely differently from how I'd been training. This time I went back armed with a year's worth of practice at the Hombu dojo's preferred style of ushiro ukemi, and found it still lacking! This is why I am glad to know aikido can't be rushed and everything takes years to learn and years more to polish - I find it reassuring!
So whilst finding the backwards ukemi still challenging I wasn't taken by surprise this time and was able to keep up with the practice without resorting to sneaky forward ukemi half the time.
The most satisfying thing I took away from the course I gleamed towards the end of the last session. I think many of us were running out of steam and at one point I felt like I wasn't too far off passing out. I was starting to run into the wall but quitting was not an option, so I resorted to - breathing!
Get thrown, breath out powerfully all the way down, breath in powerfully getting up, centre and make proper distance, attack breathing out, get thrown and breath out powerfully all the way down and repeat. If the technique is a longer technique, ie it has more 'beats' to it's rhythym you may breath in and out twice before the technique is finished. If you try not to think and just breath naturally in sync with the rythym of the technique it all becomes much easier.
I've been told this many times but this was the first time I'd actually had my breathing and practice in good synchronization. The exhaustion passed and the practice grew stronger and more satisfying. Fantastic.
There was alot to learn from Shihan Sugawara Sensei, more than I can recall or convert eloquently into words but if you're interested, these points stood out for me :
He explained the difference between Ikkyo and Nikkyo pins. The Ikkyo pin involves a twist along the straightened arm which prevents uke from bending his arm at the elbow, the wrist is held at the base of the hand. The Nikkyo pin does not utilize this same straightened and twisted arm to pin and applies more pressure on the wrist via the grip further up the hand above the base of the thumb. When uke then tries to bend at the elbow to break the pin, the classic bent arm nikkyo pin (the second part of the technique, if you like, in Nikkyo Ura) naturally happens - uke places himself in this lock. We tend to work to hard to make Nikkyo happen and have forgotten that the technique happens naturally.
Imagine a triangle in front of you, the bottom of the triangle the width of ones hips (not the outer hips!) and the top point in front of your face, this is pretty much where your hands move around whilst practicing aikido, they don't leave this space.
Grabbing of your uke's arms only happens after you bring the arm into your centre, literally. The area immediatly in front of your abdomen is the only place you grip your opponent's arm, until it's there you make contact and keep contact and follow/lead - obviously no pulling.
We turn our hips too square on, presenting too much of ourselves to our partner. Although our tanden should be focused on our partner, our hips should be turned so we present a smaller target with our torso.
Whilst doing this we need to extend down through the back foot, spiralling at the hips and out through the leading hand. Both sides of the body, both hands in all techniques should be used, letting the hand 'doing nothing' hang limply does not create a good energy.
On ukemi Sensei mostly spoke about ma-ai, appropriate distance. On the occasions that he threw me he told me to make my backwards ukemi longer, repeatedly and in Japanese, until I eventually got the correct distance. Personally with this ukemi I am finding putting energy into both arms and cupping the hands as they hit the ground helps with this. Keeping extension in the first arm to contact the ground also helps to extend the distance to create proper ma-ai. This is the whole point of the way we are now taking backwards ukemi, safe distance and observation. Keep your eyes locked on nage all the way down to the ground and, another point Sensei stressed, when getting back up taking in your partner from the feet up to the neck all the time. There should be no unconcious gap in one's awareness at any time. This is a martial art.
I was playing about with this last point at home today with Catherine and Jude. Showing Catherine the whole point of this ushiro ukemi I moved back down into the yoga mat keeping my eyes on her and as she stomped in with a kick I was able to abserve it, respond with a protective block that pushed me back the appropriate distance.
Many thanks to everyone I practiced with and to Azami-Kai for organizing.
Picture shows Artur Kozlowski and I preparing for the second day.
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