What you get out of it

[pecunium]

I went to the Dojo last night.

I was not a happy camper when I arrived.

For reasons various, some my fault, some simple ignorance, some the fault of poor design on the part of the Regional Transit Authority in SLO, I was late. I was late after walking some four miles. To make it worse, I did those four miles carrying about forty pounds, some on my back, some on my front.

I wasn't in a good mood.

So I resorted to ritual. Kind of like dressing to serve mass. As I donned each part of the gi, I tried to shed some small part of my internal disquiet.

And I sat for a long time, looking at the shomen trying to find some harmony. I bowed in, and Michelle sensei asked me to join the mat.

Last night was important. Two of the aikidoka were demonstrating that they were at 4th kyu (a blue belt, the third level of progression, and the first to have a distinguising feature). The crowd was immense (quite unlike Tuesday, when there were six for basic, and four for general (it was great, three udansha (i.e. black belts) and me. I managed to absorb a lot). We did centered, and centering work. Michelle and I did a tenkan blend.

Let the uke grab your same-side hand, turn, and lower your center, walk around for a bit. If you do it right it's like leading a horse, they have to follow the halter, even though they weigh five-times what you do.

Then I we did a simple grounding excercise. Same side grab, and lower your ceneter. Absorb the resting energy of the grab. I was with the newest of our members. It is a rush, and a fearful rush, for me to be with someone who is less practiced that I, I am afraid I will give them some bad habit I haven't managed to avoid.

Mary sensei, however, was watching and smiled at me, so I guess my comments weren't bad. One of the things I like about aikido is that everyone is seen as having his/her own aikido, and we share it with each other. Done right everyone helps everyone else improve, and the least skilled has something to share with the most. Last night I managed to get some of that.

Then Karen demonstrated. It isn't an exam. The work prior to the demonstration is as much of an exam as one gets. This is a chance to show off, to revel in what one can do well. Karen did that. Solid, grounded, and smiling all the while. There were times she was like a rock, other times she was still as a frozen pond, and once or twice she was as a rushing river; moving, flowing and unstoppable. All of it with a grin from ear to ear.

And we did some more. This time we were to ask the uke to give us something. A grab, a strike, a hold. We would then do what we wanted, or needed, to do with it. I also did a set with Russ, a black belt, which was about moving behind, but really was about letting the uke move past. Don't pull, just accept, then respond.

Ans Wayne demonstrated. He was wind and mountains. His uke were getting high falls, and hard drops to the mat. They were also being sent rolling away, softly and smoothly. His unscripted was to fend off Scott, and Russ, in rapid series, where Karen had to let Scot be nage to her uke

And they were given belts, and we clapped for them, and their partners, and pounded the mats for the joy of celebrating.

Afterwards, when all the comments had been made, and the cookies eaten the congratulations given, and thanks exchanged, four of us did knife work.

This is less gentle. If one makes a mistake, and gets reveresed on a grab, or pin, or throw, one rolls, falls or walks away. A knife... well one gets hurt, so the moves are faster, harder.

But this is free-form. Work with what comes, and do what one can. Knives I know. It was like the punching responses we were doing the night before. An uke is supposed to be aggressive with intent. They are not there as a rag doll to be tossed about for form's sake, they are sharing the moment. It's like a pumpkin patch, one has to be sincere. Michelle moved away before I had committed, I changed my point of aim, and tagged her. Not hard, just a touch, but the blow landed. With the knife I did the same. I even managed to reverse her once on a pin.

It was probably the best instant of the evening. I was in the moment. I felt the center, our center, and took it, lifted it and was out from under, still holding the knife, while she was pinned and vulnerable.

She laughed, a rich warm chuckle. The student had bested, if only for a moment, the master, and it was good.

Comments

[tenderberry.livejournal.com]

Though I am not familiar w/ the terms of aikido, I was able to relate it to my previous classes in tai chi - a mere beginner, always feeling that with every class I was beginning again and only once or twice in the year I was able to attend did I feel 'in the moment'.
"Mary sensei, however, was watching and smiled at me, so I guess my comments weren't bad. One of the things I like about aikido is that everyone is seen as having his/her own aikido, and we share it with each other. Done right everyone helps everyone else improve, and the least skilled has something to share with the most. Last night I managed to get some of that."
Perhaps because we in the class were all such beginners, there was none of this helping each other which I have experienced in other fields of teaching/tutoring - the learning and helping by teacher and student which I always loved..

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

When I was doing tai chi, the sense of it (and what I see when I see people practicing) is that there isn't much interaction in the art, so that give and take is going to be hard to find.

TK

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

and the least skilled has something to share with the most.

I really, really like that idea.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I am glad you found grace.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

For a moment. I was too upset to manage to take all the calm I had on the mat home with me.

But I was better than I was before I got to the mat.

TK

[goshawk.livejournal.com]

It is a rush, and a fearful rush, for me to be with someone who is less practiced that I, I am afraid I will give them some bad habit I haven't managed to avoid.

Yeah, that is kind of frightening. Bad enough in a group class, correcting something I think is wrong, but my sensei's had me randomly step into a private lesson once or twice so he could catch the phone. That was terrifying.

Always enjoy your posts on aikido--that "moment" is so elusive that it's good to be reminded of it once in a while, even by someone else's experience.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

It's hard to write about.

The cooking flows, I just have to talk about what I did, and try to explain the why of it (be that technique or taste).

Politics is usually a seat of the pants thing. I see something which inspires, or irritates, and I go on a tear, looking for supporting comment and illustration.

But Aikido, or fencing, or... that's hard.

I have to try and convey the physical sense of something people may have absolutely no experience with. Sure, lots of people have never eaten truffles, or made bread, but they know what food is like, if I say something has a low smokey note, like pine-needles and dust; they will get it.

But flow? Or the sense of the world disappearing and the mat rising to meet you? Those are harder to convey, much less the other aspects of being on the mat. Oddly enough the sense of "the moment" is easier because most of us have had something that was, "just right."

Mary said something last night, about Aikido, and it relates to each of us having our own... "Aikodo is philosophy practiced with bodies."

If we can't share that, the implication went, we aren't doing it right.

TK

[feonixrift.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. And very well expressed.