365 Days at New York Aikikai

2006-09-17T09:24:00.000-04:00

Should Ukemi be a Technique?

With all the time off lately I've had time to think about alot of things. I'll have to stay off the mat for at least the next two weeks...grrr. But I've spent the last several days thinking about why I got hurt and like I layed out in my last post I attribute it to faulty ukemi on my part. So that gives me hints about how to improve my ukemi technique and what kind of things to add to my repertoire. Like I said last time I need to focus on keeping my hands close to my body, which I already knew but clearly did not put into action. My thoughts have also spawned a few conversations as well as hashed up a few old ones. One in particular comes to mind.

Let me just say quickly that ukemi literally means to "receive" where uke is "the one who receives." In the role of uke, one is the initial attacker and the one who will ultimately be thrown or pinned. Nage is the one who performs the actual technique.

A good friend of mine here at the dojo was playing devil's advocate with the argument that ukemi should not be a technique. I've heard this arguement several times, usually in reference to the "soft" style of ukemi which just so happens to be the type of ukemi I've picked up on. I'm not entirely sure of the origins of this kind of ukemi but I the first person I saw using and teaching this kind of ukemi was Donovan Waite Shihan. You don't see it in the older videos. Granted this type of ukemi takes some of the thunder out of a hard throw but it takes the shock and impact out of the falls and has saved most of the major joints in my body from significant injury. However there is opposition to this style of ukemi.

The other side of the spectrum argues that by not "slapping out" and dispersing the energy of the throw, one is actually absorbing the energy which may have some negative effects. I have yet to experience these negative effects...hmm. In all truth Toshi, one of the most impressive uke's I know, ruptured or slipped a disk in his lower back last year (this may or may not have anything to do with his ukemi). Toshi looks like a snake falling out of a tree with barely an audible thump or the hiss of his gi against the mat to indicate that he's landed. He's injured nonetheless which is something I cannot ignore. I've also heard that ukemi should be more spontanious and natural. That an uke shoud "receive" the attack and fall as anyone out on the street would, slams, smacks, and all. I'm not saying that anyone has told me that I should be sloppy with my ukemi but that I shouldn't have set ukemi techniques let alone a repertoire. Several people I know are quite fond of a style more similar to judo which incorporate more slapping breakfalls (implactful) than the rolling falls I've learned here.

My main rebutle to these arguements lies within my ideas and philosophies about aikido. Aikido is by nature a defensive martial art. The techniques are designed and practiced to defend one's self from an attacker. I do not believe that these ideas should be confined solely to role of nage. As uke you are lending your body to nage for the purpose of practicing a martial technique. As much as I love aikido, nage may not always have your best interests in mind and so it is up to uke to know how to protect (or defend) him/herself. I view uke's position and the application of ukemi to be equally important in the scheme of self defense as nage's role. Once uke has committed to an attack and nage takes that energy to begin the technique (in my humble opinion) it is now up to uke to take control. Aikido techniques involve two people (at least) and the responsibility of the technique belongs to everyone involved 50-50, maybe 60-40 in favor of nage but uke certainly has a part to play aside from simply allowing the technique to happen. It is part of uke's responsibility to ensure that the technique goes smoothly and, most importantly, that uke is safe. In this respect I view ukemi as a valid defensive technique that is a large part of aikido training as a whole.

I believe that aikido is a martial art that is still growing and evolving. It is a fairly new martial art and, if I understand correctly, O Sensei encouraged each of his students to develop their own aikido. There are several different styles of aikido and ukemi and I strongly believe that the ukemi aspect of aikido should evolve as well. And I hope to help that a bit!

2006-09-12T15:52:00.000-04:00

Welcome Back!

So after two months of off-the-mat time I have finally returned to the uchi deshi program to a warm welcome. And when I say warm I mean that deep burning sensation that one gets when a muscle and tendon group in the rotator cuff (namely the right one) tears and the shoulder joint begins to fill with fluid...mmmm fluid. I was doing my damnedest to ease myself back into the torrent that is New York Aikikai but I seemed to have failed mightily at this task. The trick was that everyone I used to train with on a rather aggressive level was so excited to see me that things got a little out of hand, hehehe.

When it comes down to it, it really was a fault of mine. Granted the throw in question was quite rough, I was not prepared for it when I should have been and I lost control of myself in mid air and landed, basically, on my armpit. I landed on my right side with my right arm up against my head which put my ear in a perfect position to hear the crackle of what I assume was the tendon pulling away from my shoulder.

For those of you who haven't heard my schpiel about that particular part of ukemi, here we go. For ANY kind of ukemi you must must must keep your free arm close to your body. This is the arm that usually reaches the mat first, the arm that is not being used to throw you. Your arms should certainly never be raised more than 90 degrees and I prefer to keep them under 45 degrees if possible. I know I should practice what I preach but this just reaffirms what I've been saying for a while now. KEEP YOUR ARMS CLOSE TO YOUR BODY!

Long story short, I went to a doctor (thank god I set myself up with health insurance a few months ago) took some x-rays, poked around and have been directed to go to physical therapy for 3-4 weeks. The Therapist says that this type of injury will esentially be a permanent injury unless I deal with it right away. Usual day to day recovery time is 6-8 weeks but for the aikido fanatic he said that with patience and therapy I can be on the mat in 3-4 weeks.

Just frustrating, I take lots of time off to let my body heal and this is the first thing that happens my first week back. Shit. Be careful out there, it doesn't take much and it happens quick.

2006-07-28T10:13:00.000-04:00

So I'm taking a break from the Uchi Deshi thing in NY as most of you know and I've been spending the last several weeks in small-town-America, I've been advised to keep my exact location confidential lest I should aquire a stalker... or at least someone that wants to ask too many questions and happens to be one of those people who stands too close. At any rate I've been going a bit stir crazy with the lack of training. I've been exercising in other various ways so that I won't be a lump of jelly when I get back. It is a proven point that once you are a deshi for an extended period of time and your metabolism gets set to a ridiculously high level and you take more than a month off you begin to show symptoms of becoming a fat slob...I'm trying not to let that happen. In any event, I tracked down some of the local dojos before I left NY.

One of these dojos is part of the Ki Society... just a weeeeee bit different from the way I am used to training in NY. Aikikai aikido tends to be a little more forceful and dare I say full contact. While we're not standing across from eachother punching I can say that I've had my fair share of bloody lips and noses...and torn fingernails, and black eyes...hmm. Ki Society on the other hand prefer not to umm touch each other so much. I'm not saying that in a bad way but they don't tend to apply atemi (strikes) or throw with the force that other types of aikido use. One of my fellow deshi said he'd give me one class before I got kicked out of the dojo for being too rough, I mildly disagreed. I'd like to think that I'd have the wherewithal to adapt and use the appropriate amount of force for each individual partner but I'm not sure if I'd stick around for another class if that was the case. The other dojo is a small group run out of a yoga and meditation center. This group practices Iwama style that is a style much more in accordance with what I'm used to. Originating in Iwama Japan (surprise) with the late Morihiro Saito as the head of this particular sect. Saito Sensei was a master with the bokken (wooden sword) and the jo (wooden short staff) and so Iwama aikido has a strong emphasis on weapons (another surprise) as well as incorporating crescendoingly staccato iiieeeEEEPP as they attack and throw.
So last night I decided to go and see how the Iwama group was. Once I arrived it brought the class to a whopping and uneven group of five. A bit of a change from the average of 25 to 30 I'm used to in NY. After I got past the initial awkwardness of the difference of etiquette and class got underway it wasn't as scary as I thought. Of course there was also the difference in basic style and movement but that's not terribly difficult to overcome. And there was at least one other person there who was interested in training with a bit of vigor. The main Sensei for the dojo wasn't there last night so I may go back on Sunday afternoon to see how his classes are. While the class last night was good I can't help but notice the incredible emphasis on technical precision and teaching clearity that I've come to expect from the teaching staff at the New York Aikikai. I'm glad to have this time to rest and recoup but I am looking forward to returning to NY to resume my training!

And before I forget I'm about to get a parking ticket so I've got to run!

2006-07-17T09:34:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to notice that only after a few weeks away from training the callouses on my feet are starting to soften up. One might think that this isn't such a big deal and that they will start to rebuild themselves as soon as I return. A few months after I arrived at the dojo I began to appreciate the importance of the callous. On the surface (no pun intended) it's quite obvious that callouses are good simply to keep the feet tough, true indeed. But upon further introspection into the deeper nature of the callous in relation to martial arts training I was able to determine exactly why I appreciate the callous sooo much.
In some of my earliest blogs I wrote about my feet cracking, splitting and concequently bleeding. An annoyingly painful situation made worse only by the realization that it wouldn't go away because I was training so much. All of the more experienced deshi told me to just grimace and stick it out and that my body would get used to it. Of course this is their general response to any painful or uncomfortable ailment, a blanket statemet that is the equivalent to a doctor suggesting Advil for a slipped disc.
So back to the prodding question of WHY the callous is so important. The callouses on my big toe, heel and ball of the foot makes those spots hard which in turn allows them to slide on the mat just a bit. I've started to really depend on this slide for lots of little things which are going to be particularly hard to put into words but the single most important thing is the slide. If the feet can slide then they can't stick. Soft, ie. sticky, feet... well... stick to the mat. You might think that sticking to the mat is a good thing and it is in the sense of gaining traction. But if the toes stick then the equally soft skin between and underneath the toes tears and cracks. The callouses allow just enough slide between mat and foot so that the skin isn't stretched to the point of failure. Once the callouses on my feet reached a certain level the cracking stopped. That's not to say that you can't ignore the callouses once they've gotten there. You need to take care of the callous. Appreciate the callous, love the callous. Callouses themselves can get too dry and leathery leading to cracking so remember to moisturize every now and again.
If you are interested in training on a full time basis or just on a higher level you need to build up the callouses on your feet. Try going barefoot for a bit and stick to sandals or flip-flops. Wearing shoes and socks tended to keep my feet soft and prevent the growth of callouses and I suspect has been the main reason for the break-down of the ones I've got. If your feet have started to crack already or if they do then there are a few things to do so that you can continue training. First off for a quick fix make sure that the cracks/tears are clean and the bleeding has stopped, then dump a fair amount of superglue in the crack. Stings like hell but it definitely works, don't bother with the liquid bandaid stuff, it stings just as much and doesn't to the job. Use Neosporin and bandaids at night when you're sleeping and your toes aren't moving around so much, again don't bother trying this during the day.
This is just my two cents for getting your feet ready for what's to come if you're interested in this level of martial arts training. Appetizing I know but this stuff will come in handy! Enjoy!

2006-07-15T15:37:00.000-04:00

So besides my own personal increase in training the entire attitude around the dojo has intensified. The four shihans affiliated with New York AIkikai have been teaching on a more regular basis. Both Yamada Sensei and Sugano Sensei have quite busy schedules when it comes to traveling to seminars all over the world. This is probably the busiest times of the year for the shihans but leading up to this summer they were both in NYC for about two months. Every day for the last two months we've had the rare pleasure of at least two classes a day with one of the shihans.

Sunday: If Sugano Sensei is feeling up to teaching on the weekends then he will usually teach the two classes in the morning as well as a half hour weapons class. If Sugano Sensei isn't teaching on Sunday then Donovan Waite Sensei will take the classes and he will teach an hour long weapons class. For those of you who are not familiar with Donovan Sensei, his classes are especially martial and usually end up being more technically advanced than most. As a side note he had been using me almost exlusively for ukemi during his class demonstration, while this is quite an honor and great practice for ukemi it is also one HELL of a workout and it also means that I don't get a chance to rest during class. Sugano Sensei on the other hand is much less concerned wtih the technical specifics he wants to see you MOVE. Just keep moving no matter what! This in turn makes his classes EXTREMELY aerobic. You may not be utterly whaling on your partner but you certainly spend the entire hour running, falling, getting up and running again... needless to say it wears you out! As far as the weapons go Donovan again focuses on alot of the jo kata (9 step, 13 step, and 31) and bokken kata while Sugano likes to look more at paired weapons practice focusing on ma ai (spacing) and reacting to your partner rather than running through a set of prearranged movements.

Monday: The majority of the day goes by like all of the rest with the usual line-up of amazing teachers but then at the end of the day either Donovan or Sugano take the last two classes, one hell of a way to end the day.

Tuesday: The Big Day! Tuesday is the day with six classes. If we're lucky Jane Ozeki will come in to teach the morning class but it is rare. Jane is a sixth degree black belt and has one of the most viscious sankyos I've ever felt and she seems to have taken a liking to using me for that technique... yippy. Noon is when it starts to get really fun... Sugano Sensei usually teaches the noon class and then he'll teach a second noon class at 1:15 sometimes incorporating weapons. If Sugano Sensei isn't in town then Mike McNally will teach the noon class and Harvey Konigsburg Sensei will come down from his dojo in Woodstock for the hour long randori class. Again VERY aerobic, no sitting down and no stopping for the entire hour. There is a short break between the end of the 2nd noon class at 2:15 and the begining of the evening three classes at 4:15. Yamada Sensei teaches the 4:15. His usual class schedule is to pick just a few techniques and stick to them... for a while. Usually only four maybe five techniques per class. a good 15 minutes for each which can wear you out! Harvey Konigsburg again teaches the 5:30. Harvey's classes are like mental tongue twisters and usually have at least half the class wondering how to recreate that incredible force while looking as relaxed as Obi-Wan Kenobi sipping tea. The day is rounded off by Luke, one of the head deshi that has impeccable technique that resembles Donovan Sensei. Again Luke uses only other deshi for demo which means that I don't get a rest. Once that day is out of the way it's all coasting for the rest of the week... kinda.

Wednesday: Sugano Sensei starts us off at 6:45am at one heck of a fast pase and this usually sets the mood for the day, at least for me it does. Yamada Sensei teaches the noon class and carries that fast pased mood. Ruth takes the 4:15 followed by Yamada Sensei again at 5:30 and Toshi at 6:45.

Thursday: This morning is Yamada Sensei at 6:45. Noon is ususally either Luke or Luis. Thursday afternoon is kinda free form depending on how much Sugano Sensei decides to teach but sometimes he'll take both 4:15 and 5:30, and the day is usually ended with Luis taking the 6:45

Friday: Nothing out of the ordinary here, everything is taught by our normal grouping of great teachers but if Yamada Sensei is in town he will teach some of the final classes of the day. Again these are totally at the whim of Sensei. If he's not down for teaching that afternoon then Doug Firestone comes down from Whiteplains NY to teach the final two classes of the day. Doug is a sixth dan and was Head Deshi at the dojo quite a while ago but runs his own dojo up in Whiteplains.

Saturday: Saturday is usually Ruth for the first class and the Mike Abrams, seventh dan and President of the United States Aikido Federation. Again Yamada Sensei will usually take the first (or second depending on what he wants to do) class and leave the rest for us to figure out.

Having this much exposure to some of the greates names and techniques in aikido has been an amazing learning experience to put it lightly. I feel privileged and incredibly lucky to have been given this opportunity and I can only hope that some day I'll be able to put this knowledge to good use.

2006-07-11T11:30:00.000-04:00

First and foremost I must apologize to anyone and everyone who happens to read my chicken scratch I call a blog. My training regiment has increased noticeably since the last time I wrote and it has made it that much more difficult to find time to write. Over the last year I've gotten so used to the feeling of utter and complete exhaustion on a daily basis. Now that my body is FINALLY acclimatizing to this kind schedule the five to six classes a day have been getting, dare I say, easier. For any normal person this would be a godsend. Unfortunately enough for me I am afflicted with a rare form of mental stupidity that I have yet to find a name for. This particular affliction has caused me to involuntarily increase the intensity of my training so that the lovely feeling of wobbly kneed exhaustion can be sustained...yay. This in turn has caused me to require as much food as I can possibly consume within a day and as much sleep as I can find in any time period of fifteen minutes or greater. Hense my lack of blog entries over the recent weeks. But that's basically a long winded way of saying that I'm lazy. Much has happened and I have much to write about so allow me to gather my thoughts and see if I can lump them together in a coherent way so that I can convey them to those that read this page... if there are still people who read this page...

I have weaseled a summer break out of the head Deshi at the dojo so I am currently taking a month and a half off to give my body a rest before I head back for another year of training, so I should have some time to give everyone a recap of what has happened. I know I've said it before but this time I mean it... more is coming so stay tuned!

2006-05-06T08:40:00.000-04:00

So Few Deshi, So Many Visitors

Wow, the last few weeks have been riddled with visitors from all over the world! Tim, a visitor from Germany, is planning to leave here at the end of this month but he's done pretty well staying here for the last two months. It's interesting to watch new people come to the dojo for a long stay, it's a bit of a glimpse at what I must have gone through during the first months I was here. The first week Tim was fairly shocked at the amount of classes he was expected to take and didn't want to take five classes a day. Once Tim got up to speed with the work load he got sick as a dog for almost a week, I'm pretty sure I did the same thing. This past month Tim has done very well and has started asking for extra help outside of class on ukemi and other techniques.

Michael, a visitor from Australia was here for only three weeks and left yesterday. He was a funny one that's for sure. I'm not sure if it was his age (roughly 50) or his Ausie-ness that made him a bit...off. His aikido was quite nice but significantly more passive than the aikido regularly practiced here and that created slight problems when he worked with some of the more aggressive people here. All in all he had a good stay and left after giving us a scrub brush, a bottle of saki, and mumbling somthing about bats...hmmmm

Alejandro and Giovani from the Dominican Republic certainly kept things livley while there were here for a month. Alejandro who spoke MAYBE half-a-dozen words of english relied on Giovani (Gio for short) as his interpretor and on a vast knowledge of sherade-like gestures when Gio was not around...this worked exceedingly well! This guy was like a radio personality on steriods...that you couldn't understand, he was great. Alejandro made the trip up to NYC to spend a month here and to test for his Nidan (Second degree black belt). He owns and opperates a dojo back in the Dominican Republic and was eager to get back and if I'm not mistaken he extended an invitation to myself and other deshi to come visit with Yamada Sensei when he travels there for a seminar next year.

Javier was a fellow that showed up from Spain for the first time maybe six months ago. I remember this distinclty becuase I was in the laundry room (or as I prefer to call it, my Lair), surprizingly enough, folding stuff and listening to music. I turned around while singing (poorly) to myself and saw Javier staring at me with his head tilted slightly like a puppy. Since I had already been caught in the act of making a fool out of myself I thought "why stop now?". After my song ended I took off my headphones to greet this new visitor only to find out that he didn't speak any english at all. After twiddling our thumbs for the better half of a minute Luis showed up to help the situation with his fluency in spanish. Anyway...Javier came back for another month and seemed to remember me :)

Last week Edwin showed up from Belgium and will be staying here for three months. Edwin also has a much softer style of aikido which has clashed with a few of the people here but is adapting very well. He's a nice guy and one of the most talkative visitors that we've had (with proper english that is)...laughs ALOT...

With all of these visitors it seems that the Deshi are actually in the minority! There are five of us and only two that train full time, Sanji and myself. This coupled with the fact that both Yamada Sensei and Sugano Sensei have been teaching a full schedule, at least once to twice a day makes our work load noticably more difficult! It's been wonderful to have them around all of the time but it's difficult to keep up! I'll keep everyone posted about the happenings here but it's alot of the same, a tough regiment of aikido (ALOT of it) and as much eating and sleeping as I can afford!

Hope all is well in other parts of the world!

2006-03-26T09:49:00.000-05:00

Dojo of Sickness

The last two weeks have been a blur of fever and training...bad idea. There is an attitude and approach at the dojo that seems to think that you can (and will, damnit) train through anything including illness. As I've said before training with injury has become routine and while I did not see the importance of this initially, I can now appreciate this. It has taught me how to protect myself in different ways, different ukemi, different technique, it SUCKS but it has taught me to work through the pain (as stupid as that may sound) and continue learning. But in my humble opinion training while sick with a fever is another matter altogether.

Again the push to train here through anything is immense! Even sickness. If I've got it right the idea is to "sweat it out" which I can see working...maybe. But when I'm sick and feeling like utter crap I generally revert to what my mother taught me about these things. Sit, drink alot, eat soup (which I still hate), sleep, and watch TV until you feel better and only then will you start to feel better. An illness generally will run it's course through your body regardless of what you do but what you do can certainly affect the severity and longevity of that illness.

A few weeks ago I knew something was wrong. I was extremely low on energy (my energy levels are just barely high enough to move anyway but this was unusually low), I spoke to some of my sempei (superiors) and they gave me the army-esk pepp talk about training through it...and so I did, or tried to do rather. It was Wednesday as I remember and I had no beginners which means five classes of straight training, no breaks. By the end of the day my knees felt like jello and I thought I was "sweating it out." Thursday morning I felt like Death itself, but I got up at 6:00am did my chores and took class again trying to sweat it out. I made it through two classes that day before I simply refused to go any further (that one's for you Jess). The general rule is that if you are unable to take class for any reason you must sit and watch and so I fell asleep on the couch "watching" class.

Late thursday night my roommate, or as I am now calling him the Trojan Horse, came back to the dojo complaining of other symptoms. At exactly 5:14am I awoke to the sound of said Trojan Horse voiding the contents of his stomach onto our bedroom floor. That is possibly the worst way to wake up...EVER. I brought him some towels, water, and a wet washcloth and went out to do my chores for the morning, no way in hell I was going back to sleep. I evaded most of the classes that day and decided to take one of Yamada Sensei's classes on Saturday morning. Slept all day on Sunday and woke up early on Monday to get my chores done and proceeded to vomit all day long...lovely. Two days and several Deshi later the stomach virus seemed to dissipate and I was left once again to deal with the flu-like sickness I had initially. Finally a week and a half after it all started I was beginning to feel human again.

This string of sicknesses that worked it's way through the dojo was rather unfortunate. Shoko Ito was a woman from Japan who was visiting for all of two weeks and arrived just in time to catch the cold but was lucky enough to miss the stomach virus. The majority of her time here was spent on the couch watching class and clutching a cup of tea. Marcus was a visitor from Brazil who was also here for two weeks and was less fortunate than Shoko as far as the stomach virus went. Tim is a visitor from Germany who will be here for two or three months so these setbacks didn't take up too much of his time but it's still a chunk of time that he had to spend sick.

In short (now that I've rambled on for a bit) I can't help but wonder if I had spent the time to rest and take care of myself a little better and not try so hard to "sweat it out" if my sicknesses could have been shortened a bit...hmmm

I think in order to train and excersize the amount that we do we should spend more time focusing on taking care of ourselves and less time focusing on machismo bravado...but that's just me and that is slightly unpopular...more on that later.

2006-02-21T10:54:00.000-05:00

Ah Winter Camp.

Winter Camp is an annual seminar that meets in Ft. Lauderdale Florida and organized by Peter Bernath Shihan. Once again I had help from friends in Atlanta to help me get down there on a budget and shared a room with some friends from NY. As it turned out I ended up on the same flights as Yamada Sensei so I was deemed his bag carrier and hakama attendant for the weekend.

Altogether is was a great seminar. The seminar this year was being hosted in a hotel ballroom. It was quite convenient to get into your gi, onto the elevator, and into the ballroom/pool/hot-tub/tiki-bar...quite convenient indeed.

The first day, Friday, was very crowded and extremely muggy. We crammed about 300 people onto the mat for several hours before we all hit the pool.

It rained Saturday afternoon which helped cool everything off but more people showed up for the classes. We were taught by world class aikidoists many of whom got on the mat to practice which was a great experience. Yamada Shihan, Shibata Shihan, Takaguchi Shihan, Donovan Waite Shihan, and Peter Bernath Shihan.

It was nice to see some people from Atlanta as well! George Kennedy Sensei, my first teacher, was there with a few students from the Atlanta Aikido Center. My sempai (senior) Vanessa from Atlanta tested for her shodan (black belt) during the seminar and got an ovation after her test! Very nicely done Vanessa. And of course the ever vigilant Richard and Shomu were there to uphold their perfect seminar record.

After classes ended around 3-4 in the afternoon the crowd of aikidoists that were now running the hotel migrated out onto the patio for drinks and swimming (note* under "responsible circumstances" these two thinks should probably not be mixed)
at the tiki-bar. This trailed off into the night until people began to realize the had to do more classes the next morning.

The next morning was a sparsely populated class but Shibata Shihan kept the pace up for those of us who showed up. The second class filled in a good bit when Yamada Sensei taught, his class is exactly what I needed. He did mainly group work that consisted of hard breakfalls and throws...wooooo! Again to the pool/hot-tub/beach!!

Sunday night the roommates that I had from NY had to fly home, I wasn't scheduled to return until Monday afternoon with Yamada Sensei so I was offered a room to share with my friends Alberto and Bibiana. Bibiana had to wake up around 3am to get to the airport for her flight back to Mexico City. In her tired state early that morning she "accidentally" grabbed my wallet on her way out the door. I don't know how you accidentally grab someone elses wallet but Bibiana managed to do so. The phone rang at 5am that morning, it was Bibiana taxiing out to the runway for take off telling me what she had done. Panic. Back to sleep. Awake three hours later...panic. My wallet was on it's way to Mexico.

I went down stairs to meet Sensei and figure out what to do. I didn't have an ID to get onto a plane, I didn't have a credit or debit card to pay for anything. I spent the next several hours on the phone with everyone from TSA airport security to the Department of Motorvehicles in Georgia. No luck with any of it. It came time for Sensei to head to the airport, I had to hand over his hakama and gi. Sensei pulled out a wad of cash just before he got intot the cab, counted out $100 handed it to me and said "aaa good luck eh" and drove off. The hotel agreed to give me another room on my previous credit and I went to a few classes at Peter Bernath's dojo there in Fort Lauderdale. After I realized that I was in Florida with a beach, hot-tub, and that damn tiki-bar the panic evaporated.

Bibiana mailed me the contents of my wallet, not the wallet itself mind you, just the contents in an envelope. I ended up back in NYC on Thursday night in time to catch the last class and show off my new tan.

Quite the trip that I will definitely have to catch next year!

Ah the glory of my Bride-o-Frankenstein pompadour

2006-01-29T08:52:00.000-05:00

Hello all. I thought I'd take this lazy Sunday morning to briefly go over the New Years class with you.

I went to Colorado for Christmas to visit my parents and take a bit of a break from the mat. I had a great time but I was itching to get back! I flew back into NYC just a few days before New Years and I had several different people ask me which party I was going to. As it turns out I didn't even have to leave my home.

The annual ritual here at New York Aikikai is quite simple. On New Years Eve we have the regular morning and noon classes but not the evening classes. We shamelessly recruit anyone who is foolish enough to accept the offer of helping clean the dojo for the New Year. Now I know I said that we cleaned the dojo before the X-mas party but it got a little dirtied up with all the partying so we have to do it again...but this time for real. I dusted the ceiling. I washed the walls. Gutted and rearranged the laundry room (lets not forget that I am THE Laundry Deshi) among MANY other little intricate duties at the whim of Sensei. With the help of maybe eight to ten other people we finished just in time to have a few pieces of pizza, a beer or two, and a short nap before the real evening class started.

To my increasing surprise 50 or more peole started to crowd into the dojo around 10:30 at night getting ready for the New Year. Class started at 11:30. Sensei got onto the mat in his usual fashion and made a short-sweet and to-the-point speech and got the class started. At Midnight we had a quick celebratory pause for hugs, kisses, and cheers and then got back to hurting each other. I try not to focus on the obvious and odd contradiction of this situation. Once the class ended at 12:30 everyone jumped into the showers and put on their best partay clothes and got the party going. I barely had a chance to fold Sensei's hakama before he snagged up the deshi to prepare things. Music, lights, and alchohol are all sent down from Sensei's office to be set up. In some odd twist of fate I wound up being the designated bar tender for the evening serving wine, very nice scotch (compliments of Sensei's expensive taste) and warm sake. Throughout the evening the dojo filled up with what must have been close to 80-100 people. Good people, good music, good drinks, and good fun! I think I stumbled up stairs around 5:30 or 6 in the morning and there were still a few people singing at the karaoke machine (ouch).

Things were nicely planned seeing as how the dojo was closed for the next two days for recovery. Since then things have fallen back into their regular schedule of 30 classes a week and chores galore. Currently I am preparing to take a flight to Florida for the Florida Aikikai Winter Camp which should be a great time. Lots of people from New York are going and I hope to see some old friends from Atlanta as well. I'll be spending as much time as humanly possible at the beach and making sure that the hot tub at the hotel works properly.

I hope all is well

2006-01-17T10:39:00.000-05:00

A Long Time'a'Coming

Wow...where to start? I know it's been quite a while since I've last posted on this thing and I hope that there are a few of you out there who still check every now and again. ALOT has been happening since I last checked in but I think I'll start with the Christmas seminar. The Christmas Seminar here at New York Aikikai is the largest seminar of the year and it takes a lot to prepare for such an event! Guess who gets to do the preparing...gee...could it be the deshi? So needless to say all of the effectively working deshi (Noam, Gavin, Sanji, and I) spent the two weeks before the seminar cleaning. Everything. I cleaned the ceilings. We took two days to pick up all of the mats and thoroughly cleaning the underside of them as well as the wood base on which they rest. We found everything from bandaids and pieces of toenail (yum) to little bits of peoples crushed egos under there.
A few days before the seminar the masses started showing up in a mecca like pilgrimage from all over the world. Australia, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, China, Newfoundland, and from all over the US. I saw a lot of old faces and got to know some new ones. Edwin, an deshi of years past who now lives in Atlanta, showed up and Gina, a good friend from DC, dropped in for some practice. It's good to see the community of aikido come together!
Of course like the last couple of seminars here the deshi are not allowed on the mat, that privilage is reserved for lagitimate paying customers and members. But with roughly 250 people on the mat I couldn't see how it was much of a practice session as it was a tightly packed social gathering. One treat that the many people got on the mat was Sugano Sensei. His first time teaching on the mat since I've been here was during that weekend and it was good to see. I've got some crappy pictures but they'll have to do!
And in aikido what comes after a hard practice? A big partay! Lots of food, drink, and music set the scene for a fantastic party throughout the entire dojo! It was great and it teetered into the wee hours of the night, and I do mean wee. Around 5am we were cleaning the mats up and getting them ready for the second round of seminar classes in the morning...yeehaw. Fewer people showed up for the second day so the deshi were allowed on the mat! I got to squeeze in a Donovan class followed by Sugano Sensei, great day!
All in all it was a great weekend with great people and it wasn't THAT bad to clean up after. OOOoo I almost forgot! Along with the X-mas seminar comes Dan tests (black belt testing). Another reason to make the trip to New York Aikikai is to test in front of the Shihan panel of Yamada Sensi, Sugano Sensei, and Donovan Waite Sensei. Most of the time when you're ready to test for your black belt you've selected your uke (partner) beforehand but one guy that was called up to test was lacking his uke. I sat up in the masses of people sitting to watch the tests and Yamada Sensei nodded approving me to jump to the occasion. I'm not entirely sure who he was (even after the test we couldn't find each other) but he had a good test and did a good job of throwing me around for the duration of the test. Noam is a deshi that had been here for about a year and a half and already had his Shodan (1st degree black belt) before he arrived. The afternoon of the test Sensei told Noam that he was to test for Nidan (2nd degree). Initially Noam asked me to be uke for his test which I took as a great honor and compliment but then it was hinted that it would be more appropriate if he had another black belt in his test so I was put by the wayside. But the initial invitation was quite flattering :D On a side note of honor, Yamada Sensei used me again for demonstration this morning! A technique that definitely required a breakfall and apparantly I did well enough. That twice and counting! Silly I know but you've gotta give me something!
Ok back to laundry and chores for me but I promise that my posts won't be so far apart, I have so much to say! The next post will be catching up on the New Years Class and Party and a few other details. Hope all is well to everyone out there!

2005-12-01T11:21:00.000-05:00

Big Dogs...

I'm not sure if I've written about the sitting order hierarchy of the dojo before but I'll cover it again. In each class there are usually at least three rows of students seated before the instructor comes on the mat. The unspoken rule is usually that the students in the front row are going to give you quite a work out and are usually the ones used for demonstration by the instructor. The second row is, surprise surprise, about in the middle. Second row will give you a work out but usually won't kick your ass. The third row and any others behind it are generally for beginners or anyone who wants a chill class. As the class begins these rules still apply. If you choose to work with a partner up front close to the shomen (front of the dojo) you're going to work HARD and it gets a little more relaxed the further back you go.

For the last few months I've been focusing on the middle rows and I made a promise to myself that I would sit in the front row for every class when I got back from Thanksgiving Holiday...after a week people are starting to notice. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not yet. I've picked up the level and intensity of training another notch and I'm hoping I can keep up with it.

Donovan Waite Sensei (for those of you who don't know he's kind of a big deal) usually has his small group of people that he uses for demos. He was here on Sunday afternoon as well as Monday for two classes and he called me up for ukemi for the first time in all three classes. Tenchinage, shihonage (great for my elbow!), and kokyunage...good lord (I know those names are not exactly descriptive for anyone outside of aikido, I'm trying to find a website that can give me illustrations or movies)

On Tuesday afternoon Luis teaches a class and then Luke teaches the last two. Luis used me exclusively for demonstrations the entire class. For other aikido people you may know that the time during demonstration is the one and only time during the class that you have a chance to sit down and catch your breath...I wasn't so lucky. For the last two classes Luke used me 85%-90% of the time for demos. Now that I think about it, I've been used in every class since I've gotten back from my break. Sadly it's starting to show. Yesterday Luke used me for a particularly violent iriminage and I felt my knee do something funny. I had an intense sensation of what felt like a bee sting under/in the tendon just below my knee cap of my right knee and then it began to swell. I sat the last class out and iced it as much as possible. This morning it was a little tender but it didn't sting anymore. So basically no more suwari waza (techniques done on the knees) and I'll be modifying my ukemi in some odd way to compensate.

So basically I'm wondering if I'm ready to hang with the Big Dogs or if I need to stay with the muts for the time being...we'll see how it goes!

P.S. I'm on it Gina :)

2005-11-19T09:16:00.000-05:00

Ah Saturday morning at the New York Aikikai

The weekends here are special becuase I get to sleep in until 8:00 instead of 6:00! Might not sound like much but when you think that I get to sleep in two more hours than usual, it's really nice! So I'm up at 8, I'm usually the first one, I mop the mats and start my daily laundry regiment of folding towels and hanging gis. Toshi usually stumbles down around 9:00 or so and he's gotten in the habbit of sending me down the street for coffee and breakfast for the two of us, he pays. Kids class starts at 9:30 and the adult classes don't start until 11:00 so I've got more time than usual to wake up. Yamada Sensei got back from Argentina yesterday so hopefully he be teaching both of his classes today!

The weather is starting to get cold...I'm sooo scared! I'm from the South, this kind of thing doesn't happen! The 6:00am classes are sooo cold, maybe around 30 degrees and all we have is a little radiator in the back of the room that doesn't help too much. The mats are extremely hard and my joints get so stiff. This should be interesting! I start to warm up and move normally about 20 minutes into class but getting to that point is a slow process.

We're already starting to prepare for the Christmas Seminar which from what I understand is rather legendary. Maybe I should clarify, the parties afterwords are legendary! Sugano Sensei is scheduled to teach during the seminar! That will be the first time that he's been on the mat since I've been here. He'll drop by every week or so just to take a look but he hasn't taught yet. Along with the classes and the party comes testing. Everyone is starting to get ready for tests again and this time there are Dan tests (blackbeslt testing). I was asked by a friend if I was going to test and I don't think that's gonna happen. I tested for 3rd kyu about a week before I came up here so I definitely don't have the hours unless Yamada Sensei just springs it on me. I honestly don't think i'm up for it anyway.

A good friend of mine asked me if I've adopted the NY Aikikai attitude yet. Well yes it's starting. I'm kinda scared honestly. I really don't want to become one of the unforgivingly rough people like the other deshi but she was right, I have to train harder to get that same feeling, those endorphines. Some people that I used to train with when I first got here don't really train with me anymore cause i'm...too fast paced...a bit more rough...i don't really know. HUGE difference in ukemi too, of course. Like I've been saying it's really just for self-preservation, I have to learn how to protect myself from some of the people here. ooo that's another thing, most of the people that down-right scared me when I got here are not too terrifying anymore, I can usually hang with them. People that took real lazy ukemi for me when I first got here now have to take breakfalls. So I'm starting to see it.

And now the Holidays are upon us. Thanksgiving is coming up and I'll be taking about a week off to see family and friends. I'll be getting back to Atlanta on Monday the 21st and I'll train there for Richard's class on Monday night and I'll catch Kennedy Sensei's classes on Tuesday, I'm so excited, we're all going to have to go out for pizza and beer afterwords. I'll head up to my Grandparent's farm on Wednesday for Turkey Day and I'll try and head back down to ATL for Eric's class on Friday night then it's back to NYC on Saturday night to get back into the swing of Deshi life. Can't wait to see everyone soon and train!! Don't worry Gina, I'll make it down there at some point, I've got lots of neat trick to show you!

2005-11-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

Dojo Moms and Deshi Connections

Last week was the first scheduled kyu (white belt ranks) tests since I've been at New York Aikikai. As most people who practice aikido know the weeks leading up to a test are full of extracurricular practice and who better to practice with than the people who never leave the dojo, the deshi. As if we weren't on the mat for five to six hours a day to begin with a never ending line of people asked to practice before, inbetween, and after classes. To my curiocity I was pretty much one of the only deshi that the members asked for help. After the first week of tutoring I started to notice the benefits.

Linna Lee, a mother of two who was preparing for her third kyu test just so happens to own a bakery in China Town...hmmmmm. She has since been one of my main sources of food not to mention the occational bag of pasta, pastries, candy, and Gatorade.

Jorien who was preparing for her fourh kyu test just so happens to manage a bar in mid-town Manhattan with a nearly unlimited supply of free drink cards and happens to be damn good at massage as well.

And Chris who was also getting ready for his fourth kyu test owns a bar/coffee shop in Brooklyn. I've spent many a weekend night in there without spending a dime...possibly one of the most important things to a NY Akikai deshi :)

Like I've said before, this isn't exactly glamorous but I'm definitely seeing the perks.

The tests themselves went quite well. Everyone passed, the highest rank tested for was second kyu (they go up to first and then black belt), and Sugano Sensei and Mike Abrams were the testing officials. From what I've heard of previous tests Sugano Sensei is quite strick about the techniques and the fact that no one failed made me happy enough. Most of you know that there is usually a shortage of ukes (attackers) for the tests so Sugano Sensei would occationally call for an extra uke for a test. As deshi it is our job to jump up to the occation...an occation for which only Sanji and I were present. I was uke for Chris's fourth kyu test first which was directly followed by Linna's third kyu test which was directly followed by the second kyu test that included a randori. Needless to say I was a little worn out but I'm getting used to the feeling.

Speaking of which today is tuesday meaning that I have six classes today. Noriko taught the morning class, I was being used for demonstration for irimi-nage breakfalls before 7am this morning, that's one hell of a way to wake up. Noon class I got a beginner which will help me out later, and Harvey's randori class was a workout as always, one hour of non-stop movement, good stuff. I'm starting to notice major changes in my movement in randori as well as my ukemi so I think this whole deshi thing just might work. 4:15 class is Yamada Sensei, 5:30 will be Harvey Konigsburg again, and Luis at 6:45. I need to go eat alot of food to get ready for this so I'll get back soon.

Judy, hope you're happy :)

2005-10-19T21:38:00.000-04:00

Nikkyo from Hell

The Deshi here at the New York Aikikai do things a little differently that what I'm used to. Shihonage and most notably nikkyo are done in a manner that give no mercy! Nikkyo is performed not only by "bowing" as Kennedy Sensei puts it but also by forcing the forearm down so that the elbow is pointing towards the ground. I was obviously "resisting" the technique when working with Gavin, a Deshi. I was not necessarily trying to keep my forearm up but I wasn't used to the force applied. My elbow separated with a disgustingly wet pop which was heard by several of the groups around us, and produced and equally horrid noise when Gavin let go and my elbow popped back into place. That one hurt more than anything I have yet experienced. I left the mat and got an ice pack and 800mg of advil to help the swelling. This happened during Sensei's class so I was back on the mat before he switched to a different technique, joy, more nikkyo. The last few days have been rather tender but if anything I've learned a new way to get away from nikkyo!

I must say that my ukemi has changed 110% since I've been here out of the need for self preservation!

2005-10-19T21:24:00.000-04:00

My new Fixie!!

My feet have been so torn up from spending five to six hours of each day on the mat that walking around the city on the weekends is a painful event. So I started doing a little research on cheap bicycles that could help me get around town. New York is practically as flat as Kansas so there is no real reason for multiple gears. I found this little road bike on craigslist and bought it last weekend! I may not have a whole lot of time to ride it but I will enjoy what little time I get. I just need to get used to the crazy streets of New York and watch out for the cabbies, wish me luck!!

2005-10-19T20:33:00.000-04:00

Dinner with Sensei

Once a week Sensei and Noriko treat the Deshi to dinner (when Sensei is in town) in Sensei's office. Noriko prepared a HUGE dinner and Sensei supplied endless amounts of excellent wine and beer. Sensei sent me out to pick up a few six-packs of beer and coke before dinner, he also sent me out for what I thought was pinot grigio but apparently I misunderstood with his rather thick accent...apparently pellegrino sounds surprisingly like pinot grigio in a japanese accent...doh. I was laughed at. Alot :) Anyway the dinner was fantastic and our guests of honor were Harvey Konigsburg and his wife. After dinner and much wine, good music and dancing upon Sensei's request Sanji and I (the newest Deshi) were put to the task of cleaning up and dubbed "washi dishis" in place of uchi deshis...cute.

All in all it's a fantastic experience to have dinner with Yamada Sensei, Harvey, the other Deshi and a few of the members that make up the community of this dojo.

2005-10-06T20:21:00.000-04:00

Wearing Origami

Over the last few weeks I've been unofficially appointed the official hakama folder. Now there are a few odd rules to this possition, the most important being that I should only offer to fold the hakama of a sixth dan instructor or higher...odd. If an instructor of a lower rank is in need and asks me to fold their hakama I am supposed to give them an uninterested look and do it slowly (kidding). The head Deshi are quite strict about who I can offer this service to, I find that a little odd if not rather pretentious. But I'm just a new Deshi and must obey the set rules...

Anyway, this gives me the opportunity to fold the hakamas of a large list of impressive people:) At least 2 times a week I get to fold Steve Pimsler's hakama, then there is Donovan Waite, Mike Abrams, and Harvey Konigsburg. Jane Ozeki, Rob Workoff, and every now and again if I'm quick enough I'll get a hold of Yamada Sensei's hakama. Yamada Sensei is the ONLY instructor that the other Deshi will raise a finger for...again seems a bit pretentious but what'er ya gonna do.

Learning how to fold these things is quite a trick and for some instructors anything short of perfection is unacceptable. I'm sure most everyone knows what a hakama is and most everyone knows that they are folded when they are not being used but I'm not sure that everyone knows exacty how to fold them...only the Japanese could come up with this stuff! It's really quite intricate, especially the knot at the end, and different senseis prefer different methods of folding and tying them. Yamada Sensei's is by far the best to fold partly because it's fairly new and also becuase anyone who's ever touched it aside from him takes an immense amount of care with it so that the numerous pleats and folds are perfectly preserved. It practically folds itself. Steve Pimsler on the other hand is probably the worst. Who knows how old his hakama is but I can say with almost certainty that it's older than me! And there are virtually no folds in it whatsoever. Steve's hakama takes a while but I've got it down to a science. My slighty anal nature happens to lend itself quite nicely to this particular duty. It's nice to be known by some of the instructors as the deshi that will do a nice job folding their hakama.

Well it's off to make some dinner and crash for what little sleep I can get. Look for my next installment of "Dojo Moms" and mor info on other deshi.

Sorry it's been so long between blogs but I've been a bit busy :D

2005-09-24T13:48:00.000-04:00

Status

Well I've just begun my sixth week here at the New York Aikikai and I thought I'd give everyone a brief update. On the bright side of things I just moved into the Deshi quarters upstairs and got my own bed!! Good bye sofa and dump trucks (the sofa is right near the open windows)!! Things are going well as far as my general standing in the dojo. I'm getting alone well with the other Deshi and seem to be keeping up with all of the chores that they can throw at me...my body is a different story however.

Lets start from the bottom up...

taking ukemi for Alberto (quite powerful) for iriminage as I swung my outside leg around, I slammed my right big toe into the mat. VERY jammed. That happened several weeks ago and I still can't bend it.

Spending 5-6 hours on the mat everyday has a nasty way of drying out the skin on your feet which in turn cracks...and bleeds...mmm. Glamorous I know. Makes it a little hard to walk let alone practice aikido.

Two days ago I way taking ukemi for a sandan (third degree black belt) and didn't judge the distance to the wall correctly. My right heel collided with the concrete wall at full speed. I haven't really been able to put any weight on it since then. I'm laid up icing it as I type. I just got done with one of Toshi's classes where he decided to use me as uke the entire time...we worked on jujinage and iriminage breakfalls...my heel was not appreciative. It's quite swollen at the moment, hoping the ice will help.

What next...oh yeah, Donovan did two classes in a row this last monday with nothing but suwari waza (techniques performed on the knees). Since then at least two instructors a day have done suwari waza. Both knees have more than their fair share of blisters.

Moving on up the line...I've just stopped putting tape on both of my wrists. Worked hard with nikyo and kotegaeshi a week or so ago and I just got done paying for it. While I'm on the subject of wrists I'll tell everyone about a girl I've dubbed "wolverine." I took Harveys randori class on tuesday (which makes the count for that day 6 classes) and this particular girl was in my group of 4-5 people. The specified attack was katatetori (wrist grab). Whenever I was nage (the one being attacked) and I threw her she didn't exactly let go...she basically drug her nails down my arms and hands until she had nothing left to hold on to. My forearms and hands look like they've been mangled by some small creature. Annoying yes...but when you think about the fact that five hours a day of sweating and contact with other people grabbing your wrists prevents the formation of scabs...infuriating is a more appropriate word. And let me remind you again how much I sweat...and sweat stings in open scrapes and cuts, yes it does. One of the instructors asked what happened and my response was simply "grrrr, oh my god this girl just wouldn't let go..." the instructor cut me off right there and said "WHOAAA buddy, WAY too much information about your personal life" They've been messing with me ever since.

Anyway, two days ago I jammed my right thumb pretty bad taking ukemi, against my own knee no less. That hurts.

My left elbow is still severely hyper-extended from my first week here and Toshi popped my right elbow earlier this week. Shihonage is not fun, nor is jujinage. Did I mention that Toshi used me today for jujinage breakfall demos!

On Wednesday of this week Toshi pulled me out of a group to use me for his own curiosities. He was "experimenting" with various techniques trying to see what he wanted to teach for his next round. I'm not sure what he was trying but he rammed that pointy part of his shoulder (I think it's an extention of the collar bone?) into the left side of my ribs. That was the night he took us out for dinner...I had to milk it for all it was worth. I didn't think too much of it at the time but I'm definitely thinking that it's either a bruised rib or quite possibly a cracked one cause it's quite painful. Ukemi is hard because it hurts to use my stomach muscles and deep breaths are on the painful side of not possible. Have I mentioned that Toshi used me for breakfall demos today?

Oddly enough my back is doing ok. Let me stress the *ok* part. It's not wonderful but it's better than I expected. My shoulders seem to be doing pretty good, knock on wood. And my neck is ok. I've gotten a few bloody noses and lips, and I damn near bit the tip of my tongue off when I caught a full on atemi to the chin and my mouth was open...won't do that again.

I think it was Edwin that told me I'd have to figure out how to train and take ukemi with injuries...well I'm definitely learning. My ukemi is improving by leaps and bounds, still sucks though. I have yet to take a day off and tomorrow there is a memorial seminar for Butch, a former instructor here who recently passed away. Sensei and Steve Pimsler will be teaching for a few hours and then we're hosting a large party upstairs in the Deshi area and on the roof with much drinking and carryings-on...which the Deshi get to clean up after :)

So among all of this I'm having one of the most amazing experiences possible! This isn't pretty or glamorous and many of the members ask me why the hell I would do this to myself but I know this is exactly where I need to be.

2005-09-22T20:22:00.000-04:00

Just thought I should post a few pictures of the people that I live with so you all can know who I'm talking about when I say stuff like "you came here to suffer!"...that one was Luke.

For starters here is Toshi. Originally from Japan Toshi, Nidan (2nd degree black belt) has been an Uchi Deshi at the New York Aikikai for five years. He is in charge of the dojo during the weekends and also teaches on occation. He's the one that teaches the awsome ukemi classes. Working with him can be pretty amazing but you'd better be ready to take a beating. He's the only guy I've ever met that nikyo doesn't work on!! Nikyo is probably one of the most painfully effective technique in aikido's repertoire.

Toshi was kind enough to take Gavin, Sanji, and I out for a traditional Japanese dinner last night. It was kind of like tapas (no sushi) and came complete with several pitchers of Japanese beer and some excellent sake. He ordered everything for us which was nice seeing as how the entire menu was in Japanese. It was fantastic...so in kind I am posting some of the best pictures of Toshi that I have, enjoy.

The last one there is of Toshi, Kuba, and Daniel just before Kuba left.
More to come of other Deshi.

2005-09-17T09:09:00.000-04:00

Falling Over...Gracefurry?

Over the last week I've attended yet another 30 or so classes, several of which have been forcused on ukemi. I've also become familiar enough with several of the instructors so that I've been used as Uke (the attacker) for demonstration during class. One of my more memorable classes was one of Toshi's ukemi based classes. Toshi wants us to focus on taking breakfalls (as opposed to a basic front roll) while being "compretery sirent." One of the excersizes he uses, which may be of some interest to the folks in Atlanta, is to hold someones wrist with say your right hand and take a breakfall to that side. Think of puting your head straight down not out in front while your back leg comes straight up...DON'T jump into the fall. I used to do these kind of falls with Mike Sensei in Atlanta but Toshi adds a twist. I always had a problem with my feet slapping the mat as they came around. They slapped hard to the point of hurting my knees, ankles, and feet. Toshi and Gavin have both helped me with this and they tell me that I should think about keeping my legs "connected" to the rest of my body. Before I'd been letting my legs whip around like dead weight until the mat stopped their movement. Here's the twist...try and do those breakfall excersizes without letting your legs hit the ground. As your arm and upper body land on the mat use your core ab muscles to stop your leg movement before they get to the mat (it's a great ab workout). Once you've gotten to the point of being able to suspend your legs you can then let them down at your own pace, preventing that loud and painful SLAP. When worked together in a full speed breakfall you can (to steal Donovan's words) meet the mat softly at a controlled speed instead of slamming into it with reckless abandon.

So I'd been progressing well in Toshi's class, producing almost silent breakfalls with the excersizes I tried to describe above when he called me up for demonstration. Of course he chose a technique that absolutely required a breakfall. The first time he threw me my legs hit the mat harder than I would have liked...he threw me damn hard. It's a little harder to control when you're actually being thrown like that, but practice makes perfect. So the next time I tried to focus more on staying relaxed during the throw and then using my abs to control the fall...obviously I was thinking WAY too much. I'm not sure what I did or even how it was physically possible but in mid air I managed to kick Toshi square in the head...great. It may have gone unnoticed by the rest of the class if Toshi didn't have his long hair in a pony tail that virtually exploded as I hit it. With his now disheveled hair and half a pony tail on the side of his head Toshi gave an impatient sign for me to attack again..."shit...here it comes" I thought. This time as I attacked wtih tsuki (punch to the stomach) Toshi whipped my hand back around behind me and dropped to his knees. In mid air as I was upside down prepairing for the fall he used his other hand to thrust (hard mind you) into my chest and sent me soaring a great distance away from him. An interesting variation that he chose to use on me several more times, no doubt to make a point...don't kick the instructor in the head.

After class he gave me a little hell about it but it's been something to laugh about. I don't know how I put myself in these situations

2005-09-15T22:01:00.000-04:00

Farewell Kuba

Kuba was a visitor from Poland that was here when I arrived. Although I only knew him for two or three weeks I can say that he is one of the best people that I will ever come across here at the New York Aikikai! He was known to the other Uchi Deshi as "Soldier." He did more than his fair share of chores and often did extra work around the dojo in his spare time, which wasn't very much I can tell you that. In his two and a half month stay here he only took one maybe two days off. One day was to go sight seeing around NYC and the other was to give his ailing knees a break. He took good ukemi for many, if not all, of the instructors here no matter how hard he was thrown, which can be QUITE rough. Kuba also has five years of Krav Maga experience, which for those of you who don't know is Isreali armed forces tactics, serious stuff. In Poland he is the bouncer of a fairly popular night club and has the experience to back it up! He returned to Poland to finish his degree in physics and chemistry and is applying to the PhD program for physics at Columbia University here in NYC. He's also the most dangerous member of MENSA that I've ever met...have I mentioned that he's only 22?

One of the first times I met Kuba was on the mat my first or second day. I was having a truely hard time with getting used to the regiment of excersize! I was in line for a technique done in groups (one at a time) and I was leaning against the wall with my hands on my knees feeling fairly sick. Kuba was behind me in line and pulled me up by my gi and told me in a very terminator-esc voice "you must fight." I haven't leaned agaist the walls since. His attitude and determination for work was truely inspiring and he will be missed.

Last Thursday some of the members of the dojo and the other Deshi had a small going away party at Merchants, the local pub. Here's a few pics of our gathering at Merchants and a few pics of Kuba folding Yamada Sensei's Hakama for the last time this summer. He told us that he will return next summer and I really hope he does, Kuba if you're reading this you damn well better come back to the New York Aikikai, we need more brushes like you!!