More movement

Class number two came and went. Still good numbers, I assume that I am doing something right. Although, there were definitely some faces missing who were there last week.

We continued the theme of encouraging movement under pressure. This time it was through use of the jo (big stick). I thought this would be less intimitading than the bokken as the standard attack is more of a poke than a swing. As it turned out the ease with which you could adjust your attack to ensure that it impaled the defender was just too much for most of the class. This meant that what would have been a set of good movement drills from nice straight, smooth, clear attacks turned into a bit of a shambles of movement with people being caught left right and centre. Of course this emphasized again the importance of good movement but perhaps didn't actually give most people much opportunity to learn from the experience.

We then looked at some strong grip aikido, where the defender allows the attacker to grab strongly and clamp down, for want of a better description. This means that the attacker has no momentum for the defender to use as we often aim to do in aikido. In reality people don't actually come up to you, grab you and then stand there strongly. They usually have some kind of goal, like taking your head off or removing personal items from you. But this situation does give food for thought when considering the angles and use of the body that benefits the more fluid movements to which we are more used.

Modestas proved to be a valuable tool in this practice as his immense grip prevented all but the most accurate movement from even beginning. I always find with this kind of work that at first you feel completely trapped and unable to move, especially if the attacker is doing their job properly. It is at this point where getting all excited, fighting their strength or trying to trick them with fast movements is pointless. Most effective from a learning point of view is to slow down, relax and think. What we noticed was that in most cases the first thing to do is move your feet. This gives a change of angle that allows more freedom of motion and often leads nicely into the technique. It is important that the attacker does hold strongly because it is very tempting to force a technique if you are slightly stronger than the attacker or if they are just being too nice.

The idea of moving the feet fitted in nicely with the general theme of the classes, which is movement: movement away from being struck or grabbed; movement into tactical positions to allow more effective technique; and movement to keep the mind and body relaxed, aware of potential threats and open to all possibilities.

Since we had a first timer and some students who had not been training for some time, I broke the last section of the class in two. The more experienced students had some fun randori and the others worked on their breakfalls. This worked out nicely as there was a fairly obvious split in experience.

Interestingly we have finished both classes with a period of prone relaxation. During this period I have encouraged everyone to think about what we have done during the session. This is the one area where I have received lots of positive feedback so expect to see that happening alot in my classes.