Aikido Class in Tallahassee

Drove to pick up my brother from FSU today and stopped by my old dojo North Florida Aikido in Tallahassee for the Saturday class as well.

After a warmup we worked on the Tenkan exercise.  In pairs you take turns where Uke grabs Nage's wrist (left grip to right wrist and vice versa).  When Uke grabs on Nage performs a Tenkan.  The key to remember is that you should extend your energy in to Uke's center and be "under their center".  If done correctly Uke should feel that they are a bit lifted from the ground.  At this point Nage can perform the Tenkan correctly.  The contact point should be the pivot point of the Tenkan.  As they turn your elbow should come up a little bit to help keep the wrist at the pivot point and help keep Uke from regaining their center.  As Nage performs the Tenkan rotation Uke should move around the contact point to maintain their remaining balance.  I had to relax my arm a bit more and stop pushing in to the technique and using my arm.  By relaxing and not pressing so hard against Uke's grip I could get underneath Uke's center and Tenkan better than trying to muscle them around meas I pivoted.

Next we worked on Kokyo-ho with a same side grab to the wrist again.  As Uke grabs onto Nage's wrist you draw your hand down to your center keeping the wrist out but in line with your center as they begin grabbing on.  You should extend their arm all the way to the ground and scoop the ground as you bring your hand back up from dropping them to the ground.  I had to do this a few times before I could remember that you should draw the hand down and bring them back up as you extend their arm away from their body to the side that their arm is on.  This will stretch them out and your hand can then rotate out of their grip and grab their wrist.  and press it up over their arm and into their back.  The other arm should be wresting on their neck/head for control so they cant't stand back up.  At this point your lead foot should be pointing towards where you are going to step next and you go through Uke and send them into a roll.  It took me a few times to get this correct stance at the end.  Another point to remember is as you turn them into the side roll their arm you captured should rotate their spine and torque it over their other arm which will off balance them and set them off in the roll.  Stepping through with your center is important to remember as you turn their body.

Third was Shihonage where your gripped arm draws them down in to your center as they grab for it.  Once you have them lined on your center line you move your lead foot to the side and turn 90' to effectively switch hamni stances.  Then you connect their arm with yours as you connect to them.  Touching hips gives another point of contact to control their center as you walk them to their point of unbalance and rotate their arm into Shihonage.

Next was Shihonage omote (to the front) where we step around the circle to their open side keeping the grabbed arm moving around in the circle to draw them along with you and off balance.  As you feel them being drawn along with you then draw your arm into your center as if drawing a sword down in a swing.  This should whip them around and allow for setting up next to them where you will draw your wrist to your center.  IT'S IMPORTANT TO MAINTAIN GOOD POSTURE AND KEEP YOUR HEAD UP AND NOT LOOKING AT THE GROUND OR TOO FOCUSED ON THE POINT OF CONTACT.  Then you connect your arm to theirs and walk through their hip drawing them forward with you to stretch them out and apply Shihonage while they are off-balanced.

To demonstrate this principle behind the technique we did a simple shoulder grab where as Uke grabs the shoulder your movement along the circle should draw them along with you and whip them around to be standing almost identically next to you, it just naturally resolves that way when done correctly and in an actual situation.  Remember not to try and tug them with your shoulder, but rather move your entire body and center around the circle as they grab.