Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Happy moments...

My own experience says that you can't combine Aikido and photography. You either do Aikido or you take pictures. If you try to combine you will suck at both. This is why I am so happy I do not have many pics. This means I focused on what was important - taking the most benefits from Piotr and his crew being here with us. Yet there is this group photo I want to share.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Clarification

Just to clarify, as I did in a comment to previous post - grading I took last Sunday was for 1st kyu. I will have to take shodan exam on my next visit to Poland.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Last Day of Seminar

For me, the highlight of this day was the grading of our sensei. He doesn't like being refered to as sensei outside class, but to us he is our precious sensei, and he knows it.
Anyway, he did his black-belt grading and passed. Wow, you should have seen him in action. Of course he had to hold back coz of the bad floor, but overall it was quite amazing to watch. I wanna become like him.
The certificates for gokyu were also presented to all of us that passed. So it was a win-win situation for everyone.
From the bottom of my heart, i wish to express my special gratitude to Piotr sensei, Kasha, Martin, and most of all Mateusz. For some of us, finding a physical activity that one can do with much dedication and enthusiasm is quite an achievement. And thanks to Mateusz, this has become a reality, at least for me.
Thanks to all who I have practised with. Stay strong coz I still need you next year. Take care everyone!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Saturday at Aga Khan Sports Club-Day 3 of Seminar

Saturday was D-day for some people who had been looking forward to being graded for gokyu. There were a few problems with the venue, but eventually it was all sorted and we had a nice session.

The first part was spent mostly on some basic techniques. It was very different in that we had all these skilled people and they perform techniques without holding back, all this despite the fact that the floor is not at all forgiving. Ok, I am repeating myself here but I think it’s important to note that this is not child’s play.

Right, so Piotr sensei really took some time to demonstrate a few techniques and explain in more detail the concept behind each and every one of them. It was all very enlightening. Yeah, there was some kote gaeshi, some kind of irimi nage, etc with the attacks also changing from tsuki to katate dori…

After a short break we had a weapons class. This was done using jo. It was our very first jo class ever since we started aikido. First time in my life to be honest. A jo is basically a straight piece of wood, slightly longer than a bokken. The explanation was that there are no rules like with bokken use. This is just a weapon you use to seriously injure or kill someone, there are no formalities. Piotr Sensei said that he enjoys using/teaching the jo class more than the bokken class. There were all these new styles shown and its all very hazy now, but I am sure Mateusz will make it palatable for us next year.

Then came the main event, grading. Of course every one being graded was very nervous. Its kinda like the moment when swords are drawn. Everyone freezes. (I am lifting this from a Japanese movie I saw once called the ‘The Hidden Blade’). Its hard to explain if you haven’t watched the movie yet. Anyway, despite all this nervousness, everyone managed to show some level of understanding of the gokyu techniques. Proof of whether Piotr Sensei was convinced will be known tomorrow when we get our results. I can’t wait.

For me I find that I learn something new in every session. Like now I understand how and why people bow to each other in seiza. I even understand why the left hand is the first to touch the ground and also the last to leave the ground, and why one should not lift the body off the ground when doing this. These are not things you will learn from you-tube or over the internet, so I think it’s a great privilege to have our guests impart all this knowledge to us for free. Mateusz suggested that if anyone has any questions, now would be the right time to ask because we have someone who has been teaching for a very long time, so knock yourselves out guys!

Friday's Class (At Goan Gymkhana)

It was a lesson like no other that I've attended.

Firstly, thanks go to Piotr Sensei for giving his time, knowledge, and encouraging words. Thanks also go to Mateusz, Martin, and Kasha Sensei. The short moments of interaction during the lesson were awesome; I learnt something new and had fun at the same time. Thank you - I'm very grateful.

Next, congratulations go to those who obtained 5th Kyu during the grading session.

It may seem like a dance (as was mentioned during class), but Aikido has some really practical aspects. This was clearly demonstrated with Kaiten, where a knee strike to the head is the intent.

Dodging Shomen Uchis was another interesting part of class. Don't move backwards and keep focus on all opponents, especially the nearest one. An interesting aspect was trying it with hands behind the back - not easy!

Ikkyo, Kote Gaeshi, Shiho were also covered with many explanations to go with the technique. Issues such as position of the leg with Ikkyo (keep outer leg infront to prevent it from being grabbed, keeping back straight) were taught. With Shiho, Uke's arm can be broken at several stages of the technique. All in all I really appreciated 'the why?'. In short, awesome!

On a final note, my own Aikido experience. I began Aikido mid this year and fondly remember my first lessons. They involved watching Sensei demonstrate a technique then trying the technique myself. It mostly ended up with me forgetting it or doing something totally different. Sitting at the corner of the class watching the seniors perform the moves and wondering whether I'll ever get there. I almost quit after every lesson. With nothing to show other than bruised knees, aching shoulders, hurting elbows, strained toes (I didn't even know this was possible) - why continue? One more step - one more class - giving up is no option. Well, hopefully, I've passed the initial inertia and look forward to the next learning curve and the next Friday class - next year!

Otherwise, I'm glad I met new people, had great times, and wish everyone all the best in their endeavours.

Have a Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Venue change notice

Please be informed that KU venue is unavailable, therefore seminar will be held at Aga Khan Sports Club.
Sorry for inconvienence

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Wednesday at the Goan Gymkhana

The Wednesday class was SPECIAL. Special in so many ways. We had the privilege of Piotr sensei and 2 of his friends gracing our practice session. That means there were 4 hakama-wearing guys. I have never felt so honored in my life. Honestly, it felt awesome being in the presence of these very skilled people. If you have taken a look at the pictures on our web-page, you will immediately single out the lady and Piotr Sensei.

Naturally, Piotr sensei took us through the class. I can’t clearly describe in detail what we did (I am not good with words so I can end up writing a novel instead), but suffice it to say it was an intensive 2 hours. Everything was different. Each teacher has their own way of teaching. Most inspiring of all was seeing Mateusz take a back seat for once. He was an A student all along, carefully paying attention to Piotr sensei’s every word, and I was secretly watching his every move. (I wanna be good too, you know).

Normally, we restrict ourselves to doing ukemi on soft ground. Piotr sensei did it on the hard wooden/concrete floor with so much ease. Following his cue, we did the same, but am not so sure everyone’s shoulders are ok. If you bruised your shoulders or any other part of your body, it should serve as a challenge to try roll better next time.

So we had a warm-up session, immediately followed by gyaku-hanmi kote gaeshi. This is the technique we focused on. We first started with a static attack, following it with a chudan-tsuki (straight punch to the stomach). It was a good opportunity for uke to learn how to respond. Usually, Mateusz has a hard time teaching us guys how to absorb techniques. Yesterday we saw it first-hand, how uke and tori react. Amazing stuff. Despite the floor not being very forgiving, the technique was performed almost like one would on a tatami floor.

Lots of other exercises followed after this and honestly it was kind of a relief when one hour was up, because I was beat. By this time I was panting like…It reminded me of my first session at KU. I can’t imagine 4 hours on Saturday and 4 more on Sunday.

Bokken practice was even more fun. After warm-up we did some shomen uchi, and immediately moved to ichi-no-tachi. This was different from the one Mateusz showed us. Due to time being so short, or my mind working too slowly, I was not able to perfect this tachi, especially my footwork, but I have enough to work on.

Personally, I got a chance to practice with each of our guests, and it was all very eye-opening. I look forward to practicing with them again tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday.

On a lighter note, I got to kind of understand why aikido is not competitive. If you perform the techniques without restraint, the results will most likely be fatal. This is obviously not the main reason, but I am just saying.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Weekend seminar

Please note class schedule for next few days:

Friday, December 17th - Goan Gym Khana from 1800 til 2000
Saturday, December 18th - Kenyatta University from 1200 til 1600
Sunday, December 19th - Kenyatta University from 1200 til 1600 (pending confirmation)

Monday, December 13, 2010

At KU

The techniques we focused on were juji-nage, kokyu-nage, sumi-otoshi, tenchi-nage and kaiten-nage, the latter being a continuation of Friday’s lesson. We were able to focus on the details of each technique as we try to master them, and understand their application.

Towards the end we had a mock test situation where all of us present failed miserably. Clearly, we still have a long way to go. Of course the test comprised most of the 5th kyu techniques, so we were able to remind ourselves once again how to do them.

In weapon practice we did iaido, where we continued with Shindo Munen Ryu. We revised Iwanami, Ukifune-gaeshi, noarashi-gaeshi and utsusemi. We then added the 5th one, matsukaze.

Some points emerging from all this included reasons why some movements are necessary, especially in iaido, e.g. the movement right before chiburi. Another one was whether movements are in a straight line or with feet being at shoulder width apart, etc.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Friday's Class

Kaiten was the technique of the day; both the Uchi & Soto versions.

Important difference from Tenchi. Where as with Tenchi, the initial movement is outward, with Kaiten it is with the wrist inward. Next... Just as it is important in Shiho to keep ones eyes on the movement of Uke's hand, so is it with Kaiten Uchi. When going underneath Uke's arm, keep focus on the hand and don't bend the torso.

Before I forget, we also covered a Sankyo version of Kaiten. With this one, remember to keep Uke's hand high and close to the chest (like with Nikyo) and cut through Uke.

Well, that was Friday's class!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

At Goan Gym

Having missed class last Wednesday due to traffic, and with Mateusz not showing up on Friday due to work, I looked forward to today’s class with much anticipation. We did not practice at our usual place though. Despite this all was well. We focused on the different ways of doing gyaku-hanmi katate-dori shiho-nage. So we started with the ura version, then moved to gedan, which is pretty tricky. Statically, tori opens uke’s elbow like in kaiten-nage, but instead of moving in steps forward with the back leg and back with the forward leg such that they are standing perpendicularly to each other. At the same time, (this is the tricky part) tori does a forward cut such that tori ends up beside him/her. The rest is the normal shiho-nage that we know.

This can also be applied when the attack is yokomen-uchi. Initially we used to step back and stretch uke. But what if uke is really good? Then you can try gedan.

Aiki-ken (合氣) was as usual, where we practiced shomen-uchi and a few other basic techniques and finished with Chiba Sensei’s first 2 katas().

There will be class on Friday, just in case someone heard some rumors that there might be no class. Again, there definitely will be aikido class on Friday at the Japanese Embassy. Be prepared for a series of more classes since Piotr Sensei will be here in like a week, so we have a lot to do guys!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Friday's Class

We began with the stretching exercises; for the hands, legs, neck, back - basically a complete warm-up. Mae & Ushiro Ukemi followed both from Suwari Waza & Tachi Waza.

We then went through the techniques required for the 5 Kyu level. It covered both the Omote & Ura, Ai Hanmi & Gyaku Hanmi versions. What was really fun was the coming together to try and remember the techniques in addition to correcting each other on the correct form.

In summary, we enjoyed ourselves!