Progress

March was an interesting month. In the past, I had reached a rank of 5th Kyu when I was with the Ki Society dojo. Ledyard Sensei said that he recognizes my previous rank so I'm still considered to be a 5th Kyu even though it's been a number of years since I last trained and the testing requirements were completely different. I feel that if my previous rank is going to be recognized, then I should be able to perform the techniques and have the same knowledge as any other person in the dojo would have at the same rank. I asked for permission to take the 6th Kyu test with a couple other people who had started around the same time that I did. I was thankfully allowed to take the test in an unofficial capacity, which basically meant that I wouldn't have to pay the testing fees but could go through the entire testing process. It was a great learning experience and I'm grateful that I was allowed to go through the test. I think that testing is a great yardstick to show you how much you have learned while at the same time still show you where you still need to improve. I'm still enjoy the challenges of this art and always feel good after class. I hope this is something that never changes.

Rounded Squares

It's been about two months since I resumed training and I'm relieved to notice that I'm finally remembering some of the things I had forgotten.  My ukemi continues to improve and I'm rounding off the square corners on my rolls.  I can still get a bit lazy with letting my arm collapse when I get tired and have to do a forward roll, but landing on your head a couple of times has a way of reminding you how important the proper form is.  Mat burn on my bald head would not be a good look.  My body structure is beginning to improve rapidly and is requiring less and less conscious thought.  The end result of all of this is that I'm able to focus more on my connection with my partner and less time worrying about taking the fall or being out of the proper position.  The big thing that I'm still struggling with at this point is being relaxed and not trying to force or muscle through techniques.  It's something that I've always struggled with but I know that, like everything else, this will continue to improve with time and practice.  There's no substitution for time on the mat training.

I have improved enough that I've been invited by Sensei and Alex to begin to attend the open level classes (not just the beginner classes).  I actually plan to attend my first open level class tomorrow evening.  I'm looking forward to meeting some of the other people at the dojo and continuing to improve on the fundamental skills.  Testing for the first kyu rank is coming up next month and I'm hoping that I know all of the required techniques at the appropriate skill level to pass.  Alex said that I didn't need to test in March as I already had a 5th kyu rank from my previous training.  I didn't think this would be the right thing to do as my previous training experience was a long time ago and I feel that I should be able to perform the same techniques to the appropriate level of anyone else with the same kyu grade at the dojo.  We'll have a training prep sometime in the next month and this will be a good gauge of where my skill level is actually at.  I think the hardest thing will be to remember all of the names for the techniques.  I'll know the answer to that soon enough.

2x4's and Pregnant Water Buffalo's

So after the first week being back at the dojo I've come to the (sometimes painful) conclusion that I've become about as flexible as a 2x4.  I guess I can blame the past nine years of sitting at a desk or on an airplane as part of the problem.  Thankfully I know that this will improve with time but it will be a long, slow process.

I've also realized that I'm about as graceful as a pregnant water buffalo when on the mat.  My mind knows what it wants to do but my body just can't seem to put the right combination's together.  I guess my muscle memory has grown a bit senile over the years.  I've been told that I will it will come to me more quickly than it did the first time that I tried to learn all of these moves.  Looks like I'll get to learn some lessons in patience during this process as well (never one of my strong points).  I still try to use muscle strength to get through the techniques rather than using my center to unbalance uke.  This is something that I will need to continue to work on and it seems that learning to relax will really help with this.  I know it will certainly help my ukemi which will be a huge benefit in itself.  After getting tired in class my ukemi technique started to get a bit sloppy and I ended class with some sore muscles that lasted for a couple of days.  Ah the joys of getting older.

Arrow Pride Sensei (2nd Dan) taught the first two lessons that I attended and Alex Nakamura Sensei (5th Dan) taught the most recent class.  They are both great guys and I enjoyed each of their classes.  Nakamura Sensei especially gives me hope.  I'm not sure of his exact age but he's certainly older than I am and moves so much better than I do.  I'm looking forward to the point when I can be more relaxed, more flexible, and be a bit more graceful.

Aikido? Isn't that some kind of dog?

So what is Aikido?  As I mentioned before it is a style of Japanese martial arts, not to be confused with an Akita (see above).  You may be a bit more familiar with Aikido from the movies if you've ever watched a Steven Seagal movie.  Believe it or not, he used to teach Aikido and was pretty highly ranked (7th degree black belt, also called 7th Dan) prior to starting his film career.  Although his action films weren't "pure" Aikido it's still probably the most familiar the average person is going to be with this art.

Morihei Ueshiba (O Sensei) Founder of Aikido

1883 - 1969

Let me try to summarize this as simply as possible.  Aikido (合気道, aikidō) is a fairly new martial art as far as Japanese martial arts go.  It was founded by Morihei Ueshiba (often referred to by his title 'O Sensei' or 'Great Teacher') sometime around the 1920's to 1930's.  Aikido was primarily derived from a style of Jujutsu called Diato-ryu Jujutsu which is a style of armed and unarmed techniques dating back to the samurai days.  Ueshiba also trained extensively in several other varieties of jujitsu, as well as sword (boken) and spear (jo) fighting.  Aikido also incorporates armed and unarmed techniques and utilizes joint locks and throws to control an attacker.  Aikido is often described as a "soft" art as it uses the attackers strength and energy against the attacker them rather than using hard blocks and strikes as you would see in arts like Karate.  The great advantage of this type of art is that when being attacked, the Aikidoka (person who practices Aikido) can decide how much damage to deal to the attacker depending on the situation.  An attacker may simply be pinned or tossed aside, or the attacker may be thrown to the ground (landing head or neck first on the ground with a lot of energy is never a good idea) or be incapacitated by having a limb broken.  The basic philosophy behind Aikido is for a person to be able to defend themselves from attack while also protecting their attacker from injury.  In fact, Aikido can literally be translated as the Way of Spiritual Harmony.

This is a very brief and basic description of the art.  Aikido is a dynamic and active art and can better be understood by seeing it in action rather than trying to describe it in writing or talking about it.  Check out a demonstration or class at any Aikido dojo to see it in action.  To get an even better understanding about what's going on, get on the mat and take a free lesson.  Once you feel what you are seeing you'll get a better idea of the great potential of this art.

What this is all about...

So after about 8 years off from my initial Aikido training I've decided to resume it again at age 38.  After about 1-2 years of initial training my work schedule changed and I began to travel every week.  I was always out of town on the nights of class and had to let it go.  I've been had a great desire to get back into training but until something changed with my work schedule that just wasn't going to happen.  Why pay for classes that I would never be able to attend?  Thankfully my work schedule is finally changing and will allow me to travel only rarely.  I decided to start this blog as a way for me to record my thoughts and experiences of training again after all this time. Am I too old to start this again after the past 8 years of constant travel piloting a desk?

I initially trained in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido at the Midland Ki Society under Vic Montgomery Sensei (3rd Dan) while I lived in Kansas City.  Training opportunities are a lot more limited in Kansas City than they are in Seattle.  Although the dojo was a small one, the people who trained there were great people and I really enjoyed spending several nights a week in their company.  I was only 5th kyu at the time that I left the dojo but I was really enjoying the training and the people there. 

In August of this year I moved from KC to Seattle and had been considering resuming training again knowing that there were several of the top instructers in the US located in and around the area.  After much consideration I have chosen to resume my training at Aikido Eastside  in Bellevue, WA under the much esteemed George Ledyard Sensei (6th Dan).  I first became familiar with Ledyard Sensei back in 2000 from his posts on various Aikido websites and forums and learned how highly respected he is within the Aikido community.  Aikido Eastside is a member of the Aikido Schools of Ueshiba (ASU) founded by Mitsugi Saotome Sensei which is a different school of Aikido than the Ki Society.  I'll explain the philosophy of each of the schools in a later post.

For those people who are unfamiliar or are curious about Aikido, I'll go into a brief history and explination of it in a future post as well.  For now, the main thing to understand at this point is that Aikido is a modern Japanese martial art that is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on.

This blog is basically for my own personal use and to record my personal thoughts and experiences as I begin training again.  I don't claim to represent the views of anyone other than myself with any of my postings.  Hell, Randy Couture is in his 40's and still fights in the UFC.  I'm just doing a little lite training compared to that right?