Following: A rest day

Monday, October 19, 2015

A rest day

Unfortunately, "rest day" translated into the language of an epic Aikido road trip means "hours of butt-numbing car time." But since we started the day in Portland, how could we resist stopping into the famous local institution known as Voodoo Doughnuts?

Of course at a place with a name like that, they have to have a voodoo doll doughnut:

(note pretzel "pin" stabbing the heart of the voodoo doll).

Before we left Portland, we had to snap a photo of what may be the most awesome thing we saw the entire trip so far:

Apologies to all those who are crazy for pumpkin spice whatever at this time of year, but to put it plainly, y'all are crazy! The good folks at AAA Heating and Cooling are the only ones who seem to know how ridiculous it all is.

One of the others may share some other observations about the drive, but for me it's pretty much a blur.

No Aikido today, but I was reflecting on something that Nevelius Sensei said. He said that it's not so important right now to worry about whether a technique works or not. What matters is that you cultivate something that is worth devoting yourself to for the next 20 years. For him, the relationships are as important as the techniques, which is the basis for his soft technique. As our own teacher tell us often, we have to take care of our training partners as well as ourselves. The softness really matters for those who want to be training that far down the road. We learned that he just had his hip replaced, so I'm guessing that he wishes he had developed his soft style a lot earlier.

I sat out the weekend seminar because I can't process the movement and the concepts at the same time, but I have lots of notes, so I'll ask Evie to help me work through the ideas.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), it's City Aikido in San Francisco, with the eminent Robert Nadeau Shihan. . .

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Aikido Glossary

These are the most common terms you'll see here. We've also prepared a more detailed glossary (see below).

Dojo: “The place of the way”. The training hall where we practice our art. In the US, many dojo are decorated with a Japanese aesthetic, but some are in racquetball courts or gyms. In the end, the dojo is wherever the people are who show up to practice.

Gi: Training uniform consisting of jacket and pants (normally plain white for aikido) and an obi, or belt. In our federation, belts are either white or black, but in many federations, there are colored belts, most commonly blue and brown, but sometimes there are more gradations. Some aikido practitioners also wear a hakama.

Hakama: The pleated pants (that look like a skirt) worn by some aikido practitioners. In some organizations, it is (or can be) worn by students of any rank. In others, it is reserved for black belts, and in still others, there are different rules for men and women (which are derived from some interpretation of Japanese ideas of modesty). It has no real practical purpose, but serves as a sort of historical link to samurai tradition.

Hanmi: “Half body.” We use it to mean an aikido stance which is sort of triangular. Front foot faces the partner, back foot points out at about a 45 degree angle. It provides a great balance of agility and stability, while offering only half the body as a target for attack.

Musubi: “Connection” or “joining”, although the word is also used to mean “knot”. A key principle of aikido because it helps avoid confrontation and collision, which lead to destruction.

Nage: The person “doing” the technique, generally the person being attacked in some way.

Seiza: Formal sitting posture, kneeling with a straight back. Tough on the knees if you are not used to it.

Shomen: The focal point of the dojo, the proper direction to face. Most aikido dojo have some sort of shrine to the founder on the shomen. Shomen is also shorthand for Shomen uchi, which is an overhead strike to the forehead with an open hand, like a classic karate chop. It's a stylized attack when performed with an empty hand, but would be devastatingly effective with a weapon.

Uke: The person taking ukemi. A good uke is more precious than gold, because he or she will help you learn better aikido not by teaching, but by creating the conditions that allow you to discover how to make sense of Sensei's teaching.

Ukemi: “Receiving” is the closest translation from Japanese. When someone performs an aikido technique on you, your are taking ukemi. It encompasses a lot of stuff, including the punches, grabs, and kicks that we use to simulate attack, as well as the falling and rolling we use to keep ourselves safe.
On a deeper level, it refers to the act of connecting with and following your partner. Great ukemi keeps you safe, allows you to be alert for opportunities to reverse a technique, and helps your partner learn better.