Following: Berkeley re-cap

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Berkeley re-cap

Last night's class was a 2 hour session with Jan Nevelius hosted by the wonderful Kayla Feder Sensei and her dojo Aikido of Berkeley. It was a big group, and contained a couple of familiar faces from Seattle. One was Glenn Leichman, so Evie got her usual pre-class play time:)

The class was easier for me to process, possibly because I had seen most of the material in Seattle from a spectator's perspective, so it was not quite so new, and I had a sense of the parts of it that I wanted to focus on. Still rather distracted by basic stuff like footwork. Nevelius Sensei is quite explicit that what he is talking about is not in the realm of basics, so that's a big challenge for me. One thing that is interesting about the movement he is aiming for is that in his mind, the parts of you that you move the most at a basic level are the things that move the least at a higher level.

He has talked about the joined body of 2 people as having an axis of rotation. When he came around to demonstrate something to each of us personally, I grabbed him with ryo katadori (grabbing both his shoulders from the front, as if to head-butt him or knee him in the groin) and he spun both of us around the tiniest little point I could imagine--as if we had traded places but no movement had taken place. It was quite a remarkable feeling. I have a lot of notes!

Here's a picture of Evie training with Feder Sensei:

This morning, we had some nice pastries from Fournee bakery, which has so far been our favorite in the Bay Area.

The butter croissant is really quite incredible, with the right amount of salt and it's very nicely browned. The morning bun has great layers, but I prefer a little more crunch from the sugar--it appears that maybe they roll them in superfine sugar. I could not resist the Gruyere roll, because I love naturally leavened breads, and I am a sucker for the toasted cheesy bits that melt off the side.

Today we're headed into San Francisco for some bakeries on the way to Petaluma for more Nevelius Sensei tonight. I found a bakery that Evie did not know about. More known for bread than pastry, it was featured in one of the baking books that influenced me most deeply. Looking forward to trying it.

1 comment:

mkOctober 22, 2015 at 9:52 AM
Thanks for writing, love being able to follow along. Mail pastry, I can't stand the drooling anymore.
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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.