Following: Nevelius--day 1

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Nevelius--day 1

Jan Nevelius Shihan is the main attraction for this trip, and tonight was the first taste, at a special class hosted by Lee Crawford Sensei.

So how do you know you're at a Nevelius seminar? One good clue is that Evie is out on the mat before class playing with Glenn Leichman Sensei.

The two of them expend more energy before class than most of us have to give in a whole day. When enough people start lining up, they call it quits, wipe the sweat off their brows, and join the rest of the gang. It's super fun to watch, and normally generates a lot of questions of Evie after class about how she can roll so quietly or how to do "that soft fall", which she mentioned before and is one of the things that drew her to Nevelius Sensei in the first place. Quiet is good, because that sound you hear when the rest of us roll is the sound of pointy bits of us banging on the ground. Evie will literally roll on concrete with absolutely no ill effects.

Evie will give a fuller report on Jan Sensei's class, but there are a few things I would put in there:

1. Evie got to take ukemi for him a couple of times.

2. I do not have a strong enough foundation in basic technique to get that much from his classes. I am able to process more of his ideas as an observer than I am as a participant. What works best for me is to watch class and do my best to absorb it as information, and then work through it with Evie afterwards as technique.

3. My first time grabbing (and naturally being thrown by) a Shihan. It was such a surreal experience that I actually laughed as I hit the mat.

4. He's really funny and just unbelievably nice. Oh, and his wrists are really thick. Grabbing him is like trying to wrap your hands around the trunk of a medium-sized tree!

Non-Aikido news: I locked myself out of the house today (well, not really my fault, because the key box malfunctioned). But the effect was the same--we had to call our Air BnB host to let us in:(. Also we determined that we needed to have the rear brakes in the car done before we hit the highway again. Thanks to Stone's German Garage for super-speedy turnaround. If you ever need work done on your German car when you're in Seattle, definitely look them up!

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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.