Tag Archives: aikido

Let the Board Roll

Just a few thoughts…

In Aikido we often find that we are “blocking ourselves”. We might be having trouble with a technique. Why does it not work? Why is my training partner giving me shit? More often than not, the problem is with one’s self. You are doing something that is actually preventing the technique from working. Perhaps you are standing in the spot you want to move your training partner into, and wondering why he/she is not there. Ughhhh…maybe because you are standing there?

Happens all the time.

In skateboarding, especially when skating vert, you might wonder why you are not hitting that frontside grind. Why do you not have the speed to get up there to the lip?

Guess what. It’s because you are turning to early. You are preventing your own success.

You have to just let the board roll. That’s it. Let the board roll, and stand on top of it.

Working with Sensei

1 Reply

There’s nothing quite as educational at Aikido practice than working directly with your sensei on a technique. Several Mondays per month, our brown belts get to teach a class to prepare them for that role in the future, so Shiba Sensei gets to simply work out with the rest of us. It is always great to practice a basic move that you have been doing for several years with him, and have it not work at all, and then he shows you the way to make it actually work on a less cooperative training partner. It is usually a way that expends even less energy on your part too.

I have a lot to learn.

Tired

OK. Went back to Aikido tonight. It went well. No knee pain. Seemed to remember most of what to do, which is cool.

So, 1.5 hours of Aikido, after riding my bike to and from work (16 miles — about 1.25 hours).

I am tired.