Thursday, September 12, 2013

20130912.1343

Consider the obligatory explanation for the lack of frequent updating given.

I have noted that I studied aikido at the New York Aikikai, working under the supervision of Yoshimitsu Yamada and a battery of excellent instructors who have benefited from his teaching much more than my poor efforts allowed me to do.  Moving away from The City means that I cannot continue to be in regular attendance at that dojo, but I have been fortunate to find a place to continue to practice O-Sensei's path; OSU offers aikido instruction, albeit in Shodokan or Tomiki style rather than Aikikai.  I am working regular attendance into my schedule, negotiating my teaching and grading (which seem to have not diminished in terms of time required despite my having fewer classes with fewer students in them), and I have a few comments to offer about my initial experiences.

The aikido taught at OSU is different than that to which I grew accustomed in my years in The City.  For one, it does much to break concepts down by gradation, something I think owes to the style's parent, Kenji Tomiki, having been a student of judo; the techniques taught by rank is something I recall from my own earlier study of Kano's style.  For another, the difference in setting tells; instruction at the New York Aikikai is not inexpensive, and the cost and available intensity mark the way in which teaching takes place.  Similarly, the free twice-weekly offerings at OSU leave their own particular mark on how things are done.  It is not better or worse, in and of itself, but it is markedly different, and the adjustment is taking some time and mental effort on my part.

I confess to some frustration at having to once again start again.  I know it is something required by the switch of styles, and I accept it as a lesson in humility and as a way to keep myself grounded in the kind of learning experience I imagine my students face in my classes (they come in knowing how to speak English in one way, but are now obliged to work on a way previously unfamiliar or minimally familiar to them).  That does not mean that it is easy to have to act as one who has not been taught before, to learn as though knowing nothing already; while I did not work as hard at the New York Aikikai as I perhaps ought to have, I did put in some effort, and I am vain enough to take pride in having done so.

But I have already found one way in which I look to benefit from the shift to Shodokan basics.  I am having to pay greater attention to the placement of my feet and the way I move on them to be able to do the basic work taught by OSU's aikido program.  I am having to pay greater attention to the specific, exact positioning of each part of my body; the immediate dynamism of training at the New York Aikikai is not always conducive to breaking down the individual placement of parts in the same way that the accumulative style of instruction in my present position is.  I know--and those who have had the good grace to put up with me as a practice partner know--that I have not always done well in finding exactly where I am supposed to be with each technique.  What I am doing now will help me to improve in that regard, I think.

It is rare that I am able to find good amid my annoyance and frustration.  This is something else in which I need to improve...

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