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Several months ago now I was training, and having trouble with a technique, an ikkyo variation. My sensei made a correction to my form, and then told me "There is a moment, when it gets lighter". Suddenly that technique made a lot more sense to me. Ultimately it was just a slightly different way of referring to the connection between uke and nage, but it stuck with me and has become a bit of a mantra in several other techniques.
I'm curious what epiphanies, or break throughs if you prefer, others have had. I'm sure there must be a lot.
I'm curious what epiphanies, or break throughs if you prefer, others have had. I'm sure there must be a lot.
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Anchorage
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Re: Epiphany
Tue, December 2, 2008 - 5:42 PM"there's an arm attached to that hand"
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Re: Epiphany
Tue, December 2, 2008 - 5:52 PMIn your dojo, do the students give feedback to each other on how a technique feels - I've found that doing so really improves one's technique quite quickly ( you know... their wrist should be above their elbow at this point because it gives you more leverage (the ki flows better that way)). I've done it on and off for years while wearing a white belt and it never ceases to amaze me how many black belts don't listen real intently while I talk to my partner. -
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Re: Epiphany
Tue, December 2, 2008 - 9:19 PMAn epiphany I had some yrs ago was how to be forward while seemingly moving back, or how even a tenkan involves irimi.
Newbies in particular have a tendency to treat tenkan as a backing away maneuver. They may not show it in basic blending practice (tai no henko), but if they are asked to tenkan in the middle of a technique, chances are they will start going backwards. And even in intermediate students Its really common in iriminage or in the face of a forceful attac
Well, the standard Brooklyn style u-turn on a busy street to physically claim a parking space reveals the irimi within tenkan: there is no way this maneuver involves an iota of backing up or retreat. It is nothing less than a fully committed entry. It just happens to involve a 180 degree pivot. One night, I go home after parking and think about how to translate this into body movement. I stand, eyes closed, and visualize/feel an entering turn. My hip moves forward as I start to pivot. This reveals that, unwittingly, I have often initiated the same turn with the other hip moving backwards. Hmmm...this is probably because I’m already thinking ahead to the “step back” to come. Over and over, first with my eyes closed, then watching myself in a mirror, I compare how it feels to initiate tenkan with the front hip versus the back hip. Then I try it in the dojo with a partner during tai no henko. It makes a difference; even though the eye doesn’t see which hip is initiating the movement, your attitude and posture and timing are all altered, and uke feels a difference.
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Unsu...
Re: Epiphany
Fri, December 5, 2008 - 6:48 PMI think the biggest epiphany I've had lately has more to do with body awareness than technique, although ultimately it results in better technique. My teacher is uncanny at how he can read someone's body language just by connecting on an energetic level and say, "you seem to be holding some tension in your lower back. Try releasing it...THATS it! Now go ahead." I'm starting to be able to feel where I'm tense or not relaxed and let my body settle before I do a technique. -
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Re: Epiphany
Sat, December 6, 2008 - 5:13 PMHe's even better than that. He can touch my shoulder and know whether I'd been wearing heels recently and how many days ago.It is the one thing that baffled me continually, how he can do that. I know Wendy Palmer also has the knack, is it endemic to high ranking sensei, or sensei specifically from Nadeau Sensei's lineage?
And then I can remember years ago when taking ukemi for a white belt, when I was all of a 4th kyu or earlier;he was having trouble with iriminage and I just said "point your finger over my shoulder" and down I went.
How did I know that? It that how it begins?
I know if I hadn't had that experience I wouldn't be a Reiki nidan today.
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Re: Epiphany
Mon, December 22, 2008 - 10:44 AMHundreds of little body revelations.
Possibly the best verbal advice: "The knife isn't your problem. It's the person holding it."
