Right now, living in Belize, it's just me and my one aikido buddy from down the road. So I want to set goals and areas of focus that can actually be addressed. Obviously, mastering five person randori isn't an option, but there are definitley some areas where I can really grow my abilities.
Ukemi: The Art of Receiving
First, I know that ukemi isn't about falling down. It's about receiving. That means staying with nage's movement, not lagging behind, not getting too far ahead, but staying right on the edge and either creating an opportunity to reverse the situation or, losing balance, guiding one's self to the mat and then back to a balanced position.
That said, I really am interested in re-examining my rolls and falls for practicability. If a fall or roll is only viable on the padded mat, then I think there is a problem. I ought to be able to use my ukemi on hard surfaces or on uneven terrain.
I've already started experimenting with rolls on the ceramic tile floor. I want to keep going in that direction building to simple breakfalls. I'd also like to work with taking falls over obstacles such as chairs or tables.
Standing Pins
While working on jiyu waza I realized that most kneeling pins don't make any real sense. That is, they beg the question, "Now what?" I'm kneeling and holding someone down. If he's got friends, I'm stuck on my knees. It seems to make much more sense to apply a standing pin that can easily be abandoned to deal with the next uke.
I've only got one real standing pin, and that is the kote gaeshi pin. There must be a few more. There must be one or two that use uke's leg rather than his arm.
Chokes
The choke seems to be the most aiki of all finishing moves. Afterall, a joint lock requires either that uke willingly submit or that nage breaks and disables the joint. On the other hand, a choke takes an attacker completely out of the picture without permanently disabling him.
I know a few basic chokes. I'd like to refine these, add a few more, and work on being able to apply them as finishes so that I have the option of terminating any technique with either a pin or a choke.
Finger Locks
Watching old video of Seagal as well as working with Rich, I can see how invaluable finger locks are. I can also see that they are essentially only variations on the techniques like nikyo and sankyo. So it wouldn't be so much learning new technique as expanding my understanding of technique I already know.
Lower Body Activation
This is big. The other night during practice we revealed a serious weakness in my responses. Chest up I can flow pretty well. The minute the attack comes lower I start to plant and freeze up. The answer is easy: most of my aikido practice has been involves attackes from the chest up. What I need to do is get my whole body engaged and aware.
So here are a few ideas.
- One, I need to spend time just moving around with good tai sabaki. Forget technique. Just move with a focus on constant flow from good postion to good position.
- Two. Practice drawing back the lead leg in response to low kicks. First just retract and replace. Then retract and reposition.
- Three. Use my lower extremities offensively. A good place to start would be with simply stepping on uke's toes on a regular basis. Later work at trapping uke's foot. Still later incorporate sweeps and trips.
Building Blocks
Here is the question: What are the building blocks of aikido? I can see now they are not the techniques. Techniques are words. What are the letters? In free style I can see that I can't execute a technique for every action of uke. Uke's actions are often short, brief, staccato. There can't be a one-to-one correspondence between that and full-on techniques. So what are the short, brief, staccato building blocks of aikido? I know they will involve full coordinated body movement. They invlove closing distance. They don't involve chasing uke's hands. They will protect me. Repostion me. Unbalance uke.
