A training with my old club

When we go to Hungary to visit friends and family, I usually try to organise our programmes so that I have time to train at my old club at least once. Since starting blogging, this was the first time we went home so I think it's time for me to write about what it was like to train with old aikidoka friends.

When you remember people being at their early(er) stages of studying aikido it might come as a shock to see how much they have improved over the years. For example, my first master (aka. Connor, the main person behind OnlineAikido.com) has changed considerably since I left his regular trainings. He is much more stable now, he hardly uses any of his own energy when executing a technique (which raises the question how he can release his energies :)) and he explains things even more clearly (which I thought was impossible as he has always talked about techniques like/as a precise mechanical engineer). Maybe I also improved during the past years but it's good to see when he comes to you saying only 'move your leg a couple of cm-s this way, otherwise you will be standing in uke's irimi point and will throw him on yourself', and your technique will immediately change and it will suddenly be better. You may now say I'm writing too much good stuff, but a blog like this should be subjective, shouldn't it? :)

One other thing I noticed was that we often used to have warm-ups when I had been training there. Sometimes we would run around and do various exercises ('European style warm up' which is extremely useful for me now in the children's class), do a lot of breathing exercises and long stretches ('Japanese style warm up', also very useful for me now). As far as I know, now they don't do these very often but students need to be warmed up before class (up to a certain level), and the training already starts with techniques (usually with a version of kokyuho, a technique emphasising breathing). One thing that remained for sure is practicing the rolls: rolls from shikko dachi, rolls from standing position, starting from the easier ones and working towards the more energetic ones. Obviously, forward rolls and backward rolls are both practiced. The change from what I was used to seems to be that the trainings start with techniques, then come the rolls, and then back to techniques. The first block of techniques are those not requiring rolls, in the second block, rolls might be used (if I'm not right I'm sure Connor will highlight it in a comment somewhere below).

During the training of this last visit, we practiced basic shikko steps as well: steps forward and steps backwards. The master took an exercise from a Hiroshi Ikeda video (he is incredible in suwari waza!) and we started spinning in shikko. At first, it seemed complicated although it was just a combination of basic steps, just a bit more than a commonly practiced taisabaki. By the time I got back to London and went to training, I was able to do this exercise reasonably well, but I needed to think it over for a couple of days before being able to do it properly.

I also noticed that the trainings were more study-based than I remembered. By study-based, I mean that there are no sudden interruptions (never really had been too often), there are no endless explanations (again, never had been), but there is always one or two things we are asked to focus on in particular, and you have time to study how that particular small thing affects the execution of a technique (e.g. your stability, uke's stability, keeping centre). I was focusing on my upright posture much more than I have done nowadays.

I observed another thing: Connor's ukes are smoother and more relaxed than beginners in our dojo. I was thinking a lot about why this could be. I came up with two possible reasons, they are probably true in combination somehow.

1) Life in a big city like London causes much more stress, frustration and stiffness than life in a town of around 80,000 people. I just need to think about how crowded some tube carriages can be, this is enough to raise my shoulders and lose a reasonably relaxed posture. Also, the Veszprem trainings have many aikidoka studying at the university, and I still remember that, although we had tests and exams, life wasn't so stressful then as is now. On the other hand, the economic situation in Hungary is much worse than in the UK (despite the credit crunch and fears of lowering house prices in the UK), people are supposed to be more stressed by default. However, in London, people always try to be kind if that's possible, which follows that, if they try to be kinder and they have more city-stress within them, the stiffness of the body can be increasing constantly (unless the stress is released effectively). So this might be one reason for our ukes being less smooth in training.

2) There can obviously be differences in training styles. Karesz (in London) emphasises control and dynamic technique execution more. For a beginner, this may look a bit more "fight-like", and several of them resist the techniques or they are afraid of falling too hard. When I see this in the children's class I remind them that aikido is supposed to be a co-operative study of a martial art with both partners working according to their abilities. I express this a bit simplier by warning them to "co-operation!".

So I'm not sure what causes the difference. Maybe there isn't much difference at all, and I just went to that one training and it was so good to see some old familiar faces (and faces of other, new students) that the difference feeling inside me increased. It would be nice to read some comments from both of the mentioned masters (I know both read my blog entries :)).

The good thing with the trainings in both Wimbledon, London and in Veszprem, Hungary is that both clubs have a very friendly athmosphere. Otherwise I wouldn't go to these trainings :). As O'Sensei said, we should enjoy our trainings.