{"id":254,"date":"2009-11-13T18:32:17","date_gmt":"2009-11-13T22:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/?p=254"},"modified":"2010-03-23T08:44:57","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T13:44:57","slug":"circular-ukemi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/circular-ukemi\/","title":{"rendered":"Circular Ukemi"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maggie Schill<\/span>
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At this point in my training, if there is one truth about Aikido I have been able to discover, it would be this: Aikido is circular, not just in movement, but in concept.\u00a0 Uke is as fundamental to nage, as surely as nage is to uke.\u00a0 To focus on one is to learn the other.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard instructors tell me how important ukemi was to my Aikido.\u00a0 In the past I thought this meant I should take good ukemi for the sake of my nage.\u00a0 It was my gift to nage.\u00a0 I thought ukemi was about helping my nage look good and train more effectively.\u00a0 However, my experience at Winter Camp 2009 has altered my opinion.<\/p>\n

On the last day of Winter Camp 2009, I took Yamada Sensei\u2019s morning class.\u00a0 There, he demonstrated a throwing technique that required a huge extension and a low cut.\u00a0 Sensei separated us all into groups and told us to have at it.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, in my group I was the first Aikidoka in line.\u00a0 There were about fourteen uke waiting for me to throw them, but I just couldn\u2019t figure the movements out.\u00a0 After about four failed attempts, I was unbearably embarrassed over my 5th kyu inadequacies.\u00a0 Sensei approached me and grabbed my uke from me.\u00a0 He demonstrated the technique for me once more and spoke sharply: \u201cExtension! This is why I failed the shodan!\u201d\u00a0 I was completely embarrassed.<\/p>\n

I tried the technique two more times, and failed.\u00a0 I ran to the back of the line, forgetting to bow the next nage in, feeling utterly defeated.\u00a0 With my pride crushed, I readied myself to take the best ukemi I could for the nage in my group.\u00a0 I thought I could prove I\u2019m not a totally useless Aikidoka by taking great ukemi.\u00a0 Maybe I could win back a little bit of my pride.<\/p>\n

As uke, I exaggerated my movements, expended a lot of energy, and did everything in my power to maintain connection.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure my ukemi wasn\u2019t the best; especially in comparison to all the black belts and deshi present at Winter Camp, but it was my<\/em> best.<\/p>\n

Finally, the line went around until it was my turn as nage again.\u00a0 I bowed in with great apprehension.\u00a0 I was sure that my second time up would just be a repeat of the first, and I prayed to God that Sensei wouldn\u2019t be around my group to see me fail again.<\/p>\n

My first uke approached me.\u00a0 I met him, and to my surprise, I knew the movements.\u00a0 I understood then what Sensei meant about extension in this technique, and I understood why I couldn\u2019t get my uke\u00a0moving without it.<\/p>\n

With my first uke I ran through the movement slowly.\u00a0 With my second, I got more of my hips into it, and by my fourth uke I felt like I wasn\u2019t a total embarrassment.\u00a0 My fifth uke was an older black belt.\u00a0 He grabbed me, moved with me, and said: \u201cThere you go girl, you got it.\u201d\u00a0 His words were encouraging.<\/p>\n

This experience has convinced me of the interplay between uke and nage.\u00a0 The art is circular.\u00a0 The parts are interconnected.\u00a0 If you learn one aspect of the art, you are in a sense learning them all.\u00a0 Not until I was thrown some fourteen odd times did I understand what Sensei was trying to tell me.\u00a0 Not until I<\/em> was forced to feel the technique did I understand what I needed to do to make my uke<\/em> feel the technique.<\/p>\n

So in closing, the lesson learned is this: Ukemi is not just a side note, or a means of making nage look great.\u00a0 Take as much of it as you can, and be grateful every time it is your turn to be thrown.\u00a0 If you want to be a great nage, become a great uke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maggie Schill At this point in my training, if there is one truth about Aikido I have been able to discover, it would be this: Aikido is circular, not just in movement, but in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,10,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maggie","category-seminars","category-ukemi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267,"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aikidocenterofjacksonville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}