My goal for Shochugeiko

Today was the second day of Shochugeiko (暑中稽古), or mid-summer training. For 10-days over the two hottest weeks of the year, our dojo challenges the students to train every morning. We did eight ikkajo techniques this morning, spending about 5 min on each one.

Last year I was almost a complete novice during Shochugeiko, and so didn't understand most of the techniques. I just tried to mimic what I saw and did my best to keep up. There's not really any time to focus on any technique in depth. This year, I understand a little more but I'm still missing a lot of detail on the techniques. I'm able to mimic the motions well enough, but the techniques don't actually feel like their working.

We have a fair number of beginners doing Shochugeiko and I'm finding this to be both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that I can practice the techniques on someone that responds more like some would in a "real" situation, and the curse is that beginners respond without understanding what the shite is doing.

I know that's saying the same thing, but the reason it's good is because an inexperienced uke forces you to be more sure of your balance and movements than an uke who knows what you're going to do next. At the same time, an inexperienced uke has trouble blending with the shite, making the learning process for shite more difficult. The uke will put up more resistance, and personally, I find myself resorting to powering through the technique when I feel uke's resisting too much. Finding the "no-power" line in the technique is tough when you know you can get through the technique by applying a little muscle.

My goal for the rest of the week, "no-power" Aikido. Relax the shoulders, sink my weight into my center, and keep my energy forward.

Osu!