Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

I am really enjoying my beginning Aikido classes!  The last two weeks were so hectic work wise that it was nice to look forward to the tri-weekly Aikido classes.  I'm finding these classes really addicting because I always leave class feeling good about my day.  In every class we find time to work on our forward and backward rolls.  Aimen Sensei uses humor so effectively that when he pointed out (using his Maurice voice from the film Madagascar) that my rolls had chicken wings I knew I would never forget that analogy.  I love watching Louise Sensei demonstrate an Aikido technique because she makes it appear so simple and thus attainable.  However, I have to say the highlight of the class so far was last night when I got to be Glen Sensei's uke for a few minutes.  My Aikido partner and I were learning shomen uchi irimi nage which is supposed to look like this (Christian Tissier demonstrating shomem-uchi irimi-nage) but as beginners we do this at a snail's pace and don't fall as spectacularly.  Glen Sensei came into our class near the end and helped my Aikido partner and I practice this technique.  There was no time to think about where my feet were supposed to go as Glen Sensei's uke.  After the initial striking motion I was on the floor exactly as he intended before I even knew what happened.  I intellectually understand that Aikido is about redirecting the attacker's energy but I had never felt it before last night.

When my mom talked about O-Sensei I always thought that what she said sounded impossible - she was basically describing a man in his eighties who could effect one finger pins and no touch throws.  She discussed similiar stories that many of the foreigners, particularly those who had trained in other martial arts, at the Hombu dojo have described;  when O-Sensei threw you - you were never quite sure how you ended up on the ground.  I thought O-Sensei sounded almost supernatural.  One of my mom's friends from the Hombu dojo was Alan Ruddock who was the first Irish Aikido practitioner and he pointed out in an interview with Guillaume Erard (Erard's Interview with Alan Ruddock) that O-Sensei wasn't supernatural but rather just a man operating on a completely different level of spiritual/martial understanding.  I think it would be great one day to find out through Aikido just what Alan and my mom were talking about.

                                              Virginia Mayhew and Alan Ruddock (1964)