I think one of the great things about the Wisewarrior approach to Martial Arts is the constant development and evolution of the concepts and ideas involved, even a subject like Aikido is looked at, and new ways to teach and use it can be explored.
At this ‘Reflective Aikido Seminar’ Richard San and Tim San unveiled the official beginners syllabus card for the Tuesday night Aikido class, and it was this card and the concepts upon it that were the centre piece for last weekends Reflective Aikido open day.
After giving us some time to read and look through it, we were then treated to an introductory talk from Sensei Tim outlining exactly what and how the syllabus worked, and then for the rest of the seminar we began its physical exploration! There are seven principles to Reflective Aikido and the card listed several ways in which these are tested and understood, so with only a two hour open day we were unfortunately only given a taster.
It sounds simple, a straight grab, and as “attacker” that’s all we did. However as the defender we started with ‘avoidance’ exercise and then the ‘contact’ exercises were introduced. Playing with other concepts such as ‘funneling’ the attack, and looking at our mindset and breathing. Adhering to just these principles, the two hours flew by and our understanding of Aikido began to grow, despite the fact that we didn’t even get to do one basic wrist lock of any sort!!
The finale of the day was a mock test/grading for all the attendees, where not only did we all get a chance to be tested, but first we watched Sensie Richard demonstrate how a beginner would be tested by volunteering to be graded first, he obviously passed this first grading, and so did we all!
A great day, and a great experience to understand the amazing broad subject that is Aikido. I’m sure we’ll see more people coming along on a Tuesday evening to improve their Aikido, and hopefully to try for their beginners grades in this different subject.
Both Richard and Tim San say that for any of their current students interested in the new Reflective Aikido syllabus, they will be happy to explain this new format and issue a syllabus card if they show up on a Tuesday night.
Once again it was great to see you all there, and thanks to the Sen’s for another great seminar!
Tor San