Category Archives: News

Hello, I am Sugawara, your instructor.
In the previous and previous issues, we have discussed how to improve aikido from the perspective of preparation and review.

In this issue, I would like to change the topic completely and talk about how we design our aikido training.

Genealogy of Guidance

I put a lot of thought into designing my aikido training, but what I place particular importance on is that my students understand aikido twice as fast as I understand it.

I have been taught Aikido by wonderful teachers. Malick Sensei from England, Chris Sensei from the U.S., and Payet Sensei from France have taught me the essence of the world wide world with great care.

What would I tell someone who is about to start aikido? It is really difficult, but I would like to systematize the essence of what I was taught in my own way and compile it so that what took me a year to learn can be understood in six months.

I'd like you to hit the wall as much as I did.

I am often tempted to say to my aikido students and juniors, "Try to do the same thing I did. When I see someone who has felt the same problems as I have in the past, I want to put on a senior air and say, "You hit a wall, I used to, too.

It is a very good feeling when you have the air of seniority. It is easy to feel superior and all-powerful. It's easy to justify that "this obstacle was necessary for him.

But I don't think this feeling is sincere for aikido.

Don't let aikido stagnate on your turn.

If your students have the same problems as you, you are stagnating the teachings that your predecessors have evolved in your place after all.

If you know from your own experience where you are going to get pinched beforehand, you can help future aikidoists to go further.

For example, (this may sound geeky, but) if you have trouble keeping your center of gravity low when performing a throwing technique, it is actually quite easy to solve this problem by simply stretching your groin before practice, rather than repeatedly practicing the technique.

The concept of "fad" is a concept that is "not easily changed.

Aikido has a 100-year history and is nicely systematized. It contains important messages, especially in spirituality, that have been forgotten in the modern world. However, I do not believe that everything from the past is the one and only correct answer.

The important thing is to keep the old-fashioned ideas and elements while updating them to modern methodologies. I was taught this concept later."Untouchable."They say.

summary

What is important in an aikido class is to have students improve twice as fast as they can. This attitude expresses our respect for our aikido predecessors, and comes from our responsibility to evolve aikido, and in accordance with the idea of "furyu", which means to reconstruct aikido in a modern way while respecting the traditional way of thinking. I want to

Hello, I am Sugawara, your instructor.

In the last issue, I wrote about how to improve in Aikido from a preparatory perspective.

In this issue, I would like to share with you an efficient way to improve your aikido in terms of review.

three steps forward, three steps back

You're practicing and you get the same point wrong as you did last time, or you can't do something you could do, and you wonder, "Why am I so bad at remembering?" Have you ever wondered "Why am I so bad at remembering?

The feeling is like "three steps forward, three steps back. Many people do not feel that they are moving forward, and I think that many people are driven to think that they are not suited for aikido. So, how can we let aikido soak into our bodies without forgetting to practice one practice at a time?

KPT method as a review of training

Before concluding, I would like to tell you that there is a fun way to review the KPT method, which is to simply list three items to look back on.

The KPT method, originally used in the engineering domain, can be used not only in Aikido, but also in sports in general and business in general.

In the KPT method, the following three items are written in a notebook at the end of the practice.

Keep = Do it well and want to be able to continue doing it next timeProblem = something that is not done well and needs improvementTry = Specific action plan for improvement

The end! It is very simple. 

By the way, my summary is attached at the bottom.

What you could have done is just as important as what you couldn't have done.

When it comes to "review," many people focus on the question of what they could not do. Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that the Japanese educational process uses a method that focuses on what was not done.

 Therefore, the KPT method may appear to be a method of reflection that is different from the Japanese intuition. This is because it also focuses on "Keep=what was done.

Improvements are considered down to a concrete action plan.

The KPT method even considers "Try = concrete action plan for improvement. Make a small promise to yourself to do this next time. Before the training starts, you check the Try and try to execute it. If you continue to fail to do well, you promise yourself a new Try, do it again, and repeat.

The "Way" of Martial Arts

By constantly repeating the process of improvement, the path will eventually become the way. Martial arts, which were born to defeat people, have become a way of life, a way to train the body and mind, called Budo.

Hello, I am Sugawara, your instructor.

In this issue, I would like to share with you how to improve your aikido.

It is said that there are more than 200 techniques in Yoshinkan Aikido. Many of them have complex procedures, and until you are familiar with them, it is difficult just to memorize them in your head first.

So, how should one strive to learn a technique quickly and accurately?

Four ways to improve your aikidostep

To improve your aikido, you should not just practice harder, but take the following four steps.

Watching and learning techniques = training by watching = drawing your own movements in your mind = training on your own = practicing by yourself = practicing with a partner = practicing at the dojo

Generally, most people only work hard at 4, "training in the dojo," but it is a little more difficult because it requires a high level of memory in the head and body.

Improve the accuracy of your own reproduction of what you see.

For just five minutes a day, replay the techniques you have learned in your mind and try to see if you can reproduce them as you wish. Just by doing this preparation, you will improve your Aikido by far faster.

Know your own interpersonal tendencies by partnering with others

However, when moving alone and in the presence of a partner, you will not be able to move as you expect (even if you are not resisted). You will notice that you become tense and shaky. This is your own interpersonal tendency that you can learn from aikido practice. This is why Aikido is said to be close to yoga and meditation.