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Unknown
Most people think they're working on Aikido basics, but they're actually reinforcing habits that slow their progress. Oftentimes, especially early on, Aikido training for beginners. This is where we really have a danger of reinforcing these negative habits. Let's dive into it.
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Unknown
So today I want to go over three main points when it comes to Aikido basics. I want to tell you three things that most students in the beginning of their training are getting wrong, and it's going to slow down their progress. So the first one is I want to really emphasize distance or maai is a relationship. It's not really a measurement.
00;00;47;19 - 00;01;15;28
Unknown
We can't say when you're in a situation where they're coming with energy. You need to be, you know, 1.37m away from them. We can't say that. If it's a tall person with a long reach, you need to adjust it. If it's a small person with with shorter arms, you need to adjust it. So it's the relationship. So beginners oftentimes misunderstand in fact not just beginners.
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Unknown
Maai is really, really complex really really deep. So a lot of people misunderstand distance in Aikido. Maai I that's how I guess you would spell it in English. So standing too close or too far creates reaction instead of choice. If you're just the right distance, you've got choices. You don't just have to always react to what the other person's doing.
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Unknown
Hey, sorry to interrupt the video, but some of you have been asking how you can get a copy of my book, The Teacher. The book includes topics such as from horse riding to budo, the Japan experience back home, building intuition, attracting new students to aikido nonviolence and aikido leading by example, women and aikido. Arrogance. No to homogenization in Aikido, Aikido and distance teaching.
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Unknown
Body alignment. More. If you haven't yet purchased it and you'd like to just head to lia-suzuki.com/book, or you can find that link in the description here on YouTube. The book is available in English and Italian. If you want it in Italian, you've got to go to Amazon. There's plenty of really cool photos. There's me. When I first started Aikido.
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Unknown
Even before I got to Boston, which is, where my first teacher is also Takeda Sheehan
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Unknown
Bill Gleason sensei, my first teacher. And for those of you who might know him, Gary Small sensei taking alchemy long ago.
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Unknown
another up to Kira Sheehan
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Unknown
Yamaguchi sensei. Right? We've got a couple of me teaching seminars.
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Unknown
Of course. And then even one with me with, explaining something with Shoto. This is in the, no to homogenization section,
00;03;19;09 - 00;03;30;00
Unknown
as I said, the link is in the description below. Just click on that. Go to lia-suzuki.com/book and order yours. Let's get back to the video now.
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Unknown
it takes a long time to develop a sense for the right distance. So what you can do solution here, what you can do is, first of all, train and train and train and train.
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Unknown
Another thing, in fact, just last night I had a student, I would put her at, like, intermediate level. And still she was surprised. She knew immediately. And she fixed it immediately. But more than once last night, she came at me with showmanship, and she was close enough that if I just extended just a little bit more, really, just like 1 or 2in my, my hand was able to touch her cheek.
00;04;13;19 - 00;04;39;10
Unknown
So she was attacking, but let me back up from the camera. Her arm was like this instead of like this. That's a huge difference. Okay, so she was she was coming in too close because her arm was only outstretched this much. So she had to be closer to me. But then she fixed it immediately, which is fantastic on her part.
00;04;39;12 - 00;04;51;27
Unknown
She stretched out like that, and that meant that her feet were farther away from my feet. All right, so that's what we need to know about my. Can the person reach out and easily touch you?
00;04;51;27 - 00;04;58;19
Unknown
Case by case, I mean most of the time. Can I say all of the time? We don't want someone to be able to touch our face.
00;04;58;22 - 00;05;25;03
Unknown
So standing too close is not good. Standing too far, though, you set yourself up for failure, right? Because how can you enter if you're like three strides away from the person and one could say, okay, well, the person attacking, they've got to find the right mile. Okay. They do too. Yes. So both people need to study maai so good Aikido basics.
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Unknown
Start with relational distance, not fixed spacing. I wish I could say to all my students for energy attack you must be 1.8m away from the bow. Your front foot should be 1.8m away from the other person's front foot. I can't do that. So you've got to train and train and train experience and experience and fix your maai
00;05;53;16 - 00;06;05;26
Unknown
If you've been watching my videos, you've probably noticed that I sometimes use Shoto or Shortsword. I find that it helps students drop their shoulders, stop pushing and really feel the technique.
00;06;05;28 - 00;06;30;05
Unknown
Right now I have a limited number of these Lia Suzuki Signature Shoto available. They're made in Japan from premium Japanese white oak. They're engraved with my signature, and they're really beautifully balanced. Because of the lumber shortage in Japan. I was only able to get a small batch of them. So once these are gone, that's it for the time being.
00;06;30;08 - 00;06;42;10
Unknown
So if you'd like one, click the link below to reserve yours during the checkout process. You'll be prompted to let me know which seminar you'll attend, and then I'll bring it right to you. Now let's get back to the video.
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Unknown
And
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Unknown
Main point number two.
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Unknown
Another problem with Aikido training for beginners is many times the beginners. No matter how many times you say it as an instructor to loosen up. By the way, I don't say relax. I say loosen up. More on that in another video. No matter how how many times you say it. It's human nature to be tight when you're dealing with another person, even if it's just a grab, let alone, you know, if somebody punching or managing the strikes.
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Unknown
I think usually elicit even more of a tight reaction. So
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Unknown
when we get tight, then we start to push each other around and use force against force. So.
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Unknown
A lot of instructors say that strength is is not good. Okay. We do Aikido we don't use strength. I beg to differ. We use strength. You got to use strength.
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Unknown
You have to have some strength. Just your body uses muscle to hold everything together, right? So I'm not a physiologist, but, Yeah, muscle is good. Muscle is a good thing. And I quote, teachers love to say not just, we don't use strength. They like to say we don't use muscle. Yes, we do, but you've got to use your muscles correctly.
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Unknown
And I never say relax. I say loosen up.
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Unknown
there is
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Unknown
another video that I did all about that. So when the strength is focused on right from the beginning of their training, get stronger, stronger, stronger, stronger, then it's really hard to drop it. And I don't mean, that you should tell your students not to grab tight.
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Unknown
That's okay. But for them to be trying to throw each other, throw their partner, with with force, let's use that word. Then
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Unknown
If they've got honest
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Unknown
Okay. Then they'll run into trouble with this as as you and I know. And if you're if you are a beginner watching this video, then maybe you don't know that from experience, but take my word for it.
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Unknown
If you can stay loose when you're executing these techniques with your partner, then you won't trip the alarms. I love this phrase. So
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Unknown
the thief is going into the jewelry store
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Unknown
He's done his research. And, you know, if you go over here, there's an alarm that's going to be tripped. If you pass by here or you pass by there so he stays in the correct place.
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Unknown
So anyway, if you're not a native speaker of English, you might not have heard the phrase tripped the alarms. If you trip the alarm, that means that you stepped in the wrong place in the jewelry store. And now the police have been notified they're on their way. So I like to use this image. When I tell people not to use force against force.
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Unknown
So if you are tight and you touch somebody. Oh, my gosh, how does that feel? It doesn't feel the same as if you go, hey, buddy, how you doing? You know, when you meet your friend, you can touch the slap them on the on the shoulder. You give somebody a hug and pat them on the back. If you're if you're tight and putting them on the back, how would that feel?
00;10;13;14 - 00;10;47;27
Unknown
And would they, cooperate with you? They'd be less likely to to move smoothly with you. Even if it's subconscious, you know, they don't need to make a conscious effort to brace against you, but you just did that. You elicited this resistance. So anyway, the looser you can keep yourself while you're learning these techniques and gaining muscle memory for the techniques, the more likely, you are to have success moving your partner and ultimately throwing your partner or pinning them or whatever.
00;10;47;29 - 00;11;25;04
Unknown
So when you're learning the aikido fundamentals, this is when we need to focus on not using force, but rather loosening up. And I myself, if I have to choose, most students, I'd say most students over 30, because there is a difference when you're training, when you're teaching somebody who's like 22, 18, 22, that's so different, even from 30, 32, let alone so many aikido dojos have people starting in their 40s, 50s and 60s, bless their hearts.
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Unknown
Kudos.
00;11;27;07 - 00;11;47;20
Unknown
if you have a beginner in your dojo, that's like over 30, then I try to get them to, focus on their flexibility for the first few months. I don't even care about strength. I don't tell them to hold tight because usually then the shoulder tightens up. You can even see it go up when they do it, usually.
00;11;47;23 - 00;12;09;03
Unknown
So I don't mind, like, kind of, what do they call it in a handshake? Like a limp fish or something like that? I think the expression might be, I don't even mind that kind of grab the first few months of Aikido, and then I gradually have them ramp up, the strength of their attack and their grip.
00;12;09;06 - 00;12;16;14
Unknown
As far as throwing, I just want them to stay loose and loose and loose. I mean, that's an endless pursuit.
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Unknown
Again, loose is not to be confused
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Unknown
with weak. So we can be strong and loose at the same time. And I've said on some other videos of mine, just look at a professional baseball player, somebody who's really good at batting.
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Unknown
That's a lot of strength that they're coming at
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Unknown
the baseball with their bat. Lot of strength, but boy, they're loose. Or the pitcher for that matter. I'm not really that much of a baseball fan, but I can really appreciate that when I when I happened to see some clips of a baseball game.
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Unknown
So stay loose and then gradually build strength without compromising that, that looseness so that you can become a fourth down, fifth on sixth and seventh on who's got some fluidity in their movement.
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Unknown
Then when you remove
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Unknown
the tightness,
00;13;08;29 - 00;13;36;17
Unknown
you can continue improving your timing and your connection. So if you're tight then timing and connection are always going to suffer. So again the baseball batter you so loose. And his timing. Who would argue that timing is not important for a baseball batter. So really really really work on your flexibility in the beginning.
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Unknown
Add strength later or yeah and never tightness. Don't focus on strength at first. When you are still training as a beginner and by the way, beginner in American culture, sometimes beginner is like first month. No, I'm talking about like the first 3 to 5 years. So, I'll have to make another video about, the fact that shodan or the first degree of blackbelt translates to beginner level.
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Unknown
So you're finally recognized as a beginner when you get your first black belt. So anyway, I digress. Back to the the main points. The third main point
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Unknown
is, collecting techniques. Oh, I did this technique or I did that technique I did this year. I want to learn more cool moves. No, no, keep doing some of the basic ones. Yeah. Maybe your teacher will add a couple new techniques here and there, but I find dirty Shionogi still fun and fascinating still.
00;14;45;06 - 00;15;11;06
Unknown
And, you know, I get a different student or one of my students makes more progress suddenly. And they're heavier than they were three months ago. And I find like, oh, wow, I have to move a little deeper this way or that way. So there's so much wisdom and so many lessons embedded in these basic techniques, standard orthodox techniques.
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Unknown
yes, continue to explore new ways of moving new techniques. But don't think that okay, I did she or okay, I'm pretty good at that now. Done. Check. Finished? No. Never finished. Never ever finished. So always think about the principles. And maybe your teacher presents these. Or maybe your teacher more. More just presents collections of techniques each night.
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Unknown
Either way is fine.
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Unknown
make sure you go to some seminars as well, because it's usually presented more in principle.
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Unknown
format. And that will really, really benefit you. So if you start to grasp the principles you can
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Unknown
apply these principles in all techniques. So this will really, really, benefit you.
00;16;04;11 - 00;16;11;23
Unknown
So keep on training and keep on making mistakes so that you can adjust every single time.
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Unknown
Don't just collect techniques
00;16;13;26 - 00;16;28;17
Unknown
So here's your homework in your next class. I would like for you to do three things. Pay attention to yourself for when you maybe misjudge distance in Aikido
00;16;28;19 - 00;16;52;09
Unknown
If things go wrong almost from the beginning of the technique, especially if it's like a striking technique. Shulman. Show community. Your community is key. If things seem to go wrong right from the start, it could be. It could be that distance is a problem. So check that. The second thing to check in your next class, try to pay attention.
00;16;52;09 - 00;17;22;16
Unknown
If you're focusing more on strength than flexibility. So eventually we want to have a beautiful balance between strength and flexibility so that you can maintain and maintain connection. But at first, don't go overboard with the strength, because you'll usually tend to tighten up. The third thing to notice did you rush? Are you in a hurry for your partner to fall down?
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Unknown
Most of us, it's human nature to be in a hurry for our partner to fall down, and for us to think I'm the one to make them fall. By God, I got to make them fall here. And so we rush it. And when we rush, we usually tighten up. And when we tighten up. What I talked about before, happens the person resists against it.
00;17;47;04 - 00;18;18;12
Unknown
Just you trip the alarm. So pay attention to those. Finally, if you want guidance on aikido basics in real time, first of all, you can come to one of my seminars I teach all over the world. Check out my seminar, schedule. But also you can train with me live or access replays via zoom. So we have a, once a month option, and we have an every class option.
00;18;18;15 - 00;18;37;04
Unknown
So check that out. There will be a link in the description below. I hope this video helps to motivate you, give you some new insights so that you make the most of your training and continue for years to come. Looking forward to training together soon. And see you here on YouTube again soon. Bye bye.
