00;00;00;14 - 00;00;14;23
Unknown
If your Aikido movement feels stiff it's usually not a technique problem. It's more of a flow problem and there are ways that we can fix it. Let's jump in.
00;00;14;26 - 00;00;40;17
Unknown
I want to cover three main points today and then some other, details within those three categories. First of all, micro pauses. Break your Aikido flow. So let me explain a little bit more about what I mean. So small unconscious stops interrupt your Aikido flow. For example, I see this one a lot and especially in teenagers. But adults do it a lot too.
00;00;40;21 - 00;00;56;13
Unknown
But teenagers do a little more and that is every time they get back up after taking a fall, or every time they finish throwing somebody, they reset by fixing their hair or pulling their dogi down if it starts to gather a little bit.
00;00;56;19 - 00;01;06;07
Unknown
So one could talk about zanshin and then oftentimes we get more into philosophical discussions so we can break it down.
00;01;06;09 - 00;01;35;06
Unknown
Forget the philosophy, forget any spiritual aspect of Aikido for now. And really just like stop doing stuff in between throws, these micro pauses again to fix your hair when it doesn't need fixing to tighten your belt when it doesn't need tightening to pull down the dog when it's not. Who cares? You. Just when you do shihonage again, it's going to get these gathers up here and maybe, get a little bit baggy around the belt.
00;01;35;08 - 00;02;00;28
Unknown
So get rid of those. And most of the time they're unconscious. People don't really even realize that they're doing it, but a good teacher will point that out. So another thing that happens these another micro pause example is fixing posture and not being able to do that. When the person's coming, they, they, you know, throw their partner and then just a minute.
00;02;01;00 - 00;02;07;29
Unknown
Okay. Yeah. Right foot here. And left foot there. Okay. And they set it all up again. But you can
00;02;07;29 - 00;02;14;24
Unknown
set it up more quickly especially if you get rid of the other micro pauses like fixing the hair or whatever.
00;02;14;26 - 00;02;41;19
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.
00;02;41;19 - 00;03;09;08
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.
00;03;09;11 - 00;03;16;00
Unknown
Even before I got to Boston, which is, where my first teacher is also Takara Sheehan
00;03;16;03 - 00;03;25;04
Unknown
Bill Gleason sensei, my first teacher. And for those of you who might know him, Gary Small sensei taking alchemy long ago.
00;03;25;07 - 00;03;27;02
Unknown
another up to Kira Sheehan
00;03;27;09 - 00;03;34;27
Unknown
Yamaguchi sensei. Right? We've got a couple of me teaching seminars.
00;03;34;27 - 00;03;46;23
Unknown
Of course. And then even one with me with, explaining something with Shoto. This is in the, no to homogenization section,
00;03;46;28 - 00;03;57;10
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.
00;03;57;14 - 00;04;06;15
Unknown
one more thing I want to say about these micro pauses is that this loses your mental connection.
00;04;06;17 - 00;04;33;25
Unknown
Again, it does come back to zanshin. So you lose kind of a mental connection with your partner and you distract yourself. So you're 100% of your effort and focus is not going into moving and keep, you know, keeping your posture while you move or something like that. Rather, it's like, okay, fixing the hair or, or fixing, you know, the dogi or whatever.
00;04;33;27 - 00;04;52;05
Unknown
So get rid of these micro pauses. The next point. The next category we like to. And this isn't just beginners. This is all different levels. We like to focus on the end points instead of the transitions.
00;04;52;08 - 00;05;00;27
Unknown
For example okay, it's now it's your turn. Now it's my turn. And I always think it's funny when somebody says, oh no, no, no, it's your turn.
00;05;01;02 - 00;05;25;05
Unknown
That means you get to throw me. But I always thought always. Like the most fun part, especially when I was like 25, 30 years old. The most fun part was ukemi getting thrown. So when they said, oh, it's your turn, I always thought, oh, I'm supposed to throw you? Now it's my turn. Sounds like I should be the one having the most fun, which is getting thrown.
00;05;25;08 - 00;05;55;16
Unknown
But anyway, so similarly we place importance on the end point. He he fell down. Now I did it. That was success. But really these transitions, when your partner goes, for example, when your partner starts to reach to grab you and you move just enough and with just the right timing and with just the, amount of physical invitation, if that makes sense.
00;05;55;18 - 00;06;26;00
Unknown
You know, not bracing against them, but inviting them when all those things are in line, so much so that they continue moving. They can continue entering. Right. Oh my gosh. That to me is so much more exciting than yeah, I threw somebody. But yeah, I kept somebody engaged and kept them moving. And and if it's a partner that's known for not being very cooperative then like, wow, that's so exciting isn't it?
00;06;26;02 - 00;06;38;10
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;38;12 - 00;07;02;21
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;07;02;24 - 00;07;14;26
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.
00;07;14;29 - 00;07;49;06
Unknown
So these transitions from the decision to grab until the grab and then from the grab through the technique all the way up to the point where now they're going to fall. Now it's it's a, given that they're going to fall once you get to the point where they're about to fall, then why throw them? And if you do throw them at that point, which so many people do at that point, then it's not that much fun, is it?
00;07;49;08 - 00;08;15;13
Unknown
It's more fun to get through the whole technique and get to the point where they're right on the edge of the cliff, or just ready to fall off. That's my opinion. So anyway, if you do that, if you focus more on the transitions rather than the end points or for that matter, you can see you can see your practice as more like a paragraph with four sentences in it.
00;08;15;13 - 00;08;27;24
Unknown
Right? We throw each other four times. So you're going to throw your partner four times. Imagine that it's a paragraph. It's communication. So it's a paragraph and it's got four sentences in it.
00;08;27;27 - 00;08;35;14
Unknown
when we train and we just focus on the end points, it's as if we're saying the same sentence four times, right?
00;08;35;14 - 00;09;05;18
Unknown
Just being redundant or four unrelated sentences. So if you focus on the transitions it becomes a paragraph. And I go going like way too far out there, kind of too esoteric or, or new agey or, crystals and candles. I like to say, but this will help you. This will help you get more, loose in your movement so that it will be harder for people to feel your tension
00;09;05;21 - 00;09;08;29
Unknown
And then you get more cooperation and more success.
00;09;09;02 - 00;09;29;20
Unknown
missing these in-between moments takes the richness out of the practice. So try, try try to focus on the transitions. Smooth Aikido movement lives in the transitions. Remember that if you want to get more and more smooth so that people go, whoa! I trained with her.
00;09;29;20 - 00;09;56;05
Unknown
I trained with him, and he was really smooth. She was really smooth. Transitions. Okay, give it a try. The third main point is the mind keeps letting go, right. The mind continues to disengage. So again this does come back to Zanshin I just did a video on that. A few weeks ago.
00;09;56;05 - 00;10;03;14
Unknown
first of all, of course, we have external, distractions. You have to be aware, you know, when I,
00;10;03;14 - 00;10;21;11
Unknown
I was, third Q and I was invited to Sesame Dojo on Wednesday nights. Never forget it. And it was two I think it was 27 tatami and about 35 black belts and myself and one other white belt or so.
00;10;21;13 - 00;10;42;02
Unknown
Anyway, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I was in heaven. And anyway, 35 they were all in their 20s, 30s, I think. The oldest one was like maybe 40. And it was a point of pride that we were taking a ukemi every single time. You weren't just going to go like, oh, I got it and stop.
00;10;42;05 - 00;11;02;17
Unknown
When you got to the fall, you were you were going down to the mat. Not because they were forcing you, but it was a a point of pride. But 27 to tatami 30, 35 people. It was packed and everybody's gone down to the mat. No excuses. So you had to stay really aware of who was around you.
00;11;02;20 - 00;11;26;11
Unknown
You could easily you could easily hurt yourself. So when you fell down, you had to jump back up again because somebody back was coming towards you. And even just when you were training with your partner. In fact, one time I was training with my partner and the pair next to us, one of the people took ukemi and their heel hit me right here.
00;11;26;14 - 00;11;52;26
Unknown
I think it came up this way. Circling. He was taking ukemi, taking a forward roll, and bam! And it was almost like, oh, I was, I was, a little foggy for a little bit. So. Okay, so that distracts us. So there are these external things that distract us. And then sometimes, we also bring it upon ourselves like, oh, my gosh, it's so hot.
00;11;52;26 - 00;11;58;14
Unknown
What time is it? 20 more minutes. Oh my gosh. Right. So
00;11;58;14 - 00;12;12;25
Unknown
those are some examples of some external, distractions. And then there are the internal distractions of.
00;12;12;27 - 00;12;36;14
Unknown
I don't even know if I would call it a distraction, actually. You just kind of let your brain go because now I'm done. I threw him, I threw her, it's done. And then get back up, fix your belt, wait for them to get back up and grab your wrist again. Well, what about you? Throw them and don't think that you're finished.
00;12;36;17 - 00;13;00;29
Unknown
Stay there. Don't retreat. Stay right there where you left them, and maybe even bend your knees enough that you get down to their level. Then, as they're getting up, you're right there again, continuing this paragraph rather than four random sentences. And so as they're getting up, they're grabbing already. And then you're moving and it becomes another throw another sentence.
00;13;01;01 - 00;13;04;07
Unknown
So.
00;13;04;10 - 00;13;32;15
Unknown
How many times have I said zanshin already in this video saying it again, this is a great example of zanshin Keep the attention there. And I realize this is mentally really, really tiring, but it'll really benefit you if you work at this. So continuous awareness creates smooth aikido. In summary, I hope you've been finding this helpful and informative.
00;13;32;17 - 00;14;11;16
Unknown
So here's some practice that I want you to do. First of all, your first homework assignment is the next time you're training, choose one technique. Then I want you to practice this technique with your partner with uninterrupted awareness from start to finish. When I say start to finish, if this is challenging for you, then consider start to finish as from the moment they decide to attack you, whether it's a grab shomenuchi, yokomenuchi, from the moment they decide to attack until you throw them, start their.
00;14;11;18 - 00;14;37;15
Unknown
Then once you get better at that, uninterrupted awareness from start to finish can mean from the time they decide to grab you until the end of the fourth throw. Okay, so stretch yourself uninterrupted awareness, sustained mindfulness, zanshin
00;14;37;18 - 00;15;02;06
Unknown
So oh my gosh. And I just remembered another thing analyzing after each throw. And of course new people are more prone to this. But I've seen some really experienced people go into it too. Of course, a good a good student, when they first start, they're like, oh, am I doing this right? And so they want to stop after every throw and say like, was that it was that right?
00;15;02;09 - 00;15;25;11
Unknown
And and it takes some training and some help from us to train them to, to just do the four and analyze it later. So don't interrupt. And I always tell people when this was that right. And they still have three more to do or two more. I said let's do all four and then let's do it for another ten minutes and then let's talk.
00;15;25;14 - 00;15;48;13
Unknown
And usually when people if you're a teacher, if you don't already do this, it's been really helpful. I give students the promise of a discussion and analyzing the throw. And in the same sentence I say, but it's going to be later, you know, say, oh, let's do ten in a row and then talk about it later. And so later is the end of the night.
00;15;48;15 - 00;16;26;15
Unknown
I don't define it right then. I just say it in a really upbeat way and everybody goes with it. Nobody has contested me on that yet, so give it a try. That way anyway. So no analyzing, no stopping, uninterrupted awareness from start to finish first for just one technique and then one throw rather then next for two throws, three throws, all four throws, and then finally, ultimately you want to be able to keep that uninterrupted awareness for the whole hour or 90 minutes or whatever it is that your dojo does, whether it's a 90 minute class or whatever.
00;16;26;17 - 00;16;53;19
Unknown
So I hope that helped you. In my remote classes, by the way, we work specifically on Aikido flow and continuity. We do it live, and we also have replays available actually very quickly after the class. So if you'd like more information about that, you'd like to join me. The first 14 days are free actually. And you can click on the link below in the description.
00;16;53;21 - 00;17;09;21
Unknown
Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you found this helpful, informative, and I hope this helps you take your Aikido to the next level and really deepen your practice. Looking forward to seeing you here again next time. Bye bye.
