00;00;01;10 - 00;00;21;23
Unknown
Is one of the first techniques that most students learn, and that leads almost everyone to assume that it's the simplest. After 45 years of watching people do it, feeling people do it. Doing it myself and taking ukemi from practitioners at every level, I can tell you that it's actually the opposite.
00;00;21;23 - 00;00;36;03
Unknown
I think we've all had the experience of taking the ukemi for ikkyo, and our partner really pushing, jamming, jamming our shoulder into the socket,
00;00;36;05 - 00;00;54;29
Unknown
trying to crank our arm. And if you're anything like me, it's very unpleasant. I don't like it. And I can feel my body resisting against the partner, even if I don't mean to resist against them.
00;00;55;01 - 00;01;05;06
Unknown
Your body just reacts to to being pushed around and having your your upper arm jammed into your shoulder socket.
00;01;05;09 - 00;01;19;02
Unknown
In contrast I've taken ukemi for people for ikkyo and had almost like an otherworldly experience not to get too far out there, but
00;01;19;04 - 00;01;41;05
Unknown
one of my sempai, for example, Suzuki sensei, when I take ukemi from for him, from ikkyo, it's I feel first of all, I feel like I'm running at a black hole in space. I don't know why it is and that's the best description I can I can come up with and then when I get there.
00;01;41;07 - 00;02;09;06
Unknown
I can see. I can see that the contact has been made, but there's nothing there. And so I hit the target, but there's nothing there to support me. And again, I feel like I've fallen into the black hole. And then I'm flying away from the black hole. Is that too crazy? Oh, my gosh, this is. You're probably thinking this is one of her craziest YouTube videos.
00;02;09;09 - 00;02;27;25
Unknown
That's the best way, way I can explain it anyway. The point is, there's no cranking on my arm. There's no jamming my upper arm into my shoulder socket. There's no unpleasantness, really. There's just this amazing movement.
00;02;27;27 - 00;02;38;18
Unknown
So how do we do this? So what most people are doing is they're training with the arm. They're doing it on their partner.
00;02;38;23 - 00;02;44;07
Unknown
So first of all, that mentality will get you into trouble. I'm going to do ikkyo on him.
00;02;44;09 - 00;03;02;21
Unknown
So if we're doing a technique on somebody then that usually sets us up for a more combative mentality. And we usually tighten up and we push people around.
00;03;02;24 - 00;03;07;11
Unknown
Needs to be about the whole body. So how do you move their feet?
00;03;07;14 - 00;03;10;16
Unknown
First of all, you have to move their core, their center.
00;03;10;18 - 00;03;27;00
Unknown
Anyway, one thing that I don't really like is to talk about how to do a technique, and there's plenty of videos like that on YouTube. So what I want to talk about, I want to continue talking about the ukemi, what it feels like.
00;03;27;02 - 00;03;31;08
Unknown
So again.
00;03;31;10 - 00;03;50;25
Unknown
Taking ukemi for when I the times that I really had no say in the matter where I was going, whether I wanted to or not, was I felt like there was no substance to the target. And
00;03;50;25 - 00;03;55;14
Unknown
I felt like I was standing on a carpet that had been yanked out from under me.
00;03;55;14 - 00;03;58;26
Unknown
That's it. I didn't feel that people were jamming my shoulder,
00;03;58;26 - 00;04;04;24
Unknown
If it's a beginner, then I notice the entry. And
00;04;04;24 - 00;04;12;23
Unknown
usually, you know, in the first second or so how it's going to feel even before the contact is made.
00;04;12;23 - 00;04;16;16
Unknown
But anyway you can see it right from the entry.
00;04;16;16 - 00;04;18;07
Unknown
The misunderstanding
00;04;18;07 - 00;04;22;01
Unknown
usually is invisible to the practitioner.
00;04;22;01 - 00;04;37;15
Unknown
And when when you can feel the contact point very strongly and you feel like you're being pushed, then again, you your body wants to resist against that when you can't feel it.
00;04;37;17 - 00;04;52;01
Unknown
That's another level. Not many people have that where you just feel like, oh, the carpet just got pulled out from under my feet. And why am I not feeling this, this contact point? I can see it, but why am I not feeling it?
00;04;52;01 - 00;04;54;15
Unknown
This is a whole different thing.
00;04;54;18 - 00;05;26;18
Unknown
Done well, doesn't feel like someone doing something to you or on you. It feels like you're already moving. You don't have a chance to stop moving. So the difference between the two, you're somebody doing it on your arm or doing it on you via your arm, versus you're moving. And suddenly your body has been rearranged for you. Somebody pulled the carpet out from under your feet.
00;05;26;18 - 00;05;32;10
Unknown
These are completely different. And they're very, very hard to describe
00;05;32;13 - 00;05;41;29
Unknown
unless you're talking to somebody who is also experienced ikkyo from a very high level practitioner taking that, ukemi from somebody really high.
00;05;42;01 - 00;05;59;20
Unknown
And by the way, if you want to go a little bit deeper into topics like this and other topics, I have a video training newsletter that I send out every week, so look in the description below and click to sign up for it. It's free by the way. Anyway, getting back to ikkyo.
00;05;59;20 - 00;06;09;13
Unknown
if you haven't taken ukemi for ikkyo from somebody really high level, it's very difficult to describe it or to know what to look for.
00;06;09;15 - 00;06;12;15
Unknown
But when you do it, when you take that ukemi
00;06;12;15 - 00;06;31;18
Unknown
it's it's a big surprise and it's so different from the more elementary version of ikkyo. So what I look for when I watch somebody doing ikkyo like when I'm teaching one of my seminars, the moment of the contact.
00;06;31;19 - 00;06;36;28
Unknown
If Naga or Tori's shoulder is is tight, then
00;06;36;29 - 00;06;58;29
Unknown
uke is going to resist even if they don't mean to. It sets off an alarm in your partner's mind. So that's one thing that I look for. Is the is the arm tight especially the shoulder. And then also of course lower back and knees. So we need some shock absorption for when that contact is made.
00;06;58;29 - 00;07;09;27
Unknown
I also look to see if there's a pause. And here's where it gets a little tricky. If there's a pause and the arms come up and they meet,
00;07;10;00 - 00;07;11;11
Unknown
It can be.
00;07;11;11 - 00;07;17;07
Unknown
The sign that oh man is going to look is going to resist against this.
00;07;17;07 - 00;07;32;12
Unknown
But the people who are really, really good that I've taken ukemi from for ikkyo, there's a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny pause, a millisecond of a pause, which is actually really, really good.
00;07;32;14 - 00;07;39;14
Unknown
when they pause and they push against each other for a moment, and then they go to do ikkyo.
00;07;39;16 - 00;08;01;10
Unknown
If you if you do manage to throw your partner with that execution, your partner is usually just letting you throw them. But if there's a momentary pause or absorption is actually better, that can be really, really good. And when it's done well,
00;08;01;10 - 00;08;02;22
Unknown
you can't see it.
00;08;02;22 - 00;08;03;12
Unknown
00;08;03;15 - 00;08;29;13
Unknown
You can't see the effort, you can't see the struggle. The technique is already happening before it looks like it's begun. Because of that, that pause for just a moment. It's so difficult to explain. And by the way, I really recommend that you go to different seminars, not just my seminar, but any seminars. Get out of your comfort zone.
00;08;29;13 - 00;08;50;10
Unknown
And places like this are where you can reach out and see different people at different levels doing different techniques. ikkyo of course, will be one of them. And don't be shy, go and train with even if you're a white belt, don't be shy to go and train with a fifth dawn or sixth done black belt.
00;08;50;13 - 00;09;18;05
Unknown
And by the way, if you're interested in coming to some of my seminars, I'll be teaching in Shanghai very soon in just a couple of weeks. Shanghai, China, August 28th through the 30th, and I'm doing a four city tour of Germany. I'll be teaching in four cities, four dojos and four cities Heidelberg, Dusseldorf, Bonn and Sehnde Really beautiful cities and great dojos that I've been going to for like 15 years.
00;09;18;06 - 00;09;58;17
Unknown
So look in the description below and jump in and join me. Also the Germany tour. There will be some components where we'll be having discussions, debriefs, Q&A off the mat as well. So I'm putting together curated tours and this year in May I took a group to Japan and they're always small group tours, and we combine on the mat training in different dojos as we go, as well as some debriefs, discussions, Q&A, off the mat in between trainings, and while we're going from one city to the next.
00;09;58;19 - 00;10;02;03
Unknown
you need to fill out the waitlist and then
00;10;02;04 - 00;10;03;09
Unknown
I'll get in touch.
00;10;03;09 - 00;10;21;08
Unknown
In conclusion, all of all the techniques that we do should not be about doing something to a person or on a person. They should be about doing that technique and refining your own movement within it. But ikkyo, in my opinion, especially
00;10;21;08 - 00;10;25;27
Unknown
backfires when you do it on someone or to someone.
