Why does "real life" come to practice?

With Sensei gone on business, it falls on myself and a sempai to teach the class and organize the club practices.  All going well yesterday until a girl asks at the end of the class, "What if they punch you REALLY fast?"  We were learning munetski sumi otoshi.  Great technique, one of my favorite responses.  But, come on, how fast?  What were you doing that made that person want to punch you?  Did you deserve it?  Who would punch a girl anyway?

These were the questions that were running around in the back of my mind, the one that was running around in the front was, "Is is gonna hurt when Tyler punches me?"  So, I called Tyler up and he chased me around the mat for a bit, I kept the maai generous until I saw the opening, and then Tyler and I went down to the mat in a most uncontrolled fashion and with no discernable pin or throw being used.

So, was this a good example of Aikido to show the students?  Probably not.  Did I control the situation?  Probably not.  Did I use my fierce kiai to stop Tyler in his tracks so that I could step in for a flawless technique?  Probably not, but I wanted to respect his safety...(right, Tyler is too much bigger than me to get hit by him and everyone has the hardest time getting him off balance).

Maybe, just maybe, I could have controlled the situation a lot differently and responded with, "Then you should respond really fast, and with training you can."  Isn't that what Sensei would have said?

So, the lesson that I have learned is, get off line...even if it was a question.  Don't take it head on.  Get behind it and redirect it, gently. And...don't get hit by Tyler.  It'll hurt.

Seminar Update

Greetings All you Ukemi fans,

What better way to get your self preservation skills up to snuff than to be thrown around by many people for multiple days and smile while wondering, " what exactly just happened there?"

Here is the answer for you...

The Logan Seminar!!!

Yes, tell all your friends, tell your neighbor, tell your dog.  Well, okay, not the neighbor.  But, we will be caravan this Friday and you have almost no excuse not to go...
Maybe, if your dog can't...

Anticipation of the outcome

We have started a new semester in our practice sessions.  As such, we have many new people who have little to no experience with Aikido.  This isn't a problem as we always strive to teach our practice to others so that we can spread the harmony and peace that Aikido can bring.  Our dojo becomes a bit crowded and the available space to get in a 'good' throw is limited.  This isn't a problem, as we learn that we can employ our techniques anywhere and the variations that the real world brings to us can allow us to explore new twists to something that we feel we know. 

The problem is...

That 'new guy' just didn't attack me right...or, he didn't know that I wanted him to fall in a certain way.  Well, this is a problem, not for the new practitioner, but for us; the 'experienced' aikidosa.  If we find that practicing any technique with an inexperienced person does not produce the outcome that we desire, we have no one else to blame but ourselves. 

Did we really reach out and connect with our uke?  Did we work with the energy given?  Did we follow through with our center? 

For now, let's just say that, "It would work better if my uke knew how to attack."  Cause every reasonable attacker out there knows how.