Ki and More Ki

This morning Jory was not feeling well, so we had the treat of Steve Sensei teaching. We spent the first half of class doing ki and stretching exercises, just the ticket for us overly tense old guys. :-)

Next Steve gave an introductory approach to tenchin movement. I tried to relearn it from the beginning and focusing on the details of the technique, found it more difficult than "just doing it" without thinking. I would focus on one aspect and totally lose something else, like focusing on the right hand and losing the position of the left. Since there were only 3 students, I had Sensei as my uke, and there is still part of the mind that says: "I'm working with Sensei--he's 6th dan. I'd better get it right." Then my energy gets jittery, which ironically, is not getting it right.

After class Steve clarified the movement for basic ki exercises. It's like coiling the energy into a ball, into the spine, rounding the back, and then springing from the center and opening back up. This was very useful, as this idea of energy movement and release is central to aikido.