Cool class

Last night's class was very cool. Cool in the sence of interesting - not cool in the sence of cool. In that sence it was hot. We haven't gotten AC and ceiling installed in the new dojo yet, so it was an hour and a half of Mississippi Aikido - that is, teeshirt and shorts instead of the oven mitts that we call gi.

In ukemi we worked on trying to improve our sensitivity of the posture of our shoulders so that we can more easily determine when we roll over a misplaced shoulder.

In tegatana we worked on staying on the balls of our feet - specifically on the balls of the first two toes. We contrasted our ankle stability and balance in tsugiashi landing across the ball of the foot as opposed to landing on those to most medial toes.

In hanasu we worked on the idea of finding a place in space during the first step that is neutral between #1, #2, and #5. Then we dove off into the chains associated with hanasu#2, including kotetaoshi and maeotoshi. We mostly worked on kotetaoshi with the idea of getting into and staying in shikaku and keeping gyakugamae ate ready if shikaku fails. I thought it was interesting that I was forever going into gyakugamae early. I had to wait and wait and wait in order to get it right.