Divide releases into 3 steps to help beginners get started

There are a lot of different modes that you can do most martial arts exercises in.  They seem to be made to be played in different ways under various conditions.



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One of the ways that we work aikido wrist releases (shichihon no kuzushi) is to divide each technique into 3 key points, or positions that you have to move through, or heuristics that you have to apply.  In any case, each move has 3 pieces.
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For instance,
Releases 1 & 3

1. Get off the line of attack and set your grabbed wrist, your front foot, and both of uke's feet on the same line.
2. Turn to face uke and get both hands up between your face and his
3. move with uke wherever he goes for 1-2 steps

Releases 2 & 4

1. Get off the line of attack and set your grabbed wrist, your front foot, and both of uke's feet on the same line (Just as if you were doing release 1)
2. turn to face uke with your hands generally between you and him.
3. get behind uke, raise your hands above your head, and yell, "Praise the LORD!" Actually that last piece is optional, but it helps.

Sure, releases are an amazing exercise and training method, and they cannot be released to these 3-step katas, but we have found them a pretty good way to get noobs emulating the release motions so that they can then be corrected and adjusted.
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Additionally, the 3-step releases provide a good framework for talking to noobs about where there is a problem - for instance, "In step 1 try to get more on line with his feet," or "In step 3 try to get more behind him."


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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com