Down south we call antennae "feelers"

Our muscles and tendons surrounding our joints contain position sensors - proprioceptors - that are constantly feeding our brain information.  These sensors are the reason that you can touch the tip of your nose or clap your hands or scratch just the right spot on the back of your head without looking.  As your joints move through space, they keep your brain apprised of where they are and what they are doing.

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Except when they don't.  Y'all have seen in movies the field sobriety test in which a police officer asks someone to stretch their arms out, tilt their head back, close their eyes, and touch the tips of their fingers to their nose.  Well, there is another thing besides alcohol that can inhibit your proprioceptive sense of where your joints are and what they are doing - isometric muscular contraction.

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When you contract the muscles on both sides of a joint to lock it into place, you essentially turn off the position sensors in that joint. Essentially you can think of it like this - if you will not allow your joints to move, then you will not allow the motion sensors in them to work.

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One instructor told it like this - your muscles have two mutually exclusive modes - feeling or doing.  When you are doing something with your muscles then you cannot use them to feel.  When you are feeling things with your muscles, you cannot do (much) with them.

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In judo and aikido we are forever preaching "relax,"and, "don't stiff-arm," and, "not so much upper body." etc....  This is because in our normal practice mode we don't want to brick our brain up in an impregnable fortress of muscle - you would rather be able to use your mind to tilt the odds in your favor and to do so, you have to give it a constant stream of input.  If you turn off your inputs (by strengthing up) then you are being counter-productive.

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You can also think of it as easier to learn how our bodies are interacting if you have light, pliable feelers on the other guy's body constantly feeding you information like a bug's antennae. 

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It's not (too) difficult to figure out how this works with your hands.  What is really interesting is when your feet start acting like feelers or antennae during ashiwaza!  When you start reaching out and checking what uke's doing with a foot instead of trying to kick uke out of the ground. Four antennae are better than two ;-)

Photo courtesy of aussiegall

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

BOMP Ch. 29 - Relaxation

Please join our ongoing discussion of Steven Pearlman's excellent tome, The Book of Martial Power

In this chapter, Pearlman covers the much-talked about topic of Relaxation.  I have previously covered relaxation in several articles here.  Pearlman doesn't seem to add too much in this chapter except that his previous chapter, Heaviness, really has the meat of the issue in it.

What I did find interesting was Pearlman's typically elegant description of the issue, "...power comes from movement in one or more joints." [as opposed to coming from isometric strength across those joints.]  This brought back to mind the physics definitions of the phenomena under consideration.  I'm certainly no physicist, but basically...

Power is the ability to do work.

Work is the ability to make things move.

Thus, you get work done, or you exhibit power, by moving - not by trying to being strong.  I thought that little reminder was interesting

[photo courtesy of takomabibelot]

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Muscle tension and ego

Ever notice how you always make yourself especially sore after visiting a different class?  Even if you are in great shape and the "workout" is lighter than you are used to, you end up sore...

This is mostly due to muscle tension and competitive spirit.

Egolessness and relaxation are key to avoiding destroying yourself in the martial arts.  Even if you think you have the relaxation thing down and your ego pretty well under control, you'll find these demons cropping up at unexpected times.

Posture facilitates relaxation

One of the best ways I know of starting to relax in the context of martial arts is to get your posture working properly.  Here is an article I wrote some time back on correcting posture starting at the feet, since that's where we directly interact with the largest force (gravity) and the largest object (the Earth) in our lives.   Following are a couple of good videos about getting posture working rightly starting from the shoulders.  Matt A. at Ikigai turned me onto the Esther Gokhale video some months ago, and I've really found it helpful.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮
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Interactions: shikaku and relaxation

In aikido we talk a lot about moving to shikaku (the dead angle) which can be defined as any place from which the attacker has a much harder time attacking. For instance:

• standing behind uke's shoulder/elbow (almost like hiding in his shadow)
  
  
  
• at the end of uke's outstretched arm (nearly outside ma-ai)
  
  
  
• kneeling very close to the outside of uke's weightbearing knee

Being in shikaku makes tori much safer and allows him to blend and get some aikido techniques working, but shikaku has another benefit. Just knowing that you are relatively safe from the worst of uke's potential violence gives you the psychological freedom to relax, think, and breathe. Shikaku leads to relaxation, which leads to more creative conflict resolution. Shikaku not only facilitates techniques by making tori safer, but by making tori feel safer, shikaku allows him to relax, which in turn makes the techniques work better.

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If you feel like its hard to avoid getting into a physical fight with uke, as if your aiki is discontinuous and difficult, you might work on finding shikaku and moving there. Then take comfort in the fact that you are relatively safe, slowdown and breathe for a moment, and get back in synch with uke. See doesn't that make your aikido smoother and better!

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Send me an email or let's connect on Facebook or Twitter

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

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Relaxation recap

This month has been the first in a series of monthly themes during which I will be covering the various principles that make aikido and judo work. This past month I have written several articles on the topic of relaxation in martial arts.

• 5 hints on relaxing
• Bend or break
• Mash reset
• Speed, relaxation, and ma-ai
• Relaxation and posture
• The advantage of relaxing

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Suggested great books on aikido, judo, and strategy.
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Shizentai - Natural upright posture

Our dojo theme for February will be shizentai. Shizentai is the idea that we should find a way to adopt and work from a relaxed, natural, upright posture. We've already talked some about this last month in our relaxation theme because relaxation and shizentai are so interrelated. Relaxation is pre-requisite to shizentai and it is often necessary to adopt shizentai in order to be able to do a technique in a relaxed manner. Notice I am not talking about a rigidly upright posture, but a relaxed, loose, flexible posture in which the head floats generally above the shoulders, which float generally above the hips, which float generally above the balls of the feet.
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Look for the theme of posture to be emphasized in each class this month, and you can expect several articles on the blog.

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Helpful handful: Relaxation

Photo courtesy of Agelakis

Relaxation is a vital principle in martial arts – almost an end unto itself. This past month we have been doing a special focus at our dojo on the topic of relaxation. Following is a handful of the ideas that came up during the month.

• Relaxation is remarkably difficult because as we age we become habituated to excess tension and we lose the ability to feel the difference between tension and relaxation. This sensorimotor amnesia can lead to all sorts of somatic health problems and the basic jist of several forms of therapy for these problems is to achieve a 'release' in which the muscle that is perpetuating the feedback loop gives up, relaxes, and breaks the feedback loop of tension-dysfunction-pain-tension. In aikido our basic goal is similar – to release the bind that is occurring between uke and tori, allowing tori to smoothly flow to a positon of safety and uke to smoothly flow to ground.
• In Tegatana no kata you can use flaccid, relaxed arms and shoulders as a gauge of how well your momentum is under control. As you step and put a foot down, if your shoulders and arms are flaccid then they will swing around at least a little bit. With practice you can minimize this flailing, indicating that you are better able to keep your momentum under control. You will also notice that you can use the momentum of your center to initiate the motion of your arms – almost throwing or whipping your arms into the right configuration simply by walking correctly.
• In Hanasu no kata we are making a detailed study of that release phenomenon that I mentioned earlier. We are not intent on making uke release us – instead we are trying to release the bind between us (or the bad vibe for lack of a better term). Uke grabs tori somewhere, say, the wrist, and that contact point moves in a curve through space. We are trying to learn to move our feet efficiently so that we can perfectly follow uke's curve with our center. Discontinuities happen when one partner moves faster than the other or one partner moves in a different curve than the other. We have to relax in order to release those discontinuities.
• Ukemi is a skilled blending of relaxation and controlled tension. If you relax completely and flop into a breakfall you can hurt yourself just as much as if you are stiff as a board when you fall. If you slow your ukemi down in practice then you can learn to feel the cyclic tense-relax-tense-relax-tense-relax nature of ukemi. You want your ukemi to be a natural extension of the release curve I mentioned earlier. Ukemi is the art of uke releasing out of a bind into a roll or fall. Uke begins a curve, tori picks up on it and follows it for a while until there is another bind, at which time uke continues the curve into a safe, stable position on the ground.
• In judo newaza it takes a while to get used to being crushed. That is, it takes a while to learn how to move to control the other guy's ability to put crushing force onto you. We do this by practicing the ground mobility cycle – shifting from hold to hold while keeping your weight on uke's chest. It doesn't take long for uke to learn to use his arms to control some of tori's position, his feet to reposition hips slightly to reduce crushing pressure – to learn to frame up under tori so that he can relax and breathe and think for a moment.
• In any type of grappling art – call it judo or aikido or whatever – you generally do better if you move the same speed as the other guy. When you are moving faster or slower you are expending energy trying to change his speed. Bodies have a natural frequency or rhythm to them, and since most bodies are roughly the same size, we tend to all have remarkably similar frequencies. It takes more energy to move faster or slower than your natural frequency or to try to move uke faster or slower than his natural frequency. Not only must you relax to move at uke's natural frequency, but the act of moving in synch with your rhythm and his is very relaxing.

Click here to see my previous articles on relaxation.
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Bend or break

Image courtesy of Papalars

We're coming to a close of our month-long dojo focus on the value of relaxation in martial arts.  I'll be doing a full-fledged Relaxation recap here in a day or two but for now I'll leave you with a quick but absolutely vital tip.

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You have to learn to relax when you are playing the role of the attacker.  Extra tension/strength does not make it any harder for an experienced player to throw you.  It might make it harder for a beginner to do the tehnique, but that just hinders their learning and yours - and who wants that?  What the extra tension does do is make you more easily broken.  Bend or break!

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It's a natural reaction to clamp down with your muscles when you realize you're in trouble, but we're trying to re-wire that reflex so that you are less likely to get broken and more likely to be able to do something positive about the trouble you have gotten yourself into.  When you find yourself clamping down, try rewinding the relationship back to how you got into the trouble that made you tense up, take a breath, relax, and walk back into the killing field to see if you can maintain your relaxation.

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Bend or break!

Image courtesy of Jezs

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Slow down, relax, and maintain ma-ai

 

Lisa Ullmann, student of Choreutics founder, Rudolf Laban, observed:

• fast motions tend to contract inward toward the center.
• slow motions tend to extend outward from the center

I have found that trying to move quickly in a conflict tends to shorten the encounter space and artificially reduce ma-ai. In my practice I see this most in the backwards turning steps (a.k.a. 'goblet steps') of Tegatana no kata and in the first step of shomenate. If I do these motions at a slow-to-moderate speed and relax then I am able to maintain a relaxed natural posture and a normal ma-ai. But if I do them quickly I seem to be jumping back almost into a wrestler's stance, ready to engage - and I tend to be a couple of inches closer than I wanted to be.

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Play with this some and see doesn't moving a little more slowly help you maintain a more natural, upright, relaxed posture (shizentai) while opening up the space between tori and uke.

 

Relax into a natural posture

While we're talking about relaxing, let me throw out this little point: Resting on your heels is not the same thing as relaxing. It is actually just the opposite. While standing on your heels relaxes some of your leg muscles, allowing them to rest a little bit, it screws up your posture throughout the rest of your body and causes much more tension than it releases.  Standing on your heels is the lazy man's path to a poor substitute for relaxation.
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Try this: stand in shizentai (natural, upright posture, hips over balls of feet, nice vertical, relaxed posture). Now, without changing your upper body posture, rock back onto your heels. I bet you feel like you are teetering on the brink of falling backward. Now, relax into this posture with heels on the ground. How did you compensate for the backwards tendency? Probably with the butt out behind you, trunk leaning forward some, and head hanging in front of your torso (as in the photo above). Now, imagine a string pulling upward on the crown of your head, drawing you upward into shizentai. Your hips rocked back over your toes as you were drawn upward into a relaxed, upright posture.

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Standing on your heels places too much weight behind you, causing you to have to compensate by placing some weight forward of your center. The most common way for this to happen is to hang your head forward. While this seems like a relaxed posture, it places muscles throughout your torso and neck under tension.
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The moral of the story - get off of your heels and relax into shizentai!

Using relaxation to your advantage in aikido

I generally do lesson plans for my classes by cycling through lists of techniques, principles, and hints one after another. This makes lesson planning easy and ensures that I cover all the material regularly. I have described how I do these aikido lesson plans and judo lesson plans and I have posted a list of hints for tegatana no kata and a list of hints for hanasu no kata as examples of the lists that I cycle through.

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As Todd mentioned a few days ago, I have decided this year to add another layer of this type of repetition to my classes. We will be emphasizing a different broad principle in class each month. For instance, the principle of the month for January is Relaxation. We'll still be going through the technique lists as before, but there will be an emphasis on relaxation in every class this month. That's not to say that we didn't already talk about relaxation before or that we're going to toss it out the window in February - we're just paying particular attention to that concept this month.

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So far this month we've talked about relaxation in tegatana no kata - working with flaccid arms as a measure of how well controlled your momentum is, visualizing a string pulling the crown of your head upward in order to relax the neck, relaxing the hips and back and legs to improve mobility, relaxing/collapsing into a step, and measuring the relaxation of your steps using the embusen (performance line of the kata). We've also worked on relaxation in hanasu - particularly in techniques #1 and 2. In #2 it is particularly apparent that tori is unable to move directly behind uke if he is tense but it is easy when he is relaxed. Last night we worked on oshitaoshi from release #1 using the exercises in Ichikata - learning to relax and flow around uke's extreme resistance.

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I can go on and on with this theme. Look for more on relaxation in upcoming classes and stay tuned for next month's super theme!

Great posture exercise - climbing stairs

Ok, when you think about posture exercises you might think about Army recruits trying to stand straight up while a drill sergeant screams in their face, "Suck that gut in. Pull those shoulders back." Well, the aikido and judo ideal of good posture begins with relaxed, mobile, and upright. While the old drill sergeant might have gotten upright, he sure missed the relaxed part.

The folks that probably know the most of anyone in the world about functional posture are the Alexander Technique folks and the Feldenkrais Method folks. I've written before on the crossover between aikido, judo, Alexander, and Feldenkrais principles, including a recent article on a neat Alexander trick for fixing neck posture. Feldenkrais has some similar exercises which involve repeatedly sitting and standing from a chair to reprogram the neck muscles. Here's something that, so far as I know, is of my own invention... Walking up and down stairs to fix neck posture.

Try this. Get a flight of steps and walk up and down sliding your hand on the rail for balance. Repeat the flight of steps several times. First this will help your leg and cardiovascular strength if you do it regularly, and having better wind means you don't have to use shoulder and neck musckes as accessory breathers. So they can relax and control your neck posture more efficiently.

Second, keep breathing as you walk the stairs. If you are not used to walking stairs you might, without thinking, hold your breath and drag yourself up by the handrail. If one flight of stairs wears you out and leaves you breathless, look to see if you're doing this.

Third, and this is the really neat part, try the Alexander trick I previously posted while walking the stairs. Concentrate on moving however you have to in order to get your nose forward and upward. As you descend the stairs, imagine your face lifting forward and up, so that your neck gets longer and straighter and more upright as your body descends. As you climb up the steps, imagine leading with your face. Imagine someone gently holding your chin and the back of your head and giving you a little lift as you ascend. Notice that getting your nose and face up and forward releases tension in your shoulders (because you can't raise your face if your levators scapulae are in contraction) and frees your breathing (because your shoulder muscles are hooked to your rib cage).

A hundred hanasu happiness hints

As before with tegatana, here is a list of 100 hints for your practice of hanasu no kata - the wrist releases. As before, your mileage may vary. Try 1-2 of these hints each time you practice hanasu and let me know if you see anything new and interesting. Enjoy...

1. all ideas from tegatana apply
2. uke and tori are connected (ki musubi, metsuke) before contact
3. metsuke occurs before contact and throughout
4. tori get in synch with uke as he approaches before h crosses ma-ai
5. feel uke’s motion
6. think about using your arms as “feelers” instead of “pushers”
7. match and use uke’s rise and fall
8. measure ma-ai before each technique in practice
9. when you measure, notice what you can see with peripheral vision
10. tori presents the arm low near the belt
11. uke’s attack should be equidistant from tori’s face and hand
12. at maai, tori can’t tell if uke is doing shomenuchi or katatedori
13. notice that tori is initially stepping over the hill
14. try the kata with tori rocking and uke attacking at the worst time
15. uke takes 1 step through maai to grasp tori’s wrist on the otoshi
16. uke: throw a shomenuchi attack occasionally to keep tori honest
17. tori: do a nijusan offbalance occasionally to keep uke honest
18. uke: use katatedori+shomenuchi occasionally to keep tori honest
19. perhaps uke’s attack should always be katatedori+shomenuchi
20. uke must attack in one efficient, ballistic motion from just outside ma-ai
21. try the kata with uke trying to sneak into ma-ai and tori moving to maintain ma-ai
22. try the kata with a knife in uke’s free hand
23. uke wants to get both feet back under him
24. uke uses proper grasping fingers
25. uke: relax to feel where you’re offbalance
26. uke responds to all offbalances by stepping to fix them
27. uke tries to step to a balanced place where facing tori
28. metsuke helps with uke’s attack intent and recovery
29. notice that uke’s functional reach is shorter to the side than to the front
30. tori presents the hand slightly facing uke’s attacking hand
31. metsuke defines the centerline
32. drifting eye focus creates a drifting sense of center and maai
33. tori tries to get to a place where uke can’t easily establish metsuke
34. tori tries to get to a place where uke can’t easily center his arm
35. when uke is behind tori, tori turns to reestablish metsuke and center
36. correct palm directions: duud duud
37. try the kata “uddu uddu”
38. palms all the way turned
39. Try neutral palms – in “relaxed” posture
40. Try eyes closed
41. Try limited and exaggerated attacks
42. try releases as escapes from wrist twists
43. try alternate grips (elbow, sleeve, collar, etc…)
44. try tori holding/pushing uke’s wrist
45. try with tori holding a short stick in the lead hand
46. start evading as uke crosses ma-ai
47. pay attention to the time uke’s front foot lands
48. synchronize stepping 1-for-1 with uke
49. get off the line of attack
50. move away from uke’s free hand
51. front hand and foot end up near the line of uke’s feet
52. try moving your center toward uke’s offbalance line
53. make sure you finish your ‘down’ as uke’s front foot touches.
54. ki-bump as uke is stepping on his little toe.
55. turn to face uke
56. tori’s free hand stays between uke and tori
57. don’t predetermine your step or your turn
58. attack tension decides the time and place to put the front foot down
59. hands up between your face and uke’s
60. don’t track uke’s arms, track his center
61. control uke’s center, then find his arms
62. minimize all pull at the shoulder
63. tori stays “in the technique” until uke taps
64. uke, tap after each technique
65. tori turns to center on wherever uke puts tori’s hand
66. same hand same foot for stability & strength
67. stuck hand stuck foot for mobility
68. move with uke 1-2 steps to maintain the released relationship
69. move with uke in order to stay in shikaku
70. releases don’t make uke let go of tori
71. releases release built-up tension
72. don’t release then step. Let the step release
73. don’t allow uke enough balance to let go
74. walk down the line when going front to back or vise versa
75. look for sidesteps during direction changes
76. look for nodes of neutrality between techniques
77. there are only 3 kinds of releases: walk-arounds, bypasses, and under-arms
78. these 8 releases are ways of getting behind uke & turning to face.
79. all motions should be reversible
80. extra effort shortens the encounter space
81. Try this kata close into a corner or beside a table
82. try #1 stepping out and down the line with the left foot.
83. try #1 stepping in to body drop uke on the far front corner
84. try #1 with uke randomly stiffarming vs. retracting the arm.
85. use hands to elbows as a measuring stick
86. How can a small person make small steps and still get kuzushi?
87. step through uke instead of around him on #2 and #4
88. use #3 as a prototype for the proper “releasing” feel of #1
89. notice the upward pushing motion at the end of the line in #1
90. is #4 harder to do properly than #2
91. try #2, #4, #6, and #8 after 2-3 body drops instead of after the first
92. move 2-3 steps with uke before executing #2, #4, #6, and #8
93. try #2 as response to failed #1, etc…
94. try #1-8 stepping the wrong way (inside) as in the nijusan paths
95. try the kata from suwari
96. Try the techniques in random order
97. tori, if you screw up, release from the situation you find yourself in
98. see if you can get all techniques to have that “release” feeling
99. try doing randori with both players constantly naming the releases as they happen
100. remember – these are not the only 8 releases

100 terrific things to try in Tegatana

The first exercise that we do in aikido is called Tegatana (A.K.A The Walk). It is composed of two older exercises called Unsoku and Tandoku undo. It teaches the footwork, arm motions, and whole-body coordination used throughout aikido. Funny thing about this exercise - it only takes a short while - perhaps to yellow or green belt - to feel like you've got this thing whipped, but if you ask the most advanced folks in the system what they are working on to improve their skills, they'll probably tell you tegatana.
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Just in case you think you have this thing whipped, here is a list of 100 Terrific Things to Try in Tegatana. The list is certainly not everything that you can learn from the exercise - if you work on it i'm sure you could come up with 100 more (and when you do, please send me a copy!) Some of these are repeats, phrased a little differently because different people understand parts of this thing differenty. If some of the hints don't make sense, drop me a line and I'll try to give you a better explanation - or at least a more verbose one.
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Probably the best way to work through these hints is repeat the entire kata over and over, trying to incorporate one hint during each repetition. Getting through the whole list just once ought to keep you occupied for a month or two...

1. relaxed but not flaccid
2. work slower. remember: “fast is slow, slow is fast”
3. balls of feet, heels slightly brushing
4. balls of first two toes only
5. make sure ankles don’t flex outward
6. knees slightly bent
7. heel-toe stance, feet under your hips
8. feet slightly closer than heel-toe and shoulder width
9. head over shoulders over hips over toes
10. rotate on top of hips, not around them
11. raised shoulders = excess tension
12. shoulders down and back, head up
13. small, conservative steps
14. minimize side-to-side rocking
15. minimize fwd-back rocking
16. minimize center rise-fall
17. even when you minimize rocking it is still there
18. there is a ballistic, irreversible part of each step
19. use relaxed arm swing as momentum check
20. natural motion of arms
21. visualize an attack as you sidestep
22. falling – not lunging or pushing
23. pull your weight forward with the front foot
24. tighten inner thighs to bring back foot forward
25. don’t try to raise your center with both legs
26. put your center over one leg then raise it up
27. notice: it is not possible to fall straight forward
28. settle and pause between each step
29. imagine each step as your last
30. lead with the nearest foot (usually)
31. complete recovery step
32. put feet under butt instead of butt over feet
33. step the width of your stance
34. step no more than hip width
35. try to standardize the length of your steps
36. look for heel strikes during too-long steps
37. look for bobble associated with heel strike
38. look for heel lift on large back steps
39. count weight shifts
40. stepping forward/back takes 2 weight shifts
41. turning 90 degrees takes 2 weight shifts
42. turning 180 degrees takes 3 weight shifts
43. hip switch takes 1 weight shift
44. hip switch does not take place evenly balanced
45. the rear leg loads slightly on the hip switch
46. look for extra weight shifts
47. look out for extra shifts when the pattern changes
48. notice how raising the arm to the side loads the opposite foot
49. you can only hip switch about 135 degrees without crossing legs
50. hip switch 180° puts you in classic aiki stance
51. turn hips completely to set up turns
52. use hips to store energy for turns
53. fall off the line during turns
54. stuck-hand-stuck-foot during first turns
55. feeling the inside of the sphere
56. rise onto the balls of feet as a momentum check after the turns
57. wedging the body between the leg and arm
58. hands stay in peripheral vision (“wiggle test”)
59. fingers together to protect them & your partner
60. pull the wrist back before you lift the arm
61. hands centered
62. hands within the box of shoulders and hips
63. off hand stays centered too
64. dead off-hand creates imbalance
65. off hand may mimic power hand
66. arms slightly bent but unbendable
67. same hand same foot
68. only push/pull along the length of a centered, unbendable arm
69. never push/pull sideways
70. eyes, shoulders, hips, feet center on lead hand
71. arms rise and fall with the center
72. don’t raise arms & drop center at same time
73. let your momentum help pick your arms up
74. different contact points for different pushes
75. palms toward face on pulls
76. palms forward on pushes
77. push with palms with fingers pointing up
78. push with forearm with palm facing up
79. push with shoulder with fingers pointing in
80. push near your own face or shoulder level
81. try brushing the feet vs. picking them up
82. try with inhale on body rise and exhale on body drop
83. try with grippy shoes on
84. try with your eyes closed
85. try in a tight crowd of people
86. try large motions vs. small motions
87. try with everyone facing different directions
88. try with someone gently disturbing your moves
89. try to an external count or to your own count
90. try counting “otoshi – guruma” instead of “1-2-3-4…”
91. try grouping the moves into flowing groups of 2-3
92. try as fast and as slow as possible
93. notice how the ground feels under your feet.
94. visualize a thumbtack taped under your heels and little toes
95. visualize everything as a push or pull
96. visualize someone attached to you
97. visualize an iron rod straightening your spine
98. visualize your hips as a fountain that is buoying up under your head
99. visualize your head as a balloon that your body is floating under
100. You can divide any technique or motion using the rule of 3

Those magical soft breakfalls

Some ukes - typically only the most skilled - are able to attack vigorously and get smashed by tori but still manage to land softly. They appear to break the laws of physics with this skill - being thrown hard but magically landing softly. But this is a skill and it can be taught and learned. Telling you everything that you need to know to do soft breakfalls is beyond the scope of this few-hundred word post, but I can give you some hints...

1. The essence of the soft breakfall is skillful coordination of the muscles of the trunk - primarily the abdominals. Skilled ukes are able to contract when appropriate and relax when appropriate.
2. Small wheels turn faster than large wheels. Skilled ukes stretch out at the right timesbecause it slows things down and absorbs some energy. When they are ready to turn over they curl up and the energy stored by stretching out is released into a fast roll.
3. In forward roll, energy is absorbed in different muscle groups at different times. Watch a skilled uke and try to figure out when during the roll they are extending their trunk and when they are curling it. This is the essence of the thing.

Try this exercise - do several repetitions of forward roll alternating between rolling to standing and sticking the landing. You'll notice that it is easier to keep from slamming your feet when you roll to standing than when you stick. The energy is going somewhere - Where? Hint: the answer does not involve the circular nature of the rolling-to-standing form. Remember what we are talking about in the first place - some ukes are able to stick a landing from a forceful fall SOFTLY.

Keep doing the forward roll alternating between these two forms and pay attention to the state of contraction of your abs. You'll notice that when you roll to standing the abs lock and the energy of the lower body is transferred to the upper body and throws you out of the mat. The abs are like a fulcrum in this action.

So, a major part of the soft breakfall skill is the ability to contract and relax at the right times. Work on it and if you want some good instruction in this skill, drop me a line and hop on down to Mokuren Dojo.