Aikido for the home
What are some drills you can do at home by yourself?
I can think of the walk and if you had the room or wanted to go in the back yard some rolls and falls.
Is there anything else? Balance drills, etc. that would be useful?
Mmm, good question. Since so much of Aikido depends on reacting to another person's energy (uke), it is kinda hard to find things to practice at home. The walk is a good one. I've heard many a high ranking dudes talk about how, regardless of their proficiency with any given technique, they just walk better than most folks. (An aikidoka who walks really well also does well against judo-only guys 😈 )
One thing I did when I first started (I have no idea where you're at, so this may not apply) was to try and do a lot of everyday tasks same hand same foot (since we naturally tend to operate opposite hand, etc). Like I'd go to the fridge right foot, right hand; open the door moving both at the same time; then get the milk out with my left hand and stepping with my left foot, etc. It really ingrained that particular principle into me.
Also, the "open, close, open, sweep" foot drill is a really, really good one to do. It not only helps to get us in the mindset of pre-turning our feet before we step, but also how to "open and close" the hips.
Jim Ellison liked to have his kyu grade zero in on the little exchange that the feet do in the middle of the first and third release. For example, step with the right foot, then the left foot comes right next to it, pre-turned (both feet directly under your arse), then step again with the right in a new direction. That sort of movement actually pops up a lot.
I wonder if there's more? Hopefully, some other folks will chime in.
Sean Ashby wrote:One thing I did when I first started (I have no idea where you're at, so this may not apply) was to try and do a lot of everyday tasks same hand same foot (since we naturally tend to operate opposite hand, etc). Like I'd go to the fridge right foot, right hand; open the door moving both at the same time; then get the milk out with my left hand and stepping with my left foot, etc. It really ingrained that particular principle into me.
Well, Sean stole my thunder. I did this a lot when I first started as well.
I read a lot of stuff on Aikido (and Judo). Nick's book is a much better resource than anything I could find when I started. We'll have a video library one of these days, and that will allow for some improved home study I suspect.
You can always work through kata on your own, visualizing what your partner would be doing. It helps some.
I had a phase when I tried doing the walk in different conditions just to feel the way everything moved -- doing in walk in shoes on carpet is much different than in socks on tile.
A good way to practice at home (or anywhere for that matter) is to learn how to open and close a door without bending your elbow (unbendable arm) or taking your hand off your center. Basically using your body to pull and push the door instead of your arm muscles and learning to move around the point at the same time.
A couple of others that will get your strange looks are: 1)Try to maneuvering a shopping cart without losing unbendable arm & 2)moving through groups of people in a store like your doing multiple attacks. Ex: As they walk towards you, take a side step to get out of the way, then spin around the next person, walk backwards for a couple of steps, then turn and walk out the other side of the group like it was no big deal... :^)
James Bedwell wrote: 2)moving through groups of people in a store like your doing multiple attacks. Ex: As they walk towards you, take a side step to get out of the way, then spin around the next person, walk backwards for a couple of steps, then turn and walk out the other side of the group like it was no big deal... :^)
This is how I make it through a crowded wal-mart. It's very useful.
Chris Wilson wrote:James Bedwell wrote: 2)moving through groups of people in a store like your doing multiple attacks. Ex: As they walk towards you, take a side step to get out of the way, then spin around the next person, walk backwards for a couple of steps, then turn and walk out the other side of the group like it was no big deal... :^)
This is home I make it through a crowded wal-mart. It's very useful.
Soooo... Doing
shomen ate to the people at Wal-Mart that get in my way, is that a bad idea?
Sean Ashby wrote:Chris Wilson wrote:James Bedwell wrote: 2)moving through groups of people in a store like your doing multiple attacks. Ex: As they walk towards you, take a side step to get out of the way, then spin around the next person, walk backwards for a couple of steps, then turn and walk out the other side of the group like it was no big deal... :^)
This is how I make it through a crowded wal-mart. It's very useful.
Soooo... Doing shomen ate to the people at Wal-Mart that get in my way, is that a bad idea?
No, that is a GREAT idea!
a great excercise I like to do when on vacation and my wife does not like being uke is either doing slow motion tai chi like "shadow boxing" but rather doing aikido movement, visualizing an attack and your response of blending with the energy and disposing or controlling uke to a finality....I do this while concentrating on keeping posture and balance and maintaining aiki principles of flowing energy ....Doing tenkan both for evasions and entries for attacks is a wonderful way of maintaining your skills and keeping a sharp level of responsiveness and mental state....visualizing your most biggest baddest crap in your pants enemy attacking you while sending you through an adrenaline push in your system also trains you to start controlling you ability to respond and not freeze while you slowly or quickly take action to dispose of your nasty uke.....slowly train your mind to respond and take it all in and reinforce your nervous system so that it lays some memory in your reactive mind and body....ahhh the value of kata!!!!! and some say it is useless...Intention ,focus, and centering your mind and body to action....
At many public places...
on going outside while pushing left-sided door with my left hand and foot, I close my hips and put my right foot near the outer edge of the door and try to spin in place with the close hip/open hip drill while switching hands on the door. This takes some coordination.
Also when I go grocery shopping, I practice moving/evading around the cart. And I know the security guards watching on the security cameras are thinking, "what the hell is he doing".
In the privacy of my home...
I just practice my turns like my favorite super models.
Another good one is one I like to call Shopping Cart Shomen Ate....
When the shopping cart return is empty at WalMart, line the cart up to go in the return (you dont want to miss on this deal or somebody's going to be really upset w/ what you've done to their car!!) and push the cart in using shomen ate... you'll be really surprised at the amount of energy you can deliver w/ a standard shomen ate....
Disclaimer!!!! James Bedwell does not advocate the destruction of WalMart property no matter how badly they have pissed you off in the past!!!! 😄