1/17/2008

Teacher is Taught



Our dojo now has a regular instructor from a different Aikido tradition, Tomiki Aikido. Sidney Sensei has often said it is good to learn from other traditions and indicated that by broadening our Martial Arts experience we better understand what he is trying to convey. He often shows how a karate attack would relate to a technique and even how we should learn from the way a boxer reacts to an opponent.

That sensei willingly takes on the role of student, I find somehow inspiring. The Tomiki Teacher asked how to proceed but Sidney simply said to proceed as he thought best.

I like the references to the practicality but I gather that although the goal of Tomiki is a Randori type competition, the training is quite structured, and I'm not a structured guy. So it is nice to see another perspective but the best part is seeing the willingness of the official teacher to be a student like the rest of us.




The clip above is from some Tomiki competition. I don't know much about Tomiki but this is what I found on YouTube.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Charlie has much very much to offer, from a diverse martial arts background as well as teaching experience. I agree that a variety of perspectives and teaching leads to broader ability. An instructor told me once that it doesn't matter where you start on a pyramid, if you keep climbing you reach a summit of knowledge. A bit trite, but I still like the analogy. I'd rather learn from Charlie than Bob Mason any day!

Anonymous said...

I've had a cold and I've missed class the past week. I hope to feel better enough to practice Monday; I'm past contagous.

Koshinage troubles - I struggled in class, and Charlie suggested I try the bend movement at home as an exercise. So...stand heel to instep thrusting hip outward, sink while reaching back with one arm as if around uke's waist and looking up or out, not down. But, when I step in and bend and reach like that I usually feel off balance and not strong enough to rise straight up for the throw, so I'm doing something wrong, my legs are too weak or both.

Dang, Sensei C. Tissier makes it look easy. Thanks for the vid!

Scott Zrubek said...

I train in a Tomiki dojo without training for competitions.

If you want to see pics and some videos, there are some at clearcreekaikido.com