Aikido of Tucson, Seminar with John Stevens sensei

Aikido as the Path of Friendship - Anno sensei's visit to Seattle

AANC Memorial Day Aikido Gashuku, Lake Tahoe, CA

Shinrikan Dojo Aikido Seminar with Keisuke Mizuno sensei

Chicago Aikikai Seminar with Kevin Choate sensei

Aikido Shobukan Dojo, Summer Intensive 2000 with M. Saotome and H. Ikeda

Aikido Yoshinkan at Sacramento, Seminar with Amos Lee Parker sensei

Shoulders, Legs & Mouth-Watering Ribs
By Jim Klar

My journey to Chicago for the first annual Kevin Choate Sensei seminar at Chicago Aikikai got off to less than auspicious beginning. After rushing to the airport at 4:00 Friday afternoon, I discovered a bank of storms sweeping in from the west would hold me in Cleveland by keeping my plane on the ground in Baltimore. After spending four hours hanging around the airport, my weekend finally got off the ground.

While this act of God caused me to miss Friday nights training, I refused to miss Friday night's relaxation. Catching up with the Chicago Aikikai gang at John's - no doubt one of the few bars in The Windy City with a locked gate on the door - I managed to enjoy some pizza, beverages and the establishment's unique atmosphere with some of my favorite Aikido people in the Midwest.

Saturday Morning's training was long and confusing, nothing unusual and something I've gotten used to over the years. What was unique was the focus on totally relaxed, non-resistive technique. Admonitions and statements from Choate Sensei like, "Too stiff, way too stiff," and "If I feel my partner's resistance, it's actually my own resistance," were simultaneously confusing yet somewhat enlightening. When I grabbed Sensei's wrist with all my might, it seemed as if he drew me in and then dropped upon me what felt more like a ton of bricks than a human arm. But whenever I tried the same thing, I got locked up in my shoulder.

Choate Sensei demonstrated and explained a method of taking the resistance, the tension that sometimes accumulates in our shoulders, chest and arms and finding a way to drop it lower by relaxing the upper body and opening the hip and knee joints in our legs. Sometimes it actually felt as if I could almost do it myself. Almost.

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of witnessing an Aikido demonstration put on by the members of Chicago Aikikai at the Chicago RibFest's "family stage." I was duly impressed. First by the purity, simplicity and power of the demonstration itself, and second, by the delicious, melt-in-your-mouth barbecued ribs I managed to secure from a nearby vendor. There was no lofty speech about the history and philosophy of Aikido, no unbendable arm tricks, just a simple announcement of the name and location of the dojo and a short, impressive display of technique by its members and instructor while flyers were handed out in the crowd.

One of the more interesting aspects of being an anonymous observer was eavesdropping on the comments of the crowd. They were very impressed, emitting oohs and aaaahs at the appropriate moments, especially when Marsha Turner threw much larger men around like rag dolls. "That little chick kicks ass!" exclaimed one beer-toting rib muncher. Then when Choate Sensei managed, in seiza, to pin no less than four attackers, the crowd erupted in applause.

After the demo, it was back to the dojo for box lunches, a brief period of horizontal meditation on the mat and afternoon class. Again the focus was on relaxation and "fluid movement." Not so much uninterrupted fluid movement but, in Choate Sensei's words, "moving like a fluid." This was no less confusing but equally enlightening as the morning class. Spirals, whirlpools, fluid under pressure in a closed environment were all alluded to in Sensei's explanations and in my confused, muddled mind.

Saturday night's social activities in the beer garden of the Village Tap were certainly up to the precedent established by past Chicago Aikikai Seminars with hearty discussion, fellowship, food and refreshments.

The lasting impression from Sunday's training was the subject of timing. What I understood of Choate Sensei's explanation is that waiting is more important than reacting. And that thinking before moving is almost always a bad idea. At one point, Sensei actually said, "The longer you wait, the more time you have." It doesn't make logical sense but it did work sometimes for me. Sometimes.