Aikido basics

• Tenkan
• Irimi
• Tenshin
• Arms move vertically
• Hips and legs create horizontal motion
• Uke practices ukemi so they can eventually take full force of the throw so both nage and uke can learn the technique.

Hanmi - fwd leg bent and rear leg straight

Ura beginning stretch - uke keep facing fwd the whole time

Don't focus on uke's hand during attack; look at his whole body. Otherwise your movement will be small instead of big; Big is good. Think of where you want to end up and then concentrate on getting there.

Tenkans

When doing tenkan, do not lean into tenkan; you must remain upright. You shouldn't see the side walls when you are tenkaning; only in front of you and then in back of you.

Methods of doing tenkans:

• Left foot fwd and arms extended out in front: lower your arms, pivot on your feet to your rt and then raise your arms as you are facing the opposite direction.
• Left foot fwd and arms extended: move as above and then withdraw your right leg after you have turned 180 degrees to your new direction.
• From rt hanmi, take a step fwd with your left foot and then tenkan as above.

Hanmi: stand with feet shoulder width apart. Pivot 90 degrees to your rt. You are now in proper hanmi; a line drawn from your front foot will intersect with the heel of your rear left foot, which is pointed at a 45 degree angle. Your front leg should be bent and your rear leg should be straight.

Toystoy hanmi: stance at end of your throw. Your feet are both pointing fwd and are shoulder width apart.

When you throw, make sure your feet are in the correct position before you throw. You don't want to have to adjust your feet after you have thrown; this wastes power; this prevents you from throwing from a strong base. Make sure you bring uke in front of you, so you are facing uke when you throw.

When you throw in general, push off your back leg and move your front leg forward (and if applicable turn your center). Moving your front leg fwd lowers your center and thus transmits the weight of your center downward.

Kokyo dosa: Uke and nage are pushing opposite eachother. Nage changes direction of his motion by bringing his hands palm up and then corkscrewing in. This brings uke's elbows up. Nage straightens his arms and pushes against uke's shoulders if necessary. Keeping his arms straight, nage pushes uke over by moving his hips forward. When uke loses his balance, nage raises on his toes and continues pushing uke over.

Backward rolling: keep your hands around your knees and straighten your legs as you roll back; both actions give you added momentum when rolling back up to your knee.

Hitoe iriminage - bring your hand to the top of your head (touch your forehead), your elbow can extend accross uke's center; touch shoulders.

katate tori iriminage tenshin - when you step back tenshin with your left foot, that foot should move to the left side just enough so that your

forward rt foot is "on the line" or a little to your left of the line. This will let you turn uke so he is not facing you when you do irimi. I kept

ending up in Gesa's face tonite when I did irimi.

Hanmi - fwd leg bent and rear leg straight

Ura beginning stretch - uke keep facing fwd the whole time

When throwing uke forward, be sure to move his body around so he is in front of you before you do the throw. This both unbalances him and brings him in line with your power.

When doing shihonage breakfall, move your inside leg towards direction of throw at the last minute.

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