Linda Eskin's Aikido Blog

Ten Tips for Your First Weapons Class

10 August, 202311 August, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

Weapons work can seem mysterious. There’s additional confusing etiquette and tradition to figure out, and even more new words to learn. Plus there are people swinging sticks at you! It can be a little intimidating. So if you’re thinking about trying weapons classes, but are a little nervous about the whole thing, take heart, you will do just fine.

10 August, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

In deciding who we are, we also decide who we are not. There are important parts of our selves that don’t fit the persona we try to show to the world. But like light and shadow, both make up the whole picture.

What qualities have we set aside? What is available there, that we’ve been afraid to bring out in the open? What gold is hiding in our shadows?

We’ll be using the context of Aikido to explore our shadows in one of Goldberg Sensei’s always intense and transformational Aikido In Focus workshops, “Aikido, Fear, and Freedom,” coming up on September 11, 2011.

I’m looking forward to getting acquainted with my shadow self.

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5 July, 20159 August, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

A decorative image showing a close-up of three wooden training weapons

These weapons are my 3rd kyu / 49th birthday gift to myself. They are from Kingfisher, where you have the option of having them inscribed with any of a zillion words or phrases. I can’t read them, but I hope the bokken, at the top, says spiritual forging, a primary focus in training. The tanto, at the bottom, says kindness, grace, or mercy, a reminder for dealing with attacks of all kinds. The jo, in the middle, says a dream that comes true, which is what Aikido is, for me.

p.s. The jo, the one in the middle, is upside down! Lucky for me Michael just gave me the book “Easy Kanji” for a birthday present. :-)

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Students training at Aikido of San Diego

Ten Tips for Visiting Another Dojo

10 August, 20239 August, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

I love it when aikidoka from other dojos come play with us. It’s fun to meet people from all over the world, and to learn … Read more …

Train as Fast as You Can

3 August, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

One of the things we focused on in Cyril Poissonnet’s class tonight was speed. We worked on training only at a pace where we could … Read more …

A "word cloud," or collage of words related to weapons training in Aikido.

Weapons Words – The Big Picture

13 August, 202331 July, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

Weapons work shares many words with open-hand training, but weapons also have a lot of words of their own. There are a bunch of numbered … Read more …

Tolerating Bullshit

27 July, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

The article “Open-Minded Man Grimly Realizes How Much Life He’s Wasted Listening To Bullshit” on the parody news site, TheOnion.com, begins: “CLEVELAND—During an unexpected moment … Read more …

Facing a Shut Gate

22 August, 201522 July, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

Sensei has announced that there will be an uchi-deshi program at our dojo, beginning in mid-summer [this was in 2011]. You can contact him for details (via the Aikido of San Diego website) if you are interested in participating.

It looks to me like a rare and valuable opportunity to train intensively, deepen one’s understanding of Aikido, learn to teach, test one’s own limits, and discover new possibilities, all under the guidance of a truly gifted teacher.

It also looks to me like a right of passage. Forging, like seeing combat, for a future military officer. A gateway. How one moves from casual student to serious practitioner.

Right now I’m not in a place to walk through that gateway. I don’t know if I ever will be. I hope, maybe, somehow, someday… There’s a little fear and frustration about that. What if I’m not able? What if it’s not there? A sense of loss. And there’s reminding myself that upset from thwarted intention just points to a commitment.

It’s OK, though. There are cracks to peek through, high places where one can see over, and a lot of space to explore on this side of the wall. For now.

—

[Added the next day…] And now I’m seeing that there is more than one gate. Not feeling so stuck on this side. :-)

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Practicing “Low Falls”

20 July, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

High falls, hard falls, break falls… Just the names conjure up tension. I have fun practicing them, and am improving (softer/safer). But I also end … Read more …

5 July, 201511 July, 2011 by Linda Eskin - Grab My Wrist

As usual, here’s my exam video. You can watch it here, or go to YouTube (where you can post comments, if you like):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tin-jzgLmWI&hd=1
This link goes to the HD version – probably best watched full-screen. If you have a slower connection, change to one of the lower-res versions.

Feedback (which I know will be constructive, even if it’s critical!) is welcome. I’m pretty happy with how I did, but of course can see lots of things to work on for next time.

I figure now that I have 4 exam videos, they deserve their own playlist. So here it is, starting at 6th kyu (in case you have nothing better to do). LOL http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0F5D81895C5E5A30

My 6th kyu exam has around 9,500 views so far. Every month or two I get a nice comment from someone who’s been encouraged in some way by my exam videos (usually a new student who is freaking out about taking their first test, as I was). One of my favorite comments came in a few hours ago, and just made my day:

“You’re amazing, Linda-sama. I started train Aikido last week, but before – I had lot of doubts: if I am too old, people are bad, everything will be bad. I’m waiting about two years for my first train. But i taste it, and became addicted of this art. Thank you, for recording. Good luck! (sorry about my english)”

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

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Linda Eskin — Writing About Aikido Since 2009