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Our long-time friend and mentor, Nick Lowry was interviewed by Martial Arts Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Way to go, Nick! You can read part two of the article here. 
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Our long-time friend and mentor, Nick Lowry was interviewed by Martial Arts Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Way to go, Nick! You can read part one of the interview here.  Congratulations, Heather, on getting interviewed by Martial Arts of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow! You can read the interesting article where Heather talks about her martial arts career here.  Long time friend David Russell was interviewed recently on Martial Arts of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow about his experiences learning aikido under Karl Geis. The interesting article can be read here: Interview with Longtime Karl Geis Student David Russell: His Time with Geis  Our friend and mentor Tim Larson was interviewed recently on Martial Arts of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow about his experiences on how the Tomiki system of aikido evolved under Karl Geis. The interesting article can be read here: https://maytt.home.blog/2022/09/21/interview-with-kihara-aikido-instructor-timothy-larson-a-personal-look-at-karl-geis/  I was recently asked if we post our rank requirements for promotion. I have uploaded them to the Class Information page, but you can also download them here. As you might notice, it's fairly easy to build your skills to earn your black belt with regular practice. We do not have tests, as such. Rather, our philosophy is that when you are doing a demonstration for promotion, it is a demonstration of skills you have already shown us you have mastered. You have already earned your rank. But, it is good practice for getting over stage fright, building confidence, and celebrating your hard work. We never charge for promotions. You have come to class, participated, learned skills, and formed lasting bonds of friendship. You have earned your rank for yourself. Enjoy your rewards! We are proud of you!  ...they lose all power over you. Once upon a time, I had a boss who loved to intimidate everyone around him. He was on a horrible ego trip - even threatening in a meeting to fire anyone who didn’t smile in his presence. Of course, the reason no one smiled around him was because he wasn’t a nice person to be around. Go figure. One day, I was sitting at my computer at work minding my own business when he stepped into my office. He was on one of his power trips again. He looked me square in the eyes and announced I must think I’m pretty tough because I’m a black belt and teach aikido, but I shouldn’t think that because he took karate when he was younger. It was one of the most ridiculous statements I’d ever heard. There were so many assumptions and fallacies in what he was saying. I thought to myself, “Ok. Fine. Whatever. I’m trying to do my job and I have no idea what you’re on about, but I’m going to get back to work,” and proceeded to ignore him. Evidently, this was not the reaction he was expecting. Next thing I knew, he said, “What would you say if I did this?” and proceeded to punch the metal filing cabinet next to him. I nonchalantly answered, “I would say it looked like it hurt,” and went back to my work as he went off in a huff. It was hard to not bust up laughing at his antics while wondering if he broke any bones. I was reminded that being calm and indifferent to his attempts to control me took all the power away from his intended intimidations. When you don’t care about the bullies, they can’t control your emotions or your life and they go on to find other targets and leave you alone. Being a martial artist has taught me the self-confidence, inner calmness, and patience to not allow others to get under my skin the way they were able to before I started. It has been incredibly powerful and brought me peace and tranquility within myself in a way I didn’t know was possible. As a result, I encounter fewer bullies in the first place. I hope the same is true for you.  Why don't we use pain compliance in our Aikido? by Heather Gawlick I've seen so many times on the Internet and heard so many people in person argue that you can defeat any opponent using pain compliance. They say if it isn't working, you just need to hurt the other person more. Then it will work. Pain compliance uses the philosophy of performing joint locks or other holds using so much force and pressure the other person is physically hurt. The assumption is because of pain, uke will stop attacking, take a fall, or otherwise do what you want in order to get you to stop injuring them. I see so many problems with this philosophy. Where do I begin? First off, no one can invoke pain in every other person out there every time. Sure, a skilled practitioner can hit hard and fast enough to inflict pain on a large number of people. But, relying on pain over off-balance seems foolish to me. I've met plenty of Judoka whose wrists are like tree trunks. There's no way to reliably create torque in such a fashion as to cause them pain. If you did, many of these same fellows would laugh at your gaping jaw as they tossed you over their shoulder because they simply don't care if they are injured. There are also those who are so incredibly flexible pain isn't inflicted until the joint is close to breaking. (Just ask my student we nicknamed "Bendy Guy.") Pain is not a reliable weapon or method of control. Secondly, while some people are very skilled at hurting others in this fashion, I just don't understand why you would want to do this repeatedly in class to someone you claim is your friend. At the very least, you are causing repetitive stress injuries in your partners and classmates. All it takes is one careless or over-zealous mistake to permanently hurt someone. Why would you do that to a friend? Conversely, what kind of a friend treats you like this class after class? It goes against everything budo and comradery stand for. Aikido is famous for being an art of compassion, so why taint it with injuring one another? Ueshiba is quoted as saying, "To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace." This should remain our goal. Lastly, it seems to me those who discuss this tactic are so focused on inflicting pain, they've missed sight of the bigger picture and the real power of Aikido. True Aikido moves start with taking the opponent's balance. If you don't have the balance, there is no reason for uke to do anything except continue to attack you. If you have the balance, they become putty in your hands and you have complete control over their whole body - not just one joint or limb. It's much more powerful to throw the complete person to the earth than to simply break a joint. Watch a few videos of Karl Geis and you'll see what I mean. The whole philosophy of pain compliance seems very shortsighted. So, please be kind to each other. Throw the pain compliance out the window. It's unnecessary. Throw your whole partner instead. It's so much more fun to watch them launch across the room whilst neither partner feels a thing. At the end of the class, no one is hurt physically or emotionally. Aikido should be about skills and fun - not bullying.  Why do we have to practice our Aikido so slowly all the gosh-darned time? by Heather Gawlick Slooooower... Slooooower... Slooooower... But, sensei, it's not as much fun! Slooooower... Slooooower... Slooooower... Awwwwwhhhhhh... Maaaaaaaan! This conversation repeats itself every class. I chuckle as my students complain. Sure, it's tons of fun to go fast. I totally get it. While there are certainly times when valuable lessons occur at high speeds, the majority of class should be performed slowly. The most obvious reason is safety. We have a stellar track record for our lack of injuries, and we would like to keep it that way. When partners work slowly, they have a chance to let each other out of a potential danger prior to it becoming a terminal problem with damaging consequences. Another practical reason is it is simply not nice to exhaust your partner. People like taking a few big falls sometimes for fun, but most people don't want to spend the entire hour and a half going full force and wearing themselves out. If you are constantly going full speed, your partner is going to resent being worn out from throws and sore from cranking down on joint locks too often. No one will want to work with you if they are always worried about becoming injured or being exhausted. There is also the problem of working faster than your brain can keep up with all the data being thrown its way. When you always work at fast speeds, you simply cannot observe all the details and intricacies of all the movements. The subtleties get lost in the blur of movement. When you slow down, you start to realize all the tiny corrections needing to be made in your motions and the off-balance points (or lack thereof) in your partner. This is critical for advancing your understanding of the art. Aikido is all about off-balance and subtle movements. Miss those, and you miss 90% of Aikido. When you practice slowly, you become more sensitive to the nuances in your own body and in your partner's. When my students complain I'm not teaching them how to do randori at a super high level (you know who you are!), I tell them they need to practice slower so they can feel what's going on. When I watch super high-ranked players do Aikido, what sets them apart from the rest of the crowd is they are able to feel super subtle movements both in themselves and in others. The only way I know how to learn that skill is to spend many, many mat hours going very slowly. That is when the magic finally starts to happen. People I see who always work hard and fast never seem to make that next leap into the land of magic. So, yes, it is lots of fun to go fast and hard. It is even a good idea to learn what happens to your Aikido when you do. But, in my opinion, if you want to learn the real 'voodoo,' you have to slow it down a few notches in your regular practice. Slooooower... Slooooower... Slooooower... No. I mean slower than that. Slower than Tai Chi speed. Slooooower... Slooooower... Slooooower... Now, you're talking!  Does all this Aikido stuff work? by Heather Gawlick I've been asked more times than I can count whether or not all this Aikido stuff actually works. People always want to know if I've ever had to use it in real life. Yes. Yes, when I needed it, Aikido worked very nicely. Many times. Even when I was underweight and a timid green belt. Even when I didn't know why it was working. Even when I didn't "do" Aikido deliberately. I always try not to laugh when people look back at me in shock and a bit of horror with my frankness about having lived through some rough experiences they don't expect and can't relate to. Yes, it's true. I've not had as quiet and happily secure a life as most of my current students and neighbors. Better than the times when Aikido has worked for me when I needed it were the times when the confidence I'd gained made it unnecessary. One example is the time I thwarted a potential date rapist by contemplating the Judo move I was going to use to skewer him with the legs of my coffee table. Something about the look in my eye and the calm question, "Are you sure you want to do that?" made him think twice and leave without saying a word. I'm much more proud of that moment than any of the times I actually had to use physical means to defend myself. How many women can say they prevented getting raped with a look? The next question people usually ask is, "Well, didn't you say you studied Tae Kwon Do way back when?" Yes. "Didn't it work for you?" No. Then they are really surprised. The truth is the two arts are very different from each other. I really didn't study Tae Kwon Do very long, so I'm not at all an expert. However, I see a big philosophical difference between the kicking/punching-type arts and the way we study Aikido, Judo, and Jodo. From my perspective, those other arts focus on using strength, speed, and force to outdo an opponent. Most of my life has been spent being an underweight, short, not-particularly-strong female. Most of my opponents were tall, muscular, overbearing males. They weren't fair fights regardless whether they were in or out of the dojo. Now, I'm overweight and have medical problems. I can't say I've increased my odds of outpunching or outkicking someone. This is the main weakness I see in those offensive styles. In order to be really good, you need to be super-dedicated, super-fit, and super-man. This is great for a subset of the population and there are some extraordinary athletes (of both genders) out there doing incredible things. Just look at any YouTube video. What about the rest of us? How can someone claim to teach self-defense to regular people if their system requires so much more than regular people are willing or able to achieve? Here's where our stuff comes into play. We specialize in teaching regular and sometimes disabled people (and yes, even sometimes supermen/women) how to defend themselves. Our techniques are effective even when done incorrectly by beginners. Those who stick around and advance to higher levels learn some incredible stuff, but it's not mandatory in order for our Aikido to work as a self-defense art. Because of my not-so-fairy-tale background, I prefer to teach the regular person how to defend themselves regardless of agility and ability. I think it is pretty cool I can teach even people with bad backs, club hands, and low self-esteem how to move in a way to keep them safe in an emergency. Because what we do doesn't require any strength at all, it works beautifully for regular non-superman-type people. Better yet, I love watching people grow. I love helping someone who is scared of their own shadow (like me when I started) turn into someone with true confidence and an inner feeling of self-worth. I love watching someone transform from a skeptic (like me when I started) into someone who knows in their bones if something bad were to happen they don't have to panic. They have the tools to stand up for themselves and maybe it won't work 100% of the time (because nothing does), but there is power in not handing yourself over to be a victim. So, yes, I would have to say I believe the Aikido I teach really works in the real world because I've actually used it myself and have listened to many stories of others vouching for our system. More importantly, I would say it changes people and teaches them confidence in very unique ways in a safe environment surrounded by loving friends.  What does it mean to earn your black belt? by Heather Gawlick We celebrated watching one of our students earn his Shodan (first-degree black belt) this week. It was incredible to watch him transform from the first day he stepped foot in the dojo. He has truly learned a great deal in a relatively short amount of time. He has changed from an unsure white belt to a fully qualified instructor. It is not just his growth, either. The dojo has changed since he started. He stuck with us through the days of no mats, grungy floors, and unpredictable room arrangements. He has watched some people come and some go. He has helped teach them all. He supported us when we organized visits for master teachers. As a true friend, he was honest with us when we needed to consider making changes and improvements. Some people think becoming a black belt means you've mastered a martial art and there is nothing left to learn. That is a very sad misperception causing them to leave prematurely. To me, earning your Shodan means you have just arrived at a place where you can actually start to learn. You have been around long enough to have weathered the ups and downs of the seasons of change occurring in every dojo and probably outlasted others along the way. You have decided (consciously or otherwise) this is a way of life. You have learned this skill in your bones. It has become a part of you. You now move differently. You now have a glowing inner confidence you didn't possess before. You have trusted others with your life and others have trusted you with theirs. You are empowered with the love of the dojo. You have learned that teaching is a part of learning. Questions lead to reflections and experiments. They are not inconveniences or annoyances. They are critical to fully understanding why and how things work. You now know the basic movements, motions, and falls. You are now ready to learn some of the exciting stuff: the higher-level skills of off-balance and controlling others' bodies as you perfect how your body moves through time and space. The techniques you thought were impossible are now within your grasp and you have the confidence to try them. You have stuck around long enough to become a member of the club of people who make this a permanent part of their lives. There are no former black belts. You are a black belt. You will always be a black belt. You are now ready to start the real learning and transformation of your life. Welcome to the club, my friend. You did great!  |
AuthorHeather and Roy Gawlick love Aikido and have a passion for sharing it with others. They hope you'll catch the Aikido bug, too! Archives
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YMCA of Southwest Washington - 766 - 15th Avenue, Longview, WA 98632
(360) 998 - 0749 - [email protected]
(360) 998 - 0749 - [email protected]
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