Just now, I saw a new video of an Aikido demonstration by Robert Mustard. I mentioned in my last post that I was careless at the end of class. Part of the reason was that I was getting ready to go up to Vancouver for a few days and train with him.
Over the last few weeks, i’ve discovered that crutches are like bicycles. You never forget how to “ride” them.
A few years ago, in Seattle, I was in Aikido class. Towards the end of class, I took a bad ukemi (受け身）and suffered a partial tear of my right achilles tendon. Ukemi is the art of falling safely, practiced very heavily in many martial arts–especially Judo and Aikido. I should add that although I got hurt that time, I have used successfully ukemi in real life, to prevent serious injury when I have fallen. In fact, I actually slipped and fell the other day, taking out my trash as the typhoon was building. The ground was slick and I was favoring my left leg. I lost my footing and instantly did an ukemi. My technique wasn’t perfect, but I was unharmed. A couple years ago, I fell down a few stairs in front of my apartment, holding something in my right hand. I fell to my left side, slapping the ground with my left arm , distributing the fall evenly along the side of my body. I had a small cut on my hand, but I was fine otherwise. I stood up, still holding the stuff in my right hand!
