Take away points

A skill that I haven't developed, but that I need to work on is being able to condense a seminar into a handful of concrete pointers to apply to my practice. Jack Bieler of Denton Aikido is great at this. Usually I leave seminars and clinics physically and mentally wiped out and unable to tell you what I learned. Over the course of the weeks following a seminar I begin to sort through the material as I come back to it in my regular practice. I have instances of realization like, "Hey, that's like what Henry was talking about when he said..." If I were to try to make a list of takeaway points for this past Henry seminar, they'd be...

• jo man never stops moving long enough to effect a technique on the sword man.
• the kokyunage in gokata feel very aiki to me. These are worth some regular practice...
• on iriminage, get the offbalance and let uke fall into orbit instead of trying to pull him
• the gokata ryotedori techniques represent a chain of backup techniques for failed attempts