Focusing on Tenouchi tonight both Suburi and Uchikomi.
大強速軽 - Dai_kyō_soku_kei - Large_Strong_Fast_Light
Wednesday keiko reflection for beginners & Kyu grades - by Janet
Tonight’s keiko emphasis was about getting the correct grip on completing a strike called “Tenouchi” or literally “inside of the hand” in order to achieve a good & crispy strike.
During Kamae, we need to semi-relax our hands around the Shinai handle almost feel like we are holding a baby bird or an egg within palm of hands without squeezing it too hard to break it.
Then concentrate mostly on the left side we raise the Shinai by raising the shoulders until the Shinai tip is at 45 degrees over head & we can just see the opponent from beneath the handle.
Execute the strike by concentrating on the left, rotate & drop down the shoulder swiftly using gravity & the natural weight of the whole left arm & Shinai combined until our elbow is just below the level of the heart or chest (for Men strikes) or at the level of the belly button (for Kote & Do strikes). The momentum is then transferred from the elbow to the forearm as we straighten our arms forwardly.
When this motion is done correctly, not much muscular tension should be required & we should naturally feel a forward momentum almost like we want to throw the Shinai away forwardly but our hand got stuck on the handle so we’re being pulled along with it. This will naturally help to straighten & pull our left & right arms forward.
Then just as the Shinai comes into contact with the target, extend the wrists forwardly while both hands grip tighter on the last second (mainly with the thumb, middle, ring & little finger) almost like we are wringing or squeezing a towel dry vertically on the handle. When this is done correctly, the Shinai tip will naturally bounce up slightly at end of motion like a recoil.
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During Kakari-geiko, we must try our best to keep going without losing the Ki or energy. Therefore, we need to better control our breathing.
We can maximise our breathing by taking deep breaths when we raise our shoulders just prior to striking (as this will naturally help our inspiration by lifting the rib cage & increasing the thoracic volume).
Unlike in Uchikomi-geiko, we don’t need to say “Ya——“ prior to each strike as this will interrupt our continuous Kiai & cause the loss of Ki & momentum.
We just need to keep maintaining good continuous Kiai during each consecutive strikes without a break. The purpose of this is to learn to better regulate our Ki & get used to producing good Kiai while physically exerting ourselves to the max.
Thank you Marleen & Sam sensei for your teachings today. I tried my best to explain how I’ve understood it but unsure if any discrepancies so please make corrections or add more as required🙏🙏🙏
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