Q & A with Yamada Sensei

Question #1 :

Yamada Sensei, I am a beginner and I am having problems totally relaxing in order to perform my techniques well. Do you have any suggestions that may help myself and others get over this hurdle? Any advise you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Yamada Sensei : As you know it is very important to maintain a relaxed body and mind during your techniques, but at the same time it's a very difficult thing to do. You have probably been told many times during class by teachers to relax. That is easy to say but it is very difficult to actually teach how to relax because as a teacher you can not actually make the student do it. You have to keep telling yourself to relax throughout your practice.

However, doing the breathing exercises before the class is one way to make yourself relax, and you should keep that feeling during the entire class. I know it's very difficult to do but you have to try. Or even when you feel tense you should stop and loosen up your shoulders or shake your hands and you have to keep reminding yourself to maintain your relaxed position. This is one of the biggest challenges in aikido.

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