Full-immersion

Full-immersion
Keep Going, Keep your Center, Keep your Balance


by Greg Corbin, Multnomah Aikikai

Summer Camp was held in San Francisco this year, and I couldn’t attend.  Ever since my first, and so far only, summer camp two years ago in Forest Grove near Portland Oregon, I’ve wanted to go again.  The full-immersion in Aikido, the level of instruction, the intensity of training, and the diversity of aikidoka with which to train is something one can only experience at summer camp.  I left that summer camp exhausted and invigorated at the same time, and recommitted to my practice.  So I have been sad to miss summer camp each year since.

But this year our dojo did something new.  Our instructors brought summer camp back to those of us who couldn’t attend.  Over the course of a week each of our instructors held special classes at which they presented some of what they had seen and learned at summer camp.  Examples include:

a) Fleshler Sensei’s classes on morotedori variations from Miyamoto Sensei’s class at summer camp, and on katadori shomenuchi variations from Naini Sensei’s class at summer camp (see video links below).

b) Van Amburg Sensei’s classes on katadori and katatedori ikkyo to kokyuho from Miyamoto Sensei’s class at summer camp (video link below).

c) Scollard Sensei’s class that included a demonstration of sutemi waza. Alonzo Sensei demonstrated sutemi waza at summer camp (video link below).

 Each of the six classes I attended was a mix of familiar and new.  Familiar were the faces on the mat, and the foundations of the techniques.  New were the presentations of the techniques, because they were emulating the approach of the teachers at summer camp, and in some cases the techniques themselves.  There also was a “feeling” of summer camp in the air.  The classes each vibrated at a higher frequency.  The energy was evident and the tanning intense.  And it was this aspect of these classes that left the greatest impression on me, even more so that the technical presentations and new techniques, though those were great too.

It was that sense of full-immersion that felt most like summer camp to me.  And in that full-immersion, and the exhaustion and fatigue that comes from that type of training, I caught a glimpse of a new, and a very martial, lesson.  How do you keep going, keep your center, and keep your balance, when your body is telling you it can’t keep going?  The lesson is no longer physical.  I think it’s about your spirit and how you approach each encounter.  It’s about making the experience on the mat as real as possible.  And I think that is something we can bring to our practice every day.

Summer camp is unique, no doubt, but these days of training at our dojo also demonstrated that we don’t need to leave the lesson of summer camp behind.  We can bring them home and practice them every day.  I can’t wait for the next summer camp, but I also can’t wait for my next class here at home. 

Greg D. Corbin, Multnomah Aikikai

Video and photo links below...

Biran blog: http://birankai.org/blog/

Miyamoto Sensei video: http://birankai.org/blog/?p=303
Naini Sensei video: http://birankai.org/blog/?p=323
Alonzo Sensei video: http://birankai.org/blog/?p=303

Biran YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/biranonline.

Photos of Birankai North America 2013 Summer Training Camp:
http://birankai.smugmug.com/Seminars/2013-Summer-Camp/30366536_7Lnbpr#!i=2630042318&k=226Jkq6