After the Igarashi Shihan seminar, some of us relocated and practiced more what we had been shown. We had only been show Aikido methods and nagare, not actual A-Z techniques, so we practiced those exercises. We started with taisabaki using our shoulder blades first. This was so we could get used to using this underutilized muscle group.

Next, we remembered what he showed us a year ago and we practiced those exercises too. Again, it was a treatment in the essentiality of learning how to use our opposite muscles when meeting force. These were exercises where we pushed aite against a wall and he had to redirect your static energy.

The subject of the ‘unbendable arm’ came up. We tried that too just for something different. Yes, the unbendable are is strong indeed. I was wondering how one could use the ‘opposite muscles’ to bend that which is unbendable. It turns out that we could apply what Igarashi Sensei had taught here too. We reasoned that by being rigid, the aite is using yin. In order to balance this with yang, we would need to be soft.

The key to bending his arm lies in your shoulder. If the aite has his wrist on your shoulder, then you are opposing your own efforts to bend his arm. Your shoulder is connected through your spinal column, down your legs, and to the ground (very rigid). How can you resist the Earth? Somehow you need to remove your shoulder from pushing up as you pull down. If you can do this, then your aite had nothing to secure himself against while you bend his arm (with even just kokyu power).

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