Weekend Seminar with Sensei Guenter Heck from Berlin:

What a great start to our year! Instead of our traditional training weekend at the end of Orientation Week, we were treated instead to a weekend of training with 4th dan instructor and President of the German Aikido Federation, Guenter Heck.

Starting on Friday evening, he brought his own light, jovial style of teaching to bear on the class making everyone from seasoned yudansha to beginners with 3 weeks experience feel comfortable and included. He emphasised the importance of tai sabaki - clear body movements - and returned time and time again to the need for precision whether one practiced in tachi-waza (standing technique) or hanmi-handachi waza (one partner kneeling) or suwari-waza (both partners kneeling). It is a testament to his experience that even complicated and sometimes scary techniques like koshi-nage (hip throw) were dealt with in a manner that everyone on the mat felt comfortable enough to try them.

On Saturday morning there was a beginners' only session focussing on the basic body movements and rolling. However, as is usual for an aikido session, even at this session some of the senior grades joined in to the benefit both of themselves and of the beginners. Thereafter 2 more sessions followed leaving those of us who trained exhausted but happy to have the opportunity to spend such quality time on the mat.

On Sunday morning we had a special bokken (wooden sword) session. Sensei Heck holds a dan grade in iaido and it is clear that his familiarity with the katana (sword) has had an influence on the precision of his aikido.

One final exhortation that stands out for me from this weekend was the reminder from O-Sensei that Aikido should be practiced by considerate people, that it must be effective in its execution and that it should equally be elegant to watch. Sensei Heck's fluid style embodied all three of thos principles.






You can see some more pix of the training at http://picasaweb.google.com/ghalib.galant/SeminarMarch2007 . Also if you have any thoughts you would like to share about your own experience of training on the Weekend seminar, please email me at ghalib.galant@gmail.com