Last night we had about six people show up. A couple of dads and sons, plus my girlfriend and I. We only covered 2 or 3 techniques, but we went over them in immense detail.
We focused mainly on aihanmi wazas. Ikkyo, omote and ura. Timing became a huge factor here as we had to flick our "hand swords" and cut into the technique before being grabbed by the aite. If we let them grasp our wrists, it becomes almost impossible to carry out ikkyo or irminage.
I focused so much on the wrist flick that I would stop and think about the next step. This breaks the flow of motion and allows the opponent to solidfy his grip on us. Instead, we need to move in one fluid motion. Not thinking, just moving through and around the aite.
I typically overthink most everything. This has helped me quite a bit in other areas of life, but usually hinders me in aikido. Although I haven't been going to the dojo that much recently, last night I felt what psychologists call "the flow", a state in which physical and mental activity run smoothly and without conscious effort. I used to feel it more, but lost it sometime ago when I broke from regular training. Was good to know it's still there.
Another point that came to mind after practice was the point of first contact. As soon as I make physical contact with the aite, I know if I will do the waza properly or not. The next 99% of my physical movements will either complete the technique or be an awkward, forced imitation of aikido. It reminded me of a first kiss between two people. When the man first touches the woman, he instantly knows that, yes, I did the right thing, or, no, I made a mistake. Anything after that will continue down two wildly different paths. In romance, we speak of passion and chemistry; in aikido-rhythm and ki, the "harmonious energy".
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I read about flow quiet a bit in my undergrad days, Cziksentmihayli I think was the first to coin the term.
Very closely related to happiness and creativity as well. To quote Yoda, "try not! do!".
At first glance, I thought the name Cziksentmihayli was the result of Reno trying to use a computer. Check my copy of "Emotional Intelligence" and that really is the man's name.
Perhaps its my latent ADD, but I find it difficult to focus on any one thing for too long. I typically have a few things moving around in my head at any one time. Flow is difficult to achieve, let alone maintain.
Japanese in general seem to have a greater ability to look at only one thing. When I walk into Yamada Denki, the song on a 10-second loop drives me batty in under 5 minutes. Hitomi doesn't even hear the music, she only concentrates on which printer cartridge we need.
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