What a seminar!

Wow, what a great time I had Saturday at a seminar with Dale! This was his "Back from Japan" seminar and I was really looking forward to getting some good training with him before I head to Japan myself in 3 weeks. Because so many people had said they would be there, he changed the location from the typical Buyu Center to a park just south of the Golden Gate Park in north San Francisco. It was easy for me to find, since it was just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, by the Presidio military installation (which I am VERY familiar with).

The park is actually somewhat 'hidden' behind the row of housing along the north side of Lake Street and I didn't find any actual main entrance. But, all the intersecting streets ended at Lake street and became walk-in entrance points to the park, which ran along the north side on the other side of the houses. So, I found a place to park a few streets away and walked through one of the entrances. I was instantly amazed as the entrance opened up to a panoramic view of a beautiful park landscape, complete with an immense lake, groves of thick trees and well manicured grassy fields. I walked down the winding path and easily found 'the group', which wasn't hard considering they were all wearing black dogi.

What struck me right away was the relatively low number of people - only about 10! There were a few familiar regulars, plus some newer guys I had never met before. It seemed so many people had sudden things come up and had to cancel! At first, I felt bad because we could have used the Buyu Center. But, as I breathed in the wonderful ocean air (we were just off the entrance to the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean) and felt the cool wind and warm sunshine, I felt that we were in the perfect training environment.

A few more people showed up and Dale began his teaching by going over some things he experienced in Japan. One of the things he emphasized was the feeling of 'no-attachment' to any part of the technique. This was important in order to create the effect of not giving your attacker anything to work with, or counter against, yet they are defeated. He also talked alot about breaking down your attacker, which reminded me of a great quote from one of our Japanese Shihans, Nagato sensei, who said "this is not judo. We are not throwing people. We break people and they fall". Although a funny quote, it really defines the root of what this year's training is like. Dale did a great job in showing that very same thing.

We did the usual long sequenced Kukishinden Ryu kata, using the typical right punch, right kick, right punch attack pattern. He talked a bit about how these long sequences were often written down as attacks from multiple attackers, but since training is typically with one partner, they appear like this. The feeling of the techniques had to do almost entirely with taking space, or shape, so that the attacker cannot continue. There were alot of hits, but mostly to only affect the position of the attacker. We did many gyaku waza, primarily wrist or arm controls, but this wasn't the goal of the techniques.

We even did some techniques with the 3' hanbo stick, just to show the continuity of the same principles.

I was fortunate to train with some great people and we learned just as much from each other as we did from Dale. I was feeling very good and I seemed to really catch on quickly to whatever we were doing. It was a good feeling to just 'get it' and do things right, especially when I hear Dale say "good job!" or give me the 'thumbs up'.

One interesting factor in the training was the terrain we were on. The grove we were in had nice, thick green grass, but it was sloped and full of small dips and lumps. This made training interesting, since every move was effected by the varied terrain features. At one point, we laughed at how much 'air' we were getting by throwing our uke downhill! Then, there was the comedy of stepping into a dip and stumbling to catch balance, while still trying to do the technique. It was a safe and challenging environment, but the lessons it provided were invaluable.

It was actually very cool to have such a small number of people. I got to work very closely with Dale. As in previous seminars, I was his uke most of the time and the experience was very rewarding. I really learn by feeling, so to have him use me as his attacker afforded me learning opportunities I would have missed by just watching. Then, to be able to have him spend time correcting my mistakes and pointing out things I missed made for a very productive time for me!

We took several breaks and had some great personal talks. Dale and I walked to a local market and I bought his lunch, which is always something I like to do. The first time I met Dale, I was financially challenged and was not going to be able to afford to come to his seminar. He told me not to worry about paying and just come train. I have never forgotten that and, now that I'm doing comfortably well for myself, am happy to buy his lunch as an expression of my gratitude. With him being a gojudan (15th degree black belt), he certainly doesn't 'need' to be that way, but his spirit of buyu (warrior friendship) and love of budo is stronger than what status he holds within our Bujinkan organization. It is because of this that I am proud to call him my teacher and my friend.

So, now I look forward to sharing what I've learned tomorrow night with my Intel guys. I only hope I can somehow transmit even a small sample of Dale's energy and taijutsu.

Wow... All I can say is wow...