Many of us in class have great difficulty following. Following (or uke-mi, the art of uke) in my opinion, is of grave importance.

Sensei described it so well today: it is the way of moving so you're almost one step ahead of the person performing the art. You move in such a way that he has no way of knowing whether it is him or you that's moving. Reminded me of dancing, by the way..

Because we are predisposed to not extending ki, and also have been cut-off from knowledge of how ki works, then I believe that regaining this know-how is of utmost importance! So, I arrived at the conclusion that what is needed in the syllabus for ki-aikido is not more doing (albeit trying to do things differently through ki), but less doing and more following. Of course, following is a form of doing as well, just an active receiving doing. But we don't know this when we start out!!

So, have the senior belts just practise practise practise on the juniors, and to keep throwing them and working on them till they've mastered the art of the uke. THEN we can worry about the doing.

Of course, as Ai Wei astutely pointed out (which I also concluded), you'd probably not find any students at all.

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