AIKIDO
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Balancing between falling and resisting

Functions of Ukemi

Breakfall can be done in a way that the uke has to fall a really long way from up or brought downwards as close to the ground as possible, to minimize any potential injury when done in a situation outside the dojo. Sometimes dashing ukemi seems to be made just for audience not for protection. This might happen in demonstrations to make the nage look fantastic and thus encourage new students to sign up for classes.

Breakfalls are meant as a way for the uke to provide a situation where his partner can practice the technique fully, without having to change it for safety reasons (in a dojo setting), breakfalling on the street isn't really the issue, though it may come in handy.

Any breakfall is used to protect a part of body from injury. In this kind of 'sacrifice breakfall' you hurl yourself over and further on the ground in order to avoid the wrist damage - hence the sacrifice. The other functions of ukemi, whether rolling, falling, or whatever, are to get back up quickly and safely, and to allow uke to reverse techniques on nage.

Types of controlled falling

Flat breakfall Flat, flapping breakfall comes handy when the space is limited and prevents rolling far. Many people can come down from quite amazing heights. Three principles must be remembered: jaw to the chest, weight on the other side of the body and flap the hand.

Rubber ball ukemi However, as your ability to take ukemi (receive the technique) improves, your arms and legs become like big springs when you roll and breakfall. Instead of just going flat, some people simply appear to bounce when thrown, straight back onto their feet. It's done like normal forward ukemi but right over onto feet again. Only difference is the arm/wrist that nage holds above the mat.

Ki fall Some high-ranking teachers have so much ki that it feels as if you had been caught in a strong gust of wind when you attack them and they throw you. This results a body flying somewhere in mid-air during the throw. However, a lot of this effect comes about from attacking strongly, that is, with a lot of ki, so that nage can throw well.

Normal forward/backward ukemi You don't necessarily have to make a breakfall or fall down to ukemi rolling for making ukemi. The aim of receiving technique (taking ukemi) while training is to come into contact with the ground as smoothly as possible. The purpose of ukemi is to receive energy (UKE "to receive" MI "body") and dissipate that energy in as SAFE a way as possible. The receiving is adequate.

To know instinctively which ukemi is the safest response is allow the body to respond to the direction & flow of the energy. What's the most important is to trust in training that your body will feel and respond to a technique that's happening much faster than the brains ability "to connect the dots" in some pre-defined outcome. Feeling the moment is the point, not depending on thinking about it.

Staying for resisting

Ukemi should always be the last resort. Uke is not there simply to fall for nage; uke is there to let nage know when/where nage is vulnerable. Gauge the amount of "resistance" to the level of the nage. When working with beginners, be careful to "go with the technique" while not moving at all with higher kyu ranks if their techniques don't move your center.

Resisting doesn't mean muscular power. It's a strong, committed attack while keeping balanced center, as nage performs waza. It's keeping an eye towards openings for at first openings for atemi and later when more experienced for counter technique. Muscular resisting isn't quite aikido.

Sometimes it's educative to use muscular resisting. You should only do so when you are in a safe position. Otherwise, nage can just change the technique on you, and the only effort is you falling in a different direction. Be careful especially if you practice with someone who is very inexperienced but strong. Experienced folks are usually better at telling when they should back off to avoid injuring you than others are. Worst injuries came when being a beginner or training with one.

To resist is easy -- both knows what's coming for the most part, after all -- but to help each other learn... that's the key. It's not good to resist at first, while nage is learning the parts of the technique, that just prevents learning, but once nage has "gotten it down" it might be useful for them to try it against some resistance.

Process of falling

On one level, this is a minimum requirement for the study of technique -- one must know how to protect oneself when being thrown. But it is also much more. The practice of ukemi helps us to learn how to be round, to be supple, to follow, to cooperate, to develop a strong structure as we work with the ground, to develop a body which is well connected from the center to the periphery. It helps us to understand what it feels like to be at risk, to be in a compromised position, to trust, and to recover. Being a good uke is a very generous act - in the process we surrender our center to allow our partner to practice.

If in the process of being a good uke we give up our center, it's in the process of being an effective nage that we share our center. As we practice waza or technique, we learn same things as being uke- -how to be round, to be supple, to follow, to cooperate, to develop a strong structure as we work with the ground, to develop a body which is well connected from the center to the periphery. Our movements should be the same regardless of our role. But now our position has changed - - we are in control, in a position of strength, and in a position of responsibility. If we learn our ukemi well, we know what it takes to control not only our own center but our partner's center.

Edited from discussions in
Aikido-l