{"id":4568,"date":"2020-02-10T09:58:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T09:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodvale.com\/?p=4568"},"modified":"2020-02-10T09:58:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T09:58:35","slug":"ki-aikido-natural-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/ki-aikido-natural-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ki Aikido – Natural Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sensei Eileen Honeybun<\/strong> has been teaching a Japanese Aikido form in the village of Winsham for 28 years. Fergus Byrne<\/strong> has been to meet her.<\/p>\n

In the Jubilee Hall in Winsham in South Somerset, with its impressive high ceiling, oak floor and beautiful wooden ceiling arch, Sensei Eileen Honeybun stands about four feet apart from one of her students, Jacco Toornent. They each hold one end of what in Aikido terms is known as a \u2018Jo\u2019; a wooden stick that looks not unlike a short curtain pole. With a movement not immediately apparent to the naked eye, Sensei Eileen uses the \u2018Jo\u2019 as a conduit to deliver enough energy to make Jacco tumble to the floor. He rolls elegantly across the specially designed rubber matting and springs to his feet. It\u2019s a dramatic moment that is hard to comprehend. I can\u2019t help but blurt out \u2018What just happened?\u2019 Eileen and Jacco smile. After so many years practising the Japanese art of Ki Aikido they know that an explanation, though perhaps simple to them, may be incomprehensible to those of us with little knowledge of their art.<\/p>\n

Sensei Eileen has been teaching Aikido at the Jubilee Hall in Winsham for 28 years. Before that she had a class in Chard and prior to that practised in Seaton. Although elegance and grace go hand in hand with its highly choreographed and stylish movement\u2014using the natural energy in our bodies\u2014Aikido was the furthest thing from Eileen\u2019s mind when she was growing up. She was born with back problems that were further exacerbated by an accident on a trampoline when she was thirteen.<\/p>\n

\u2018It turns out that I was born with a problem with my spine\u2019 she explains. \u2018So I hated sports. My Grandad used to carry me to school because it hurt my legs so much to walk.\u2019 After she \u2018jack-knifed\u2019 on the trampoline things got progressively worse and by the time she was a young mother an orthopaedic surgeon told her the most energetic thing she would ever do would be to read a book. When she asked the surgeon, who would look after her children, he simply answered, \u2018Not you\u2019.<\/p>\n

At the suggestion of her sister\u2019s husband she began learning about Kiatsu which is the healing art that goes with Aikido. As even that required a certain amount of physical input she hated it at first, but in time, expanding to Aikido practise, she began to see extraordinary changes. \u2018It\u2019ll all based on circular movements\u2019 she explained \u2018very beautiful, almost like dancing.\u2019 After a while her back pain eased and bit by bit, thanks to Kiatzu from her head of the Federation, as well as practise, she says she is now totally pain free. \u2018Best of all, I am also free of the fear of hurting my back\u2019 she says. \u2018That had ruled me for years.\u2019<\/p>\n

Designed around simple principles that use the power of the mind along with the body\u2019s natural energy, or \u2018Ki\u2019 which literally means \u2018Life Force\u2019, Aikido originated from the ancient Japanese art of Aikijutsu. Aikido however is known as a softer less aggressive form which doesn\u2019t encourage striking an opponent; instead blending with their movements to dissipate an attack. In the art of Ki Aikido there is no aggression, tension or competition. Classes are suitable for all levels of fitness and may be practised equally by men and women of any size, age or ability. According to the Ki Aikado Federation, the purpose of the practise is to learn to co-ordinate mind and body through enjoyable exercise.<\/p>\n

Jacco Toornent, one of Eileen\u2019s students has just passed his second Dan grading. He spoke about the \u2018Ki\u2019 element of their form. \u2018I think the best way of explaining the Ki side of things is where a person is tense and the opposite force is tense – then you create a fight. With Aikido you don\u2019t want to fight. What you want is that energy to move on. So what you do is you blend in, and by blending in, the person can\u2019t resist it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Although the form practised with Sensei Eileen is softer now, even than when she first began, Jacco\u2019s background in the Royal Dutch KCT Special Forces has seen him in what he described as some tricky situations. \u2018It\u2019s saved my life really\u2019 he says, speaking of his earlier Aikido training. \u2018In the forces you do tend to have to defend yourself. I\u2019ve had a fair few close calls and being able to defend myself did save my life.\u2019<\/p>\n

However both Jacco and Sensei Eileen are keen to point out that Ki Aikido is not necessarily a martial art.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to describe it properly explains Eileen. \u2018People ask is it a martial art and no it\u2019s not, it\u2019s a Japanese art. They want to know is it self-defence and no we certainly don\u2019t advertise it as self-defence. And yet it\u2019s the greatest self-defence you can have – defence against the self. Eileen says it breaks down all your old habits and bad attitudes. She confided that she had always been a worrier. \u2018I would worry about everything and anything endlessly until I practised this\u2019 she said. \u2018When you get to what\u2019s known as green belt you\u2019re doing your second test, which is the worry test. You learn not to react to something that hasn\u2019t happened yet. So bit by bit I\u2019ve now learned not to worry. Strangely it took me a very long time to learn to pass my second test, because that was my problem. Now it\u2019s very rare I even catch myself beginning to worry.\u2019<\/p>\n

Being rural, Winsham Aikido Club is small which allows more time for individual training. Members work in pairs. \u2018It\u2019s not a competition\u2019 she says \u2018two people are working together to perfect an exercise. You\u2019re both trying to help each other get it right. You\u2019re testing the exercise rather than testing each other.\u2019<\/p>\n

The club has recently enjoyed a double celebration. Jacco passed his second Dan grading at the December Christmas course, held in the Headquarters of the Ki Federation of Great Britain in Mark, Somerset. And another club member, John Speirs, after 20 years of practice, was awarded 6th Dan by the Federation\u2019s President, Sensei Margaret Williams.<\/p>\n

Sensei Eileen said, \u2018I\u2019m immensely proud of them both; their grades are well deserved and concludes a great year for our Club\u2019.<\/p>\n

Classes for juniors (age 12+) and adults are held in the Jubilee Hall, Winsham every Monday 18:30 \u2013 20:30 and Thursday 19:30 \u2013 21:30.<\/p>\n

For further information contact Eileen on 01297 34255 and for further information about Ki Aikido visit the federation\u2019s website at www.kifederationofgreatbritain.co.uk<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sensei Eileen Honeybun has been teaching a Japanese Aikido form in the village of Winsham for 28 years. Fergus Byrne has been to meet her. In the Jubilee Hall in Winsham in South Somerset, with its impressive high ceiling, oak floor and beautiful wooden ceiling arch, Sensei Eileen Honeybun stands about four feet apart from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-4568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","tag-fergus-byrne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}