Misogi ideas

I've been thinking lately about introducing a little bit of misogi training into our morning classes. Nothing extraordinary, mind you. Ten minutes, maybe, max, and then back to regular class. The question became, then, how?

Here's a few thoughts I've had so far:

Uchi komi

This is about the best idea I've had for doing a misogi practice when it comes to judo. I would say, take a basic throw, probably osoto gari and get into pairs. The first guy loads it up about 19 times and throws on the 20th. Then it's the other guy's turn. Repeat ad nauseam. For this, I would involve some counting, probably in Japanese. I don't know if I would have one person doing it, or everyone, or maybe just the tori?

Tegatana no kata

The walking kata is probably the most obvious choice for aikido. It's already done as a group and involves counting. We could just keep doing it over and over, 5 or 6 or more times. Maybe have everyone count instead of just one person?

Rolling breakfalls

Since a couple of people have been asking me about ukemi lately, I thought replicating my own experience might be nice (or cruel, depending upon how you look at it). I think I would take both blue crash pads and put them side by side. We'd form a line on the south end of the right mat. The first guy rolls, gets up, and steps over to the north end of the left pad and does a roll there (on his other side). Then he goes back to the end of the original line. Whenever one person has cleared the pad, the next person rolls. Keep going until everyone's legs have turned to rubber.

Really, any ukemi could be used here.

Releases

I don't know that you could do these in unison, but you could still pair up and pick just one release at a time, and have each person do the same release, alternating sides, over and over for a short period. Then, change partners and do the same. The, possibly, move on to the next release (if I did this, I think I would keep it to the first four).

Pick a jodo kihon

Fairly self-explanetory, I think. The first one, shomen uchi, would be a great place to start. Your shoulders would definitely be screaming by the end of it, but I guess that's part of the point, isn't it?

. . . . . . . . . . .

One definite overall rule would be "no talking, no teaching." Only silence, except for those counting. Something Lowry Sensei referred to as a Buddhist concept called "noble silence." It invokes a sense of meditation, or reverence, that I think is critical to the process.

The one thing that makes me hesitate is the presence of newer students (say, white or green belt). I don't want to scare them off, or make them think that this is a regular part of training. In fact, I noticed that some schools only allow intermediate and advanced students to participate and only permit new students if they more or less beg and plead.

I'm not sure when I'll do it, either. Maybe I'll wait until I have a good size class filled with mostly intermediate and advanced students. Or maybe, I'll make a bit more of a production out of it, like with kangeiko and shochugeiko, in the form of a special training session. I don't know. I'll play it by ear and see how things unfold. Regardless, I'll definitely post the results.