Martial skills for EMS

Tonight as I sit here admittedly whining about the vaccinations I got today making my arms ache, I'm contemplating gentle submission techniques to present to EMT students tomorrow. Our lead instructor has police and SWAT experience with a lot of very "real world" stress testing. That noted, I'm coming up with a small number of value added items to augment the standards. I'll be digging deep on this one to come up with things both simple and effective that are less likely to cause harm.

It's been a while since I gave my Oni Kai Aikido blog any attention but this may provide material and an interesting direction for a few posts. While I maintain that Aikido is about the longest path to field applicable combat skills a person could choose, it is effective none the less. 

I miss my days of nearly living in dojos and being immersed in this stuff. Maybe a new evolution for Oni Kai is in order. I can certainly think of less noble applications for martial systems. 

Oni Kai

Couldn't be more pleased with the kids in my, now expanding, Aikido class for Rec and Parks. My students are learning far more quickly and in different ways than expected. Having all the little ones in a croup by themselves is presenting a couple of unexpected challenges while offering up some great opportunities for learning on both sides of the equation.

I'm definitely developing new approaches to teaching Aikido and doing a lot of embedding core concepts and base skills in ways that more often resemble play before then gently showing a cross application of what my tiny  Aikidoka have learned. Keeping the focus well off of conflict related themes for the most part seems to be helping them relax and learn through play rather than simple repetition and discipline and helps them avoid a conflict based mindset while still gaining the most valuable of physical Aikido skills, getting out of the way and falling safely.

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