# William Gleason Sensei



## Brian King (Oct 20, 2003)

William Gleason Sensei

This weekend I had the opportunity to view a seminar hosted by Aikido Eastside http://aikieast.com that featured William Gleason Sensei. It was a wonderful experience! I had planned on just viewing a couple of hours Saturday but ended up staying the afternoon and coming back Sunday. Sunday I also brought a notebook (and I dont like taking notes!)

The reasons I am posting this in the Russian Martial Art section are. That is the art that I practice and it is how I view things martial. The things that Gleason Sensei was saying and demonstrating could have been a systema seminar (except the pjs and the mat slapping:wink: ) for illustrations here are some of the quotes (I paraphrase) and things he talked about. _Disclaimerthis is not a complete list and as I said before I hate taking notes! Anything not making sense is almost assuredly my own fault and not that of Gleason Senseis._ 

You throw baseballs not 160lbs people

When hands are done bring them back. When Hands comeback they carry your weight down, making you weightless (_reminded me somewhat of heavy hands_ 

Hands  one is leading one is following

Just enough

Bend legs NOT body

Getting up get feet under you, outside up inside down, this is stronger stop blocking with your face, get up using correct posture

Just smile

Everyone is to tight  (_I was sure push-ups were coming but not this time_ )

Eyes are deceptive

These throws were originally meant to be done while engaging multiple opponents. Look around while you are doing the technique. You dont have to watch your opponent. We watch our opponent because we are insecure. We watch to get reassurance that we are safe and doing the technique correctly. You have to NOT CARE! It is OK to be not OK. Success equals safe not success equals technique working yet you failing.

Give up your attachment to the results

Very tired yet Very awake

Mind not getting in the way

Direction equals freedom. Lack of direction equals no freedom

Partner grabs you the way he wants to grab you, he wins. Partner grabs you the way you want, you win

If you can fail then there is room to grow. If you dont fail then you are stuck. You should fail everyday! Not only are you a failure, everyone else is also a failure

Push pull lift and your partner feel an opening

Body movement not arm movement

He also talked about waves, figure 8's, body contact, looseness, movement.
Gleason Sensei even had short hair he just wasnt wearing any camouflage pants.
I felt right at home. Thanks everyone for making me feel welcome.

See you on the mat soon
Friends
Brian


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## Jay Bell (Oct 20, 2003)

Wow, Brian...sounds like it was a blast!  Thanks for sharing the info....it was eerily like hearing a Systema class


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## Brian King (Oct 20, 2003)

It really was a great seminar and helped to get me jazzed for the upcoming Vlad seminar in Arizona. The energy and atmosphere at this seminar has really charged me up. He said a lot of things that made great sense to me and gave me loads to think about. Gleason Sensei is very 'soft' and while he moved I was having flashbacks to Jim King.

See you on the mat soon (like two weeks!!)
Friends
Brian


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## Jackal (Oct 20, 2003)

My best friend and also a fellow RMA practitioner, often visits a Zen monastery in upstate New York. One day, they had an all-day aikido seminar taught by Gleason Sensei. My friend said that aside from Vladimir, hed never seen anyone else take their art to that level of skill, making many of the same comparisons as Brian.


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## jellyman (Oct 20, 2003)

Like Vlad says 'Good movement is good movement.'

Gleason sounds pretty neat.


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