Sometimes if you think it, it becomes a reality

Yesterday as my husband drove us to the dojo, I began to space out a bit and just think about class and aikido. As of lately, I have been periodically used as uke to demonstrate techniques. I have been taking this as a compliment and have loved every minute of it. Well, I have previously mentioned that we have a couple new people. I thought to myself "Wouldn't it be neat if it were only me, my husband and the rest of the newer people (1 year or less)? Maybe I could be sensei's uke more!" My next thought was "That would never happen. There are always a couple higher rankers there." After that, the thought dissipated from my memory and I began thinking of other things. We arrived at the dojo and I go in and change. After going up to the dojo, I discover "Bob" (not his real name) who has been there about a year. Me and my husband are there (6 month-ers) and one of the new guy's comes in (2nd week). Finally, another guy comes in (started the same day as me and my husband, but hasn't been there as much). I look around and go "Hhm…. I guess I got what I wanted." I assumed that some other students would be coming in, but no one else came. SCORE! I have been really liking the classes with the new students. Lately a lot of the classes have been more challenging for me, which I like by the way, but I really enjoy going back to the more simple things which also need to be worked on. I have the basics of these techniques down and have an idea of what I am doing, which leaves me with the ability to focus on the finer things. Instead of A, B, C I am able to look at A, AA, B, C, CC sorta. Yes, I only have one B there, I did that on purpose. After sensei had us do warm ups, sensei asked my husband to be uke to demonstrate tai no henko. Since there were 5 students, one person is always left sitting out waiting their turn for the group of three. It just so happened that last night I was the one always left without a partner and sat out waiting my turn. Well, this isn't such a bad thing because oftentimes, sensei will come over and work with you, which is always a great opportunity. While working with sensei, I tried to soak in what he was doing as much as I could. He continues to amaze me and I honestly hope that it stays that way. Well, it was my turn to do it on him. I felt like I was doing the technique right and I was doing my best to get past him before I tenkaned around. He was smiling the whole time. I am still trying to figure out exactly what that meant, but I am going to say that he must have been pleased. Had I been doing something wrong, I am certain that he would have corrected me.He then called "Bob" up as his uke to demonstrate the beginning part of iriminage. Just to the point where you are behind uke. For this, I was partnered up with my husband and the new guy. This went pretty well. I am beginning to get behind uke more, which I used to have a problem in. I just wouldn't enter far enough, but that is now being fixed. At one point, I sat down so my husband could work with the guy and sensei came over. Instead of stopping behind me though, he completed the technique and threw me. He also did a few other techniques (sumiotoshi, shihonage and something similar to kaitenage, and reverse kotegaishi). Well, sensei clapped and we all ran to the back and sat down to watch what was happening next. Sensei looked at me and said the one word I was hoping for "Onegashimasu" I eagerly hopped up and ran to stand before sensei like a loyal golden retriever does to its master. HAHA! He demonstrated the complete iriminage on me. After throwing me a few times he sent us on our way. I was left partnerless yet again, so I sat waiting my turn, watching my fellow aikidoka. Sensei walked around correcting students and I did my best to take in what he was telling them so I wouldn't make the same mistakes. This is another bonus of sitting out. I was working with "Bob" and the new guy for this. "Bob" was having some trouble, so sensei came over to help. He used me as uke to walk "Bob" through it. He was also showing the new guy how to take ukemi as well via me. Well, I thought I was being a good uke, but I must have done something wrong because all the sudden BAM! I got smacked in the face with sensei's hand. DOH! Sensei was just telling the new guy that he needed to turn his head into nage, not away just as he hit me. Sensei then said, but you have to make sure you don't turn your head in too early either. Sensei then threw me a couple times and went on his way again. I only got to throw a couple times, but I was fine with it.For the next technique, sensei called me back. For this we did a variation of sumiotoshi. Instead of pointing to the corner, you sort of cut towards the corner with your forearm. It amazes me how small his movement is, yet I find myself flying to the mat. I got to work with my husband and "Bob" again for this one. At first I did okay, then all the sudden….. I lost it. Easy come, easy go I guess! We were standing near the shomen (it is actually a raised wooden platform. Our dojo was an old church) and my husband threw me. I thought I was going to land on the raised platform and I must have fell a little odd. Needless to say, I ended up whacking my inner wrist on something (not sure what) pretty hard. It hurt and I immediately started to bruise. I tried to forget about it and class continued. Oddly enough, as long as I was doing something, I forgot about the pain. Once the focus stopped, the throbbing came back. Next was katatedori shihonage. Sensei used someone else for his uke. I really like working on shihonage. I worked with the new guy and my husband for this technique. While I was sitting out, sensei called me over and was throwing me around. I also got to almost throw him a couple times. I stopped at the point where you take their balance (as that is what we were working on at that point). Sensei complimented me that I was doing a good job keeping his hands infront of me instead of letting my hands go behind my head. I had a problem with that for a while, but I think that I am finally grasping it. At one point while sensei was throwing me, he stopped where my balance was taken and started to tell me how to turn in preparation for a breakfall. He told me not to do it now, but stated that he wanted me to start working on them. I have already done a few breakfalls from other techniques (kotegaishi, kaitenage and possibly others), but never from this one. This one is a bit awkward feeling for me because the way I am supposed to turn my body feels like it is the wrong way, so it isn't natural for me yet. I have no idea when I will begin working on this, but it is now on sensei's checklist. He also told me that he wants me to start working on suwariwaza more as well, so that is also on his checklist. Once that was over, sensei called someone up to demonstrate reverse kotegaishi. I have no recollection as to who was uke. Oh well. This technique went pretty smoothly as well for me and my partner. At the end of class, sensei had us all line up to rei out. He called me up once more and showed each technique again as a final review. Then class was over. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the class. Not that I don't enjoy all the classes I go to, but it was the type of class that I needed that night. A bit slower, more focused and I got to experience some things that don't happen that often.

Things to remember/fix:
1.) For iriminage, bring arm up and pull uke's gi back at same time to help twist his body into you to take his balance
2.) Keep uke's hands in front of you for shihonage
3.) If arm is extended for shihonage (if I'm uke) to prepare for a breakfall, turn body towards nage, tuck head in and prepare to flip myself

Pains/ Injuries
1.) Bruised wrist (after 3 hours of ice it looked a lot better, but still sore)

My left arm has been defeated!

Today's class went pretty well. I did a lot better with my new bokken today. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the saya isn't carved out enough so the bokken barely fits inside of it. So, after that, I just pulled the bokken up and down in the saya. It wore off quite a bit of the stain, but at least it isn't sticking as much anymore. Who knows, maybe the tight fit will be a blessing in disguise. I have to make sure to keep the bokken as low in the saya as possible to even have a chance of drawing and returning without getting stuck. Once I have an iaido I will have to keep the same mentality so I don't ruin the saya…. So maybe it is for the best. Today we did some exercises and worked on shohatto, sato, uto, atarito, inyoshintai, ryuto, jyunto, gyakuto, batto. For the most part I did pretty well. Inyoshintai went a lot better then it did Wednesday thanks to it being worn in a bit. I did have a couple problems with the hakama, but nothing major. Sensei did tell me to work on a few things though.Things to work on:1.) For chiburi for these kata, arm goes straight out at side, not down at all2.) For gyakuto, when you first stand up, sword is flat, not tilted like it is for ryuto3.) For gyakuto when you slice the neck, have arm out 90 degrees away from body 4.) Sit tall (elongate the entire spine). Aikido went well. We only worked on a few techniques today. Shomenuchi ikkyo (omote and ura), yokomenuchi iriminage, yokomenuchi shihonage (omote and ura) and yokomenuchi kotegaishi. The only one I had problems with was kotegaishi for some strange reason. Not sure why I had problems with it today, but I eventually figured it out. I guess just doing it from yokomenuchi instead of shomenuchi or tsuki threw me off… who knows. At one point, sensei was using me to help demonstrate a technique because my partner wasn't extending enough. So, I do my attack and WHAM; my forearm clashes with sensei's forearm. This happened a few times on the same side. It hurt at the time, but nothing to write home about. Well, after class as my muscles cooled down and I drove home, I discovered that my arm is actually quite sore. Doing anything that tightens the muscle is painful. Typing even hurts! I figure that I need to do something to keep working it so it doesn't get all knotted up so to speak.

Things to work on:
1.) Be positive and extend into uke
2.) When attacking with yokomenuchi, bring hand up over head, not to the side
3.) Maintain contact with uke (move with them, go down with them, go up with them)

Pains/Injuries:
1.) Sore left forearm
2.) Bruises on: my right forearm (top), right hand (between pointer finger and thumb), bruise on left pointer finger on bottom knuckle (this bruise is a complete mystery to me!)

Wait a minute.... I have gotten better?

This week has been going alright. Wednesday's class went well. We focused on the bokken. We did some exercises and partnered work for ukifune gaeshi as well as doing a few solo kata. This went well for the most part. My frenemy kept whacking away at my right hand as they slid down my shinai. Every time they did it, they would giggle and say "I'm sorry!" then they would do it again and again. Uhm.... if you were sorry you would stop! I just sucked it up and dealt because I wasn't about to let this get to me (especially since it was being done on purpose). This person is leaving for college, so this won't be an issue any longer. At least things are better then they used to be. Second hour (Iaito) sensei had me and my husband go downstairs and he showed us how to wear a hakama. He has been trying to get us in a hakama for a few weeks now. My husband has a hakama that fits (needs some fixing though), but I didn't have anything. Sensei gave me a hakama to wear until I get my own. Yesterday, I also got my replacement bokken with saya. So, not only did I have to deal with a hakama for the first time, but I also had to get used to the saya. I didn't have a problem getting the bokken out of the saya, but I couldn't really get the bokken back in the saya. It wasn' really that I didn't know how to do it (I did it fine with the previous one I returned). It just felt like it was getting stuck halfway into the saya. After class, I was messing with it and even pulling it out half way and trying to put it back it would get stuck. I am not sure what is going on, but I am going to take a flashlight and look down the saya to see if there is anything in it. Maybe the bokken is just a tad too big in the middle or something... who knows. Anywho, we worked on shohatto, sato, uto, atarito, inyoshintai, ryuto, jyunto and batto.Needless to say, inyoshintai didn't go too well since I was having difficulties with the saya. My bokken got stuck in the saya and I couldn't get it back out. Grrr... I guess the positive thing out of the class was that I didn't have a problem moving in the hakama. It is a bit short, but sensei said that may be for the best since I am still getting used to wearing it. Now if only I could get used to folding the hakama.....Well, today we had a couple new people as well as the other new guy I talk about. We worked on tai no henko (3 variations), katatedori nikyo, katatedori nikyo to ikkyo and katatedori katagatame. I worked with all three of the new(er) people. At one point, I was working with my husband and sensei had sempai break us apart to split up the two new people who were working together. It made me feel good that sensei thought well of me enough to put me with a new person. At one point I was working with one of the new guy's for tai no henko. Well, the guy was squeezing my wrist to death! He was a bigger guy and appears pretty muscular. I don't think he meant anything by holding so tightly, but he may have been trying to see if the tiny girl could do the technique. Needless to say, I had no problem doing the technique. It actually made me smile on the inside. Knowing that I could do it to such a big guy who was holding so tight.... well it makes me feel like I am finally doing something right! I also worked with the other new guy for katagatame. I did the best I could to help him through the tecnique (more like, step back here, grab my arm, etc). He didn't do too bad considering he has only been in a class or two.The great thing about working with these three beginners is that it begins to make me see that I have gotten better. Are my techniques still horrible... sure, but I can see how far I have come in the 5 1/2 months that I have been there. It is always good to see and be reminded of where you came from. It is humbling, rewarding and creates empathy all at the same time. After the first hour, I went over to get a drink of water. Sensei approached me and told me that I could keep the hakama. Howard offered to give him one of our other hakama that doesn't fit either of us, but sensei declined the offer. I guess this makes the first gift from sensei (other then the calligraphy he gave us for our anniversary)! I told sensei that once I got a new hakama (since this one is a tad short for me according to him), I would then return the hakama I am borrowing. He said that would be fine, but stressed that there is no rush and to use it as long as I would like. I didn't know what else to say, so I just reid. Sensei has been so patient, understanding and generous to both me and my husband. For the second hour of class we worked on the jo. Surprisingly, it wasn't the enemy I have grown accustomed to. Today we had a sort of understanding with eachother. More like, we agreed to be civil with one another. Don't get me wrong, I still made plenty of mistakes and sensei made sure to point them out to me when he was watching. Both him and sempai awe me with their abilities. Their moves are so small and effortless, yet they are powerful and controlled. How I would love to get that way. At one point sensei even compllmented me. My first jo compliment EVER!!! WHOOT! Well, I guess that is about it for now.

Things to fix:
1.) Be more positive in my extension
2.) When attacking shomen with the jo, come from above my head, not the shoulder
3.) When squatting for the duck under the jo, have right knee on mat and have left foot active (opposite of one of the positions in inyoshintai)

Pains/ Injuries:
1.) Feet are still peeling... grrr
2.) Suede burn on right hand
3.) Sore right wrist (guess this will keep nagging for a while)

Lost

Well, let's see. Wednesday we worked with the bokken. It was a nice change since we worked with the bokken instead of the jo. For the most part, I did alright, but there was a partner exercise that I needed help with. I kept swinging the bokken around more then neccessary. I'd move it with my center instead of leaving it behind, turning my body and then cutting shomen. Thursday was an interesting class. The entire class we worked on shomenuchi ikkyo. It is something that I truly need to work on. Just when I think I have it, I work with someone that makes me realize that I don't have it. I got the part where you enter and push their arm up and back just fine. In this case, this person is taller then me and I had a problem getting their arm to bring it back down to my hip. I know what I need to do to fix this problem, but it will just take some time to fix this.

In the second hour of class, we worked on the jo. I have absolutely no skill whatsoever with the jo. It is actually a frustrating experience for me to work with the weapon. Part of it is just because I have little experience with it, but the other is I just can't seem to get the movements and intricate details down. Gah..... Every time sensei or sempai says "Get a jo!" I can't help but sulk for a second. HAHA. I mean, I am sure that I will get better with time and I know that you can't get better unless you practice. With those thoughts in mind, my sulking goes away and my main goal is to not get frustrated with myself.Saturday was a big class. There were 8 students. The majority of them were higher ranked (2nd kyu and above), there are two people who train with us every now and then so I have no idea what rank they are, but they aren't new and then me.... the only beginner.

Sensei made the class more geared towards the advanced students. This isn't to say that I wasn't able to do the things that were asked of me, but it was difficult at times to grasp the technique to even attempt doing it. All of the techniques were from ryotedori. A few of the techniques ended up in rolls, we did one into nikkyo, a couple kokyuho throws and we did some kaitenage as well. All in all, it was a good class. I experienced a lot of emotions that day and there were moments of familiarity and moments of utter confusion.

Things to work on:
1.) For simplicity's sake (EVERYTHING!) HAHA.

Pains/ Injuries:
1.) Sore lower back (siatic nerve stuff again)
2.) Still have a sore right wrist

The return of the sensei

Yesterday went rather well. Sensei came back from his vacation. As much as I enjoy training when the sempai’s teach, it is always nice when sensei returns. :O) Yesterday there were four students, which made training a lot easier. It seems like if there is an odd number, I am always in the group of 3. I enjoy watching others do the techniques (especially the higher rankers) but sometimes your group forgets about you and you end up sitting there forever. We just kept rotating partners last night so we got to train with everyone. Even numbers also allow sensei to walk around, watch and correct our technique.

We started off with our regular warm-ups and went into forward rolls from the knees. I believe this was mostly do benefit the new guy, but I actually really enjoy rolling from this position. My rolls are quiet and smooth. My rolls from standing are pretty smooth, but not as smooth as from this position. I am always trying to absorb what my body is doing so I can replicate this motion from standing. I made sure to come up with my toes tucked under my feet. This was a bit uncomfortable, but I have seen that I come up more balanced when I do this (and sensei prefers it this way).

Tonight’s class was fairly laid back. We started off with practicing the motions used for kaitenage from gyaku hanmi katatedori. We were not moving, just simply bringing uke in and then extending back out to take their balance. Once this was done, went to doing the technique (soto variation) minus the roll. Finally, we did the entire technique. For the most part, I am fairly comfortable with this technique. We also did this same technique from ryotedori. The sad part about this was the two hands confused me at first. I kept doing the atemi (unknowingly) despite being told not to. Finally, it clicked that I was still doing it and I took it out. HAHA. Instead, we were to take and swing that arm backwards away from uke to help stretch them out.

We then went on to a gyaku hanmi katatedori kokyuho throw. For this, we entered slightly, turned and scooped our grabbed hand. We then brought our arm on top of theirs and lifted it up to get under their chin. As we started to rotate, we also caught the elbow for extra uke back bendage. :O) We did not finish this throw though, just practiced the rotation. Sensei said his goal was to get us to feel and appreciate the rotation in the upper body. This one I felt very comfortable with. It just seemed like it was going smooth and I was staying close to uke. This isn’t the case on most nights!

We then went on to various kokyuho throws from gyaku hanmi where uke grabs both shoulders from the front (ryokata dori??) . One of the throws we did, you simply irimi, turn, spread your arms wide, tenkan and bring uke down into a forward roll. This one I felt fairly comfortable with because it reminded me of kaitenage motion-wise. Another version you did was just turn 180 away from uke, bring your arms up and turn 180 back towards uke and throw them. This technique wasn’t too bad. I have a tendency to lean, so I have to be careful on this. Sensei told me to make sure I use both arms as I rotate. We did one other form that I will not even attempt to describe. I had a hard time getting my hands in the right spot as you had to go under one of uke’s arms to go over the other. Then, I kept having my hand palm down and sensei wanted it palm up. I was just glad to see that I wasn’t the only person having trouble. My partner (2nd kyu) was also having a few issues with it. I can’t speak of the other two since we were in our own world. :O)

All in all, I thought it was a good class. I didn’t feel lost the entire time and there were moments where I just knew I had done the technique right. I did notice that some of my throws are better on my left then my right. Since I am right handed, I just assumed I would be better on my right all the time. Who knew!?! I even got complimented when working with the 2nd kyu. I was uke and I got thrown from a koyuho throw. My ukemi felt relaxed and I just flew away from nage into a backfall. Sensei said “Good ride!”. He is always telling me not to just fall at nage’s feet. Try to fall a bit away and use nage’s throw to allow you to do so. Apparently… I did it. At one point, sensei was showing me what I was doing wrong by using me as uke. He then showed me what to do. Evidently I was letting go too soon to fall. He told me to hold on…. So I did. Well, let me tell you, that was one of the comfiest landings of the night. My feet were yanked out from under me and I just fell ever so gracefully to the floor. No worries about getting out of my own way, no lowering myself to the floor… nage did all the work for me. I must make sure to do this more often. I guess this is what taking ukemi is versus doing ukemi. Sensei smiled down at me (I had a goofy grin on my face) and said “Better.”

I think I have mentioned before that I am 6th kyu. Well, out of nowhere, as my husband and I are about to leave the dojo, sensei says (or something similar to this) “Oh, I just want to let you know that your first test will probably be 3rd kyu. I don’t think you need to test for the ranks below that. You will do fine.” He made no mention of when this infamous test will be. I am sure that it is quite a ways off though. Thank goodness! He said that he is hoping to have several people test this fall/ early winter for 1st kyu because he wants them to test next summer for shodan. He said it would allow us to see a higher level test. He also mentioned that he prefers to do tests just a couple times a year, but also does them at other times as well. I have never been tested before. In my previous style, you were given your belt when sensei thought you deserved it. In that way, you were being tested for an entire month without your knowledge. If you failed you never knew it… and if you passed it was a pleasant surprise. I honestly have no idea how I would do on a test in front of the entire dojo. I took a glance at the 3rd kyu test requirements and there are many. Since we would be skipping the tests for 5th and 4th, I would think that those techniques would be on there as well. That is a lot of stuff! In the meantime, I am not too worried about it. After all, I have only been training for 5 months! I figure I got another year and a half to two years just to get the hours in, let alone to get the techniques down. Why fret about it now? Then again, sensei’s are notorious for doing the unexpected. Muahahahaha……

Things to fix:
1.) Stay upright in the finish of techniques
2.) Use both arms when rotating for throws
3.) Don’t let go of nage sooner then you have to. Ride out the throw

Pains/ Injuries:
1.) Had pains in my ribs with deep breathes before class. Getting thrown around actually made that better though! They were gone by the end of class
2.) Still have that nagging right wrist injury. I guess it got tweaked somehow. If my hand gets bent back (like a pushup position) it hurts.
3.) Random shooting pains in my left knee (that’s the one with the worn meniscus). I’m watching this one
4.) My lower left back/ butt sciatic nerve has been randomly acting up. This is an on and off thing since undergrad. It is manageable provided I take care of it when it pops up
5.) Bruises…. glorious bruises on my arms and legs. I just love these natural every changing tattoos!
6.) The raw spots on both of my feet are on the mend. WHOOT! I trained last night with no tape and experienced no discomfort whatsoever. Gotta love that!

You live, you learn

Well, last night I was still feeling pretty exhausted and I thought I would take today off instead of training. My husband kissed me goodbye at around 7:45 this morning. Well, after my husband leaves, I roll back over and try to get some more sleep (I have a headache as well). Well, my adorable shih tzu (who decided not to be so adorable this morning) would not stop whining! In fact, she went from whining to full out barking. I was so peeved about it. Not only did I not get the sleep I stayed home for, but her barking certainly did not help my headache any. I ended up getting up earlier then I wanted and debated on going to class as I could have still made the aikido class. I decided not to because I didn't want to make my headache worse and by not going, my body was still getting rest (but not the sleep I believe it needs).

So, in the end, I wish I would have woken up earlier or in the middle of the night, popped some migraine meds and then woke up ready to go for class. Staying home was a complete waste for me and now I can't help but sit and wonder what I missed out on....

Never again! :O(

Catch up

Tonight's blog will be a homogenate of this week. :O) Tuesday's class was interesting. We mainly worked on 3 techniques from katadori. Is that still what is is called when they grab both shoulders? Meh, I am not sure, but now you know what I am talking about. :O) I will just have to describe the techniques because I really don't know the names of them either. HAH! The first one we did you both start off in ai hanmi and then uke grabs both of your shoulders. You take your right arm under uke's left arm and grab the elbow area of their right arm. Then you tenkan around and as you do, you take then down into a forward roll. If any of you know what I am talking about, please comment if you know the name. :O) I really enjoyed this technique and it came quite naturally to me. It reminds me a lot of my old style. ::sighs:: Fond memories of something I could actually do. Those days are gone though... and back to the present.
The second technique we did started from the same position as before. This time, you slid back at an angle (almost like you would do if you wanted to stretch them out to go into ikkyo) and you threw up an atemi at their face. You then kept your hand in their face and stepped in towards them until they fell. This one I wasn't too crazy about. For some reason it just didn't quite feel right. Alas, it went.... that is all I can say.
The final technique was one that I felt fairly comfortable with. For this, we started off in gyakyu hanmi (my right foot is forward for this explanation). You irimi'd yoru way closer and then put your right arm under uke's left elbow & sort of roll it a bit, then your left hand goes over uke's right elbow bend. Then, you turn your hips and bring your arm's around. This put uke into a forward roll.
Well, at the end of the class, sempai had us work in groups of three. One person would be in the center and two would take turns attacking. This was pretty fun. I tried to do all three techniques, but I tended to use the two that put uke into a forward roll. At the end of class, sempai called four of us up. He had one of us in the middle and three attacking. This was the first time that I had ever done anyhing like this. I think I did alright considering it was the first time that I did anything like that. With that said, I also have to say that I need work.
Wednesday's class went alright. We worked on attacks from a sword. One of them was from a shomen attack. As they struck, you irimi-tenkaned around to end up beside them. You then grabbed the wrist closest to you to prepare for kotegaishi. Then you irimi-tenkaned back around. You did kotegaishi with one hand as you brought up your sword with the other (either towards the neck or stomach) to give them something else to make them want to go down. We then did this technique with uke using a katana length bokken and I had a wakizashi length bokken. Finally, we went to uke having a bokken and me being empty handed. I really began to feel comfortable with this technique by the end of this.
We also worked on rokyo. Uke attacked shomen (we were emtpy handed). We tenkaned out of the way and then went into rokyo. I had never done this before, but after a couple times of doing it, I was beginning to feel comfortable with it. I kind of like taking them straight down to the mat. Can you say "Hello mat, it's me, uke." :O)
One other thing we worked on; as uke attacked shomen, you irimi and bring the bokken up and block. You let the attack slide off your bokken and tenkan around about half way. Then you go for the neck. Whoot. I did alright on this thanks to iaido class.
For iaido, we did kata that I hadn't really done before. We worked on the Okuden series. For the most part, I really enjoyed them. I don't know when I will be doing these kata again, so I tried to absorb as much as I could.
Today's class went alright. We worked on things from katadori. We worked on ikkyo, katagatame, kotegaishi and sankyo. Out of all of those, I was most comfortable with kotegaishi and I felt the least comfortable with sankyo. I had the rough movements of sankyo down, but my uke was very kind to me.
Today's weapons class was alright. I mean, the class was great, I am the one that was alright. HAH! Two sempai's were taking turns teaching and it was just me and my husband for this class. I like the semi-private lesson! I got a lot of tips and I hope to be at least half as good as they are with the jo. It amazes me what they can do. I try my best to do what they show, but I know it looks NOTHING like theirs. I'm hoping that each time I pick it up I am getting a tad bit less worse then the time before. Only time will tell if this is true or not.


Things to fix:

1.) Really slide back or to the side to extend uke
2.) Keep pressure (via your shoulder or arm) on uke's arm while attempting to gain sankyo from ikkyo
3.) When striking the top of your opponents jo with yours, drop your whole body into it
4.) There are tons more, but my brain is completely fried from work.....


Pains/ Injuries:

1.) The ball of my left foot and the big toe of my right foot both have sores on them. My tough skin dried and cracked (despite my nightly lotion ritual!) and now raw skin is eposed. OUCH! I've tried bandaides, tape and moleskin and none of them hold up through training. So it ends up falling off, I throw it in the trash can and I just keep aggravating it because I just keep on training.
2.) Sore right wrist. Been this way for about a week now and not sure why
3.) Bruises on my right hand from the jo today.
4.) Sore right calf muscle (I think from walking differently because of the toe)5.) Still very sleepy. I can't wait to sleep in Sunday!

Ryotedori all day long

Sensei is gone so we have had a couple different sempais teaching class. I'm not really going to discuss Thursday's class (especially since I don't really remember too much of it!) Me and another student were the only one's to show up for iaido class. We did all 12 forms in the shoden series. That was the first time I did all of the forms. There were a few kata that I had never done before. Anway, the twelve kata were: shohatto, sato, uto, atarito, inyoshintai, ryuto, jyunto, gyakuo, seijyuto, koranto, gyakutei-inyoshintai and finished wih batto. After that, we had 10 minutes of free practice, where I worked on drawing and a few other things.

Things to fix:
1.) Draw back strongly with the left hand when drawing the bokken. (You are supposed to have a saya!)
2.) Keep tip of sword down lower when finishing chiburi.

Aikido class went alright. No surprise, but there were three students again. I have yet to figure out the significance of this number (if you believe in such things). After our warm up and our ukemi practice we began working on he motions for ryotedori. Turns out, then entire class was based around ryotedori. A few of the techniques were kokyunage, iriminage, shihonage (ai hanmi and gyaku hanmi), ushiro tenkan & then put them into a roll, step back & go forward to put them in a roll and a few other techniques. We did a few different throws from two people grabbing your wrist with two hands on each wrist. Those were some interesting throws! One was where the two uke's did forward rolls behind you, another was where the uke's ended up forward rolling away from you (to your front) and the last thing we did did, you end up tangling the two uke's together and then throw them via an iriminage type throw. A little hard to get, but once I got it, I began to understand it.

It was so hot in the dojo and I was really sweatin' up a storm. At one point, we all took a mini breather. It is amazing how after doing so many forward rolls you can be a little winded. I am proud to say that it appeared like I was the one in the best shape. Go me! One guy had to sit down to rest and the other was breathing pretty hard. I'm not going to say I didn't need a rest, but I wasn't sucking wind, which means I am not in horrendous shape. All in all, I thought it was a fun and challenging class. I probably won’t do a few of those techniques again anytime soon, so I am glad for the opportunity.

Things to fix:
1.) Keep toes active when falling or when coming up from forward rolls
2.) Move with your center with you (for ushiro tenkan, don’t worry about turning your arm to move, turn your hips/center and your arms will then move)

Pains/Injuries:
1.) Numerous bruises on both of my forearms. (to the point I get looks because people think I am abused)
2.) Right wrist is a bit sore from Wednesday’s class
3.) Mat burn on my right heel is heeling slowly but surely
4.) Sore thighs
5.) Sore shoulder area (may or may not be related to aikido)
6.) Headache (had before going to aikido)