I see more clearly now.....

It has been forever since I last posted an entry to my blog. My lack of writing is not due to lack of training, it is probably more like lack of inspiration or just pure laziness. Lately, I’ve found that I am seeking a deeper understanding of my training and a blog simply stating “I did kotegaeshi today.” just seems to barely scratch the surface. Since I am a scientist, I find analyzing things a natural task. Unfortunately, my analysis has not concluded any findings worth reporting (thus far).

Training is continuing like usual. I go to class, try my best and walk away still feeling like I haven’t taken one step forward. I think I’m getting there, but I feel like I am still at the point where I am thinking about taking that next step, but haven’t actually put those thoughts into action yet. Or maybe, it is more like my foot is hovering ever so slightly above the mat. Maybe I have taken that step forward, but I haven’t committed to it or made that step final by putting my foot down. You can’t really take a step forward if you aren’t willing to make contact with the earth again. The lack of finality really has me questioning myself. Am I holding myself back and if so, what is it that I’m allowing to keep me where I am?

Every so often, someone mentions “You need to test.” or “You are way overdue to test.” Gah, I have heard that so many times it doesn’t even affect me anymore. If sensei were to give me a date to test, sure, I would jump back into panic mode, but for now, they are just words. We have a visiting student from another dojo who insisted that I do a technique first. I knew he was a higher rank then me based on his movement, so I asked him to go first and stated that he was a higher ranker and thus he should go first. He inquired what rank I was, to which I responded that I was a 5th kyu. He then told me I needed to test. A visiting student from another dojo who has never trained here before just said I needed to test? There it was… the elephant in the room that I didn’t want to acknowledge.

I now know what is making me so tentative. I once again am self conscious and am afraid of failure. A test date hasn’t even been set, yet here I am holding this weight on my shoulders without even realizing it. I guess hearing “You need to test.” over and over again for the past three or four months has taken its toll on me. My lack of confidence in a few techniques (nikyo and sankyo) has weighed me down to the point that I’m afraid that if I take the next step, I might just fall over or worse yet, just crumple where I stand. This really only leaves me with a couple options: I can continue to stand where I am, and hope that I can shoulder the weight….. or I can just put my foot down and see what happens. I could put my faith in someone else’s judgment and trust that they wouldn’t set me up for failure. GULP.

Okay, now that I have decided to go with option number two…. now what? Well, one thing is obvious. I will continue to go to the dojo, try as hard as I can and I may walk away feeling befuddled. The difference is, I will walk into the dojo with no weight on my shoulders. I will rei towards the shomen with a feeling of tranquility. I will leave behind my self doubt and fear of what lies ahead. I try not to be so judgmental of myself. Instead, I will have a strong sense of courage, perseverance and I will embrace progression with open arms (hopefully).

On a completely different note, I have started wearing contacts. Last Wednesday was my first day wearing them. Needless to say, they will take some getting used to! Each eye has a different type of lens and is by a different brand. My right eye has a toric lens in it, which constantly goes blurry. I am constantly blinking to get my focus back. I’m not sure if it is the type of lens or what, but it isn’t very comfortable at all. I am constantly aware that something is in my eye. Meanwhile, my left eye feels perfectly fine and I don’t even realize I have a contact in it.

My first class with them in was a weapons class with Marc. It was just the two of us, so I got a private session working on kumitachi. Yay! Every now and then, I would stop and back away because I could no longer see what I was doing. Marc would just chuckle at me while I tried in vain to blink my way to better clarity. When that class was over, Marc let sensei know that I was now wearing contacts and that I wasn’t really used to them. I then told sensei that if he saw me blinking like a maniac, that was why. Sensei said that he would try not to poke me in the eye. It seemed like that night, the harder people tried not to poke me in the eye, the more I got hit in the face. HAHA. No one did actually get me in the eye though, so I will it.

Since that night, I am slowly but surely getting used to training with contacts. Some days I end up training without the contact in the right eye because it is just bugging me too much and I take it out while I’m at work or as soon as I get home. Saturday I didn’t put either in because it was still taking me about fifteen minutes to put the buggers in and I didn’t feel like wasting fifteen minutes of the half hour I had that morning before I had to leave for the dojo. I have discovered one thing though; the left contact is a whole lot easier to put in then my right contact. Truthfully, I only really need the contact for my left eye anyway, so if I don’t put in the right one, it isn’t really that big of a deal. It’s main purpose is to correct for the astigmatism (which it does an awful job of doing since its out of focus more then it is in!)

Last nights class was pretty laid back. Since it was hot out, sensei had us grab bokken and we worked on another kumitachi. This one was harder then the one I had done last week. It really requires a sticky feeling with your partner’s bokken. All of us, well… everyone but Marc were having a hard time grasping this sticky, but not pushy feeling, so sensei had us do some exercise with each other that would help foster this feeling. We took turns walking forward and backward with our partner while circling our partners bokken and trying to maintain contact. This was a lot harder then it first appeared. It did help though. When I went back to working with Marc, I felt like I was able to maintain contact with his bokken a lot better then I had previously. I still need plenty of work though, but that is what the years ahead are for right?

Tonight I have weapons, aikido and then iaido. I’m not really sure who will show up or what lies ahead. All I really know is that I am really looking forward to training later. There is a certain peace that I find when training. It calms me down and it helps me find my center again in this tipsy turvy world. Sometimes I think about being lazy and skipping class, but in the end, an unknown force pulls me towards the dojo. The hardest part about training is showing up. Once your there, everything else seems to fall into place (more or less). It is then, that I realize I am exactly where I need to be.

::sigh::

Lately aikido has been a blur. My recollection is becoming hazy and its hard to pick out details. Every now and then, I seem to recall something I did from a previous class, but mainly it is like a vague dream where you randomly recall a moment when something happens to remind you of it out of the blue. I've been diligently showing up to class and trying to do my best to get better. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, I am looking forward to class.

Saturday's class went well. Sensei took the day off because of his knee. Caley taught class instead. Don and I were the only two there for class. Because we are both 5th kyu, Caley decided that we would work on ikkyo, nikyo and sankyo since they will be on the 4th kyu test. I still need a lot of work on nikyo and sankyo, so I really appreciated the extra work. Eventually we went on to other things: such as kokyunage, kokyuho and kotegaeshi. Towards the end of class, sensei came up and watched. He offered some helpful advice along the way. Before I knew it, our hour and a half class was over.

Tuesday went well. I don't really recall much at all (this is where the hazy dream symptom kicks in). I worked with Simon a few times. He is doing well and follows direction when given. I try not to tell him when something is wrong (how can I when I myself am a beginner?) Instead, I either try to back lead him or make a point of emphasizing something when it is my turn to do the technique. I worked with him on shomenuchi ikkyo (omote, ura and ushiro variations). It seems that he favors the ushiro version because he did that one the most and often forgot to do the other variations unless reminded. I was feeling good after class and I went downstairs to change. My "Tuesday Moment" occurred when Tai Chi started. All the sudden, I was so over training. I was tired, my whole body was sore (been having back problems that seem to be getting worse instead of better and I am using other muscles to compensate) and I just really didn't want to be there.

It was hard to keep my mind focused while doing the form. Instead of focusing on my form, my mind drifted to other matters. I had a hard time reeling my mind back to the matter at hand. Eventually, I knocked some sense into myself and I slowly began to get my focus back. Towards the end of the class, I was pretty much back to my old self again, but I was still glad that class was over. Once class was over, we drove Marc home. I sat in silence most of the way trying to figure out what was with me today. I don't think it is burn out. I guess everyone has days where they have short attention spans….

Wednesday was a bit worse. Part of it was because I was irritated. My husband doesn't like to listen to me sometimes and it annoys me when he thinks he knows more about something then I do (when he doesn't). I am certain of the fact that I know more about the inside of my car (specifically what each button does) then he does. If I tell you to push a button, don't argue with me saying "It doesn't work." when all the while you are pressing the button I just told you to stop pushing because that is the wrong button. Something petty I know, but it irritated me beyond belief. I was still annoyed when we got to the dojo. I honestly think part of it is that I was slightly cranky to begin with. It seems like whenever I have a call out, I end up cranky later in the day. I think the call outs take its toll on me mentally and physically (I froze my butt off on a mountain summit today!)

Since weapons was the first class, I went upstairs and got a jo (every month we switch weapons and May was bokken month). Well, Marc comes up with his bokken and shinai instead. I confirm that we are doing bokken and then go up and grab a bokken and shinai off the rack. Turns out that Marc keeps using me to demonstrate what we are going to work on next. Whether he did it because he felt I was best suited (I wasn't the highest ranker there and that is who they normally use for weapons) or because he knew I was cranky, I don't know. Somewhere during the hour of weapons work and corrections I was receiving, my crankiness eventually wore off. I even worked with my husband a few times and I wasn't cranky with him anymore, but even if I were, I wouldn't act snotty in class.

Sensei came and taught the second hour of aikido. We worked on a few variations of tai no henko at first, but eventually moved on to a few different variations of sankyo, kotegaeshi and kokyuho throws. Some of them were really interesting. There was one in particular that I had to take slow because if I didn't, I would do exactly what I wasn't supposed to do. My instinct was to step in and turn, but we were supposed to slide in and turn into kokyuho. I made sure to take it slow so I can ensure that I did what I was supposed to do. Over all, it was a good class. For iaido we worked on some basic draws, some basic standing forms, some standing kendo forms and then eventually did some shoden forms from seiza.

I did receive a few corrections (I'm assuming these were all aimed at me):
Tighten pinky a bit more at end of cut
End cut just a half inch to an inch closer to my body
Swing out more on one cut in ryuto
Keep saya closer for noto

Yesterday's class focused on the progression of iriminage. We first started from ai hanmi and did the irimi variation. Then we went to the irimi-tenkan variation. I was accidentally taking my partner even further though. I was irimi-tenkaning, but I was also turning another 180 degrees…. Gah. Once I finally got that down, we went to the variation I had just been doing that was wrong. Once we worked on that a bit, we went to the irimi-tenkan, irimi-tenkan variation where you end up basically cutting them down via shomen with one hand and pulling them down with the other. This wasn't so bad once I got the idea. For some reason, I actually got the footwork fine. I just had to keep uke off balance a bit more for the final cut to work. Once we did that, we went on to ryotedori iriminage where you pull uke into you, twist them all up and then throw them away. This one was fun to be thrown by. I was working with Don on this one and he is SUPER tall and quite stiff (plus he has a bad shoulder), so I was struggling a bit. I'm guessing my hesitation to not injure his shoulder didn't help my situation at all.

For the second hour of class we worked with the jo. My hands were so sticky from sweating that I had a hard time letting the jo slide in my hands. We worked on shomen against shomen, tsuki (two variations) against shomen and a few other things, which I don't recall the name of. Anywho, one movement in a mini kata we worked on involved a move very much like makiotoshi. Marc kept trying to get me to hit his hand harder. I just couldn't do it. I can't whack away at his hand… I know he knows how to avoid getting whacked... I have seen him do it. I just can't bring myself to whack his hand. His response to this was whacking MY hand harder. I have the basics of how to protect the hand that stays on the jo (sink with the attack, turn in the hips and let jo be taken down), but he moves faster then I can to keep up with and I can't always lower my hand in time. I think he may have been whacking me to entice me to whack him back, but it didn't work. Anyway, my hand was going numb at times and I could see the bruise forming while we were still working on it. I didn't say anything and just tried to move a bit faster. Needless to say, my first thumb joint has a bruise the width of a jo and it hurts to move my thumb a bit. Hopefully, it will feel a bit better for Saturday's class.

Twelve Days

Twelve days… amazing how time can either fly by or drag along at a snails pace. Odder still, is how time can fly by, yet still leave you feeling as if those twelve days felt more like a year then just shy of two weeks. I am appalled to admit that twelve days ago was the last time that I stepped out onto the green tatami. Little did I know that would be my last class for a while.

The following week was a mixed bag of feeling great to feeling utterly miserable. When Tuesday arrived, I had to admit to myself that:
A- I was feeling exhausted and sick.
B- I was going to make a four and a half hour drive to Portland tomorrow morning and I still hadn't packed.

I called Marc and told him that I wouldn't be going to class. He understood and told me to get better. I told him I wouldn't be able to go to class again till the following Tuesday because I had to go to Portland for training. The rest of the week went alright. Not to say that I didn't feel well, because I still felt miserable. I thought about going to a dojo while I was up there, but truthfully, I just plain felt like crap. Instead, I sulked and looked at photos and read bios of the surrounding dojos, which further made me miss class. Training went well though. I am proud to say that after two hours of digging around in wet dirt that I was remarkably clean. While everyone else sat in the dirt, I kept my butt off the ground. If you were to sit in seiza, come up on your toes and then lift your knees off the mat, you will get an idea of how I was squatting. Quite comfortable I might add! I am also proud to say that I was the first person to find skeletal remains in our group. YAY! I found a few cartridge casings as well, but nothing to really write home about.

The following week I had a trip to the doctor, where my suspicions were confirmed. I had a sinus infection. She asked me if it would be possible to stay home from work a couple days to relax. I told her that it was possible and as I left the office I thought to myself "I am not staying home over a sinus infection!" I went to work the next day and felt fine. I was a bit optimistic, but also realistic. I wanted to go to class tonight, but I didn't want to push myself. I had to give sensei the check for our monthly dues (which was due at the beginning of the month) and I figured since I was there; I could sit and watch class. Watching class wasn't so bad. I got to observe some finer points and digest some comments that were made.

After aikido was tai chi. I thought about joining in, but a few people said I didn't look too good and suggested I sit out (one of them was teaching class that evening). Not wanting to be rude (and I truthfully wasn't much in the mood to practice tai chi), I sat out. Marc came up after changing downstairs and bugged me into joining class. I got out there and did the short and long form. Truthfully, it wasn't so bad. There were times during the hour that I felt dizzy and nauseous and other times I felt just fine. On the way home, I told Marc that I wouldn't be ready (physically) to go to class tomorrow, but Thursday I would be there whether I was ready or not. By the time I dropped Marc off and got home, I was utterly exhausted. Something so slow and simple such as tai chi literally kicked my butt tonight. I went to bed figuring I would feel better by the morning.

Well…. I missed work the next day; turns out that if you tempt fate enough- sooner or later they are going to take the bait. I was devastated. The good thing about missing work was that I got to get some sleep that my body needed. I figured I would need lots of rest if I had any hopes of going to class tomorrow. The rest of the day, I laid on the couch, watched movies, read a book and went online. By the end of the night, I was feeling rather well again, but I was a bit more cautious with my optimism. I went to bed that night hoping that tomorrow would be a good day (physically).

I woke up the next morning feeling fine. I got up and got ready for work. My day went well. I felt lethargic at times, but over all, I felt like I had much more energy then I had been having the past couple weeks. I texted Marc to let him know that we were indeed going to class tonight. The rest of the day leading up to class I was anxious. It has been twelve whole days since I have practiced aikido. Much too long in my opinion. Marc taught class that night. As far as my energy goes, I made it through most of the class. I did ask to sit out for a couple minutes to catch my breath and to get the dizziness to go away. I tried not to sit out longer then necessary and quickly joined back in class. After the first hour, we were scheduled to have a second hour of weapons. I had slumped down onto the bench in the entrance way and was drinking my water. Marc looked over at me and said "You look exhausted." He couldn't be more correct. I hadn't felt this exhausted in a long time. It reminded me of how I was feeling before I had my thyroid problem diagnosed. Without any shame, I told Marc that I was exhausted, but I would be alright. Marc consulted with Bret (the other person left that was taking second hour) and they agreed to cancel the second hour of class so I could go home.

I told them that it wasn't necessary and that I would either watch or be able to get through the class, but they were firm with their decision. I stood up and carried my stuff downstairs to change. I couldn't help but notice my shaky hands, my rubbery legs and fatigued arm muscles. I shouldn't be feeling this way after an easy, laid back beginner's class! When I got to the changing room, I spoke with Cara (my frienemy). She had just come back from college and tonight was her first class back. Truthfully, she is less of a frienemy then she was last summer, but she will have this title for a while. In case you didn't read those entries in the past, when she came back, she felt the need to put me in my place. At the time she was a 3rd kyu and I had been training in aikido for a whole two months. Anyway, she has gotten past that and now a pretty civil person. I don't see how she could have conceived me as a threat, but she did apparently.

After talking with Cara, I met Marc in the living room and we headed home. Marc asked if I was alright to drive and I told him I was fine (and I was). I thought about stopping at the Human Bean on our way home for some coffee or a fruit smoothie since I was feeling overheated and ucky, but I thought my plan could backfire and make me feel worse. Marc and I chit chatted till I dropped him off at his house. I told him I would pick him up Saturday. By the time I got home, I was miserable. I felt like I had ran a marathon, lifted weights until my arms wouldn't work anymore and I was sick to my stomach. I thought that I might be low on sugar or needed carbs or electrolytes, so I grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge in hopes it might make me feel better. My husband made spaghetti and I thought that eating might help. Although both were good, neither of them made me feel better at all. I laid on the couch feeling as if I would throw up at any minute, but knowing that I wouldn't. I tried to sleep, but I decided to hold off on sleep till my husband and I went to bed.

I went upstairs to shower. Although I could have staid in the shower forever, I made it as quick as possible because I wanted to climb into the bed. I pretty much resigned myself to missing work the next day. I must have REALLY pushed my body too far and it was rebelling against me. I quickly drifted off to sleep. To my surprise, I woke up the next morning feeling great. YAY for recovery sleep! As I quietly climbed out of bed, so as to not disturb my hubby, he asked me if I was going to work. I nodded and then went into the bathroom to get ready for work. As I put on my makeup, all I could think about was class Saturday morning and if I would be able to hack an hour of iaido and an hour and a half of aikido.

Saturday morning Marc lead the warm ups for iaido. He always has us do a hundred or more shomen cuts. Today, it felt more like 200. Whether it was because it was that many or because I was tired, I have no idea. I was beat by the time we were done with the cuts. I sure hope this isn't an indicator of how tired I will be in aikido! After the rest of our warm up's, Marc had us go through Shohatto, Sato, Uto and Atarito a few times. At that point, sensei came to join class. YAY! Lately, he has been MIA because of health reasons. He continued where Marc left off and had us do those same forms a few times. Then he had us move to standing to work on some Tokyo Police forms that Chiba sensei had once taught him. Over all, class went well.

A few corrections I received that need to be fixed (and a few I'm still working on):
1.) Don't break wrist at end of cut
2.) Apparently I move my head ever so slightly for chiburi, so I need to cut that out
3.) Keep extension during cut to maintain a circle and not end up with a flat cut
4.) Keep shoulders down and back as you cut

After iaido we sit for about a half an hour. Once that was done, I asked sensei how he was feeling as I took his zafu and other items to put away for him. He stated that he was feeling better, but not quite back to "normal". I went across the room and began to fold up my hakama. We started talking about various things: mainly forensic science books. He suggested one to me that sounded interesting, but I forget the name already, so I will have to ask him again. We started talking about "The Throne of Blood" that he is helping with and I asked when that show will be playing at the theatre, as I am eager to see it. He told me it was in the middle of June and stated that he still has to find out about group pricing so dojo members can go. He then asked if I would be available one Tuesday to help out at the theatre. I told him I would be able to help. I have no idea what he wants me to do though. I know Marc is going and I think they are going to be working on iaido. My iaido really isn't that great, so I'm thinking I may be helping out with other things. We shall see.

I then went downstairs to put my hakama away and change obi's. When I came back upstairs, I told sensei that I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it the whole class and explained that I had to sit out a bit on Thursday. He told me that it would be fine and that it would probably be a laid back class. He kept his word. It was fairly laid back, but it still kicked my butt. I ended up having to sit out at the one hour mark. Boohoo. At another point, I was working in a group of three and sensei told the other two to go first so I could sit out and rest a bit more. Some of the things we worked on were kokyuho, ikkyo, uchi kaitenage and iriminage. We worked on some of the finer points of a few things and focused on turning, as well as our contact with our partner. Trying to make our movement more clear.

Sensei used me as uke a couple times and despite the fact that I was low on gas, I gave everything I had when I was up there with him. He also told me that I needed to try to give my center up more. Push my center forward as I take backward ukemi. He told me that I am doing this, but that I could do it even more. He then went on to demonstrate a time when you would need this. He had me be uke and I attacked shomen. He merely entered off line, came down on top of my arm with his outside arm and then flew his inside arm at my face. I had no choice but to quickly give up my center and take backwards ukemi.

At one point during class, I heard a disruption and Cara was down on the mat. She had been poked in the eye rather hard. I went downstairs and got some ice for her and sensei looked her over. She sat out the rest of the class. She appeared to be fine, but her eye looked like it would end up bruising. Accidents, though unfortunate are an expected part of martial arts training. I myself have not sustained a severe injury as of yet (knocks on wood), but I have been hit in the head by sensei's bokken rather hard. My poor husband has been hit in the face with a jo a couple times (one time his jo smashed his glasses into his nose so hard that he got a cut). Hopefully, Cara will show up Tuesday and be perfectly fine. I sure hope she doesn't get a black eye!

On another completely different topic, as of lately, my ukemi has been of great interest to me. I have seen where I have already improved a great deal, but my ukemi is still mediocre. I need to make my rolls and breakfalls softer still. My breakfalls, though not incorrect (but more then effective) are considered "hard". I personally don't see them as hard. To me, they feel quite comfortable. I would however, like to take these softer breakfalls. First off, sensei wants me to work on them, but I also want to be kind to my body and it seems like these cause less jarring to the body. Not to mention, the more ways you learn to fall, the more options you have. You can then take whatever ukemi is called for. I also want to work on staying closer to nage. I want to remain more connected. It is most obvious on techniques where nage has me running in circles around them (excluding sankyo). Somehow, despite my best intentions, my lower body gets out from under me. I end up running slanted and my feet are plodding ever so loudly on the mat. It's as if instead of uke and nage it is a horse being run in circles via a lead. Sometimes this happens because nage is just plain going to fast for me, but other times, I think it is my fault. I have yet to discover how to tell the difference. Another mystery for me to solve I guess.

Things to work on:
1.) Give up center completely, while maintaining a connection
2.) Take what ukemi is required (no more, no less)
3.) Push yourself to your limit and even a little beyond, but don't overdo it!
4.) Take care of your health, it is of utmost importance for an active person
5.) Don't be so timid
6.) Keep both feet connected to the ground when nage

An Up and Down Week

Last week, my husband traveled to the east coast without me to visit friends and family. Although I would have loved to go (I haven't seen my friends and family in over a years), I chose to do the responsible thing and stay behind since we are strapped for cash. Because my husband was away, this allowed me more liberty to train as well. Unfortunately, because I was down and out thanks to migraines and allergies, I wasn't able to quite have the training extravaganza that I was hoping for, but I did get to go to one additional class. My usual training schedule consists of the following:

Tuesday: 5:30-6:30: Aikido Basics, 6:30-7:30: Tai Chi
Wednesday: 5:30-6:30: Weapons Basics, 6:30-7:30: Aikido, 7:30-8:30: Iaido
Thursday: 5:30-6:30 Aikido Basics, 6:30-7:30: Weapons
Saturday: 8:30-9:30: Iaido, 10:15-11:45: Aikido

This week, I was able to attend class on Monday, which was from 6-7:30. As you may know, Monday was O-Sensei's Death Day. So, this made my extra day of training even more special for me. Once we arrived at the dojo and were on the mat, sensei, Marc, Ben and I were talking about various things. Sensei was telling us about his knee injections and that he was supposed to stay off the mat for three weeks, but mentioned that wouldn't happen. He said he wanted to get them done now so he would be ready for theatre (he is currently teaching the actors iaido for ‘Throne of Blood'). I'm not sure how we got on the topic, but at one point I told sensei that last week when I was sick and couldn't come to class I texted Marc "Tell sensei I'm frustrated with aikido and am never coming back." and then went on to explain that Marc didn't come to class either, thus my brilliant (though sarcastic) message was never delivered. Sensei looked at me and said "I am glad I didn't get that message."

Before he began class, sensei explained that this class would involve little to no talking- other then calling out a technique or something similar and mentioned that Abe would be joining us shortly. As sensei lead warm-ups, I heard the all too familiar crunching gravel that prematurely announces everyone's arrival. In comes Abe. He usually takes quite a bit of time taping his wrist, but today he got right on the mat; surprising. Sensei then told us to do whatever we needed to stretch ourselves out. Once we were done stretching, sensei had us go through variations of tai no henko to warm up. He then went and sat on the shomen and called out various techniques to do. Every so often, he would come around and demonstrate a finer point of a technique that I was missing.

Some of the techniques we worked on were: suwariwaza shomenuchi: ikkyo, nikyo, sankyo, yonkyo, gokyo, iriminage, kotegaeshi and kokyuho. I had a few problems with some of these techniques, but that is expected considering that I haven't done some of these very often from suwariwaza (or at all for that matter). My nikyo and sankyo are slowly, but surely getting better. For some reason, I had a problem with omote. For some reason, I just could NOT get my stinkin' thumb to smoothly go around Ben's wrist to go from the ikkyo to the nikyo position. I don't normally have a problem with this, so I am not too worried about it. I worked with Marc for yonkyo and gokyo. He was quite patient (as always) and helped me. He also reminded me to keep my elbows down/in. Not sure if I will ever get around to fixing that problem. I have always had a problem with yonkyo. It takes me forever to find the correct spot and then I just can't seem to get it right. Sensei told me that I need to project through my uke's elbow. I think out of like ten tries I got it right maybe two… three tops. Not so great of a percentage there. For gokyo, I kept grabbing the wrist like ikkyo, when you are supposed to grab it palm up instead of palm down. I figure with enough time and practice, I will get it down….. maybe….. maybe not…. Haha. Iriminage, kokyuho and kotegaeshi went so-so. I worked with Ben on these. He was patient and dealt with my ignorance rather well. :O)

After all of us were getting pretty tired and were sweaty, sensei had us stand up and grab bokken. We did some simple warm ups with those and then partnered off. This part of the class went by rather quickly and I am afraid I don't recall exactly what we did. When sensei clapped for us to line up, I was pleasantly surprised that our hour and a half was up already. Time flies when your having fun I suppose. Once we finished bowing out, sensei informed us that more classes would be like today. He stated that he wanted us to do more suwariwaza and that each class would be dedicated to suwariwaza from now on.

I went home feeling a bit tired, but happy that I went. Tuesday was an interesting class. Sebastian showed up. Sebastian doesn't really train on a regular basis, so it's nice when he makes an appearance. He is a 5th kyu like me, but has been at this rank longer, so I treat him as my sempai. As he went to mark his hours down he commented that "It looks like you are the only one training." Sensei and I both responded that it has been mainly Abe and I who are always showing up. Eventually Simon (the new guy) and Abe showed up. It is always nice having even numbers. It allows the instructor to walk around and make observations and corrections.

Before class started, two women came into the dojo and stated that they wanted to watch a class. They mentioned that they had spoke to someone on the phone. Sensei walked out from the little room on the shomen and mentioned it was him they spoke to. He then welcomed them in and told them where they could sit. As he was about to leave, he whispered to Marc "Don't scare them." (Marc was teaching for sensei) HAHA! Today's class was pretty laid back. We worked on ai hanmi ikkyo and iriminage most of the class. We also did jujinage as well. Throughout the class, Marc would come over and tell me what I was doing wrong and I would do my best to correct the problem. I worked with Simon for iriminage. He didn't do too bad! He is actually doing well for the short amount of time he has been in class.

Yesterday, I gave Marc a ride to class (like always) and wondered who would show up today. Marc said that he thought Ben would be the only other one to show since Abe said he had a birthday to go to. Sure enough, when we go downstairs to the changing room, Ben is the only other person there. Sensei shows up and asks Marc to lead the second hour of aikido since his leg is so swollen. Marc agreed and told him that he would take Thursday's classes as well so sensei could stay off his feet. Once class started, Marc had us do some work with the jo. It started off with jo basics. The jo has really started to grow on me as of late, so I am actually going to be sad when this month comes to an end and we make the switch to the bokken.

Pretty soon, Marc has us adding more and more responses (mostly kesa responses from kesa, but some other things as well). When the hour was almost over and the second hour was about to begin, Marc told us that if no one else shows up, we would just continue to work with the jo. I told him I was completely fine with that. The second hour went by quickly as well and soon Marc had us lining up to bow out. I then reid to Ben and thanked him for his patience. After class, Marc and I were chatting waiting for Jane to come up for iaido. He told me that I had been working on Sansho 2 in the previous class. Sweet! Now I know a bit of Sansho 1 (part 1 and part of part 2) and a bit of Sansho 2 (part 1 I am guessing).

For iaido, I was dragging a bit. I was low on energy, but I wanted to stay anyway. Luckily, we did standing forms today because for some reason my hamstrings are super tight. I can barely lift them half way to hip height and they are aching. I have no idea what I did to them…. but I did something! We started off with 100 shomen cuts to warm up. This didn't go so well for me. When you have a runny nose, it is kind of hard to breathe correctly, especially with you sniffling all the time. The sniffling led to me coating my throat with yuckiness, which then led to me coughing. Uck….. I am sad to say it, but this class did not go by quick enough for me. This isn't to say it wasn't a good class and that I didn't put forth and effort (because both of those statements would be incorrect), but I was glad to see it end.

After class, I drove Marc home and then went home to my hubby (who just got back today from the east coast). Unfortunately, my husband did not have good news for me. He informed me that one of our friends had passed away a couple hours ago from a heart attack. I am still in shock. I held myself together in front of my husband, but I did cry over by the microwave as I made myself some oatmeal for dinner. I was now officially physically and emotionally drained and I crashed out on the couch until it was almost time for bed. We decided to go to bed early and once again, as I was taking a shower the sad reality of losing a friend hit me once more. I just sat under the warm water and let it wash away my tears. This is the third year in a row that I have lost someone close. I can't help but be forced to recognize how fragile human life is. Enjoy the moments you have, because they could be taken away all too soon……


Things to work on/ remember:
1.) Ikkyo: don't push uke away, make sure you cut back to your center
2.) Nikyo: open up your hand on their wrist and lead around their wrist with your thumb
3.) Yonkyo: when you cut, lead with uke's elbow
4.) Gokyo: don't grab like ikkyo, grab their wrist palm UP towards ceiling
5.) Iriminage: don't just take uke forward, take them forward, down, then up and in towards you to take their balance

Paines/ bruises:
1.) Yonkyo bruises
2.) Tight hamstrings (probably from being taken down/ forward for iriminage (basically doing a split in the air)

Sick and tired........

I am the type of person who trains at the dojo four days a week religiously. You can pretty much bet that on any given Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday, that I will be there on the mat. Well, this all came to a tumble last week. I almost missed class Wednesday because someone had the audacity to go off and stab a few people and I had to respond to the call out to process the scene. I barely made it home in time and trio of us that went were running a little late when we got to the dojo. Thursday, I had to respond to another call out (really part of the same stabbing for a vehicle process). While processing the truck, I couldn't help but realize that my throat was hurting and my nose kept running. I didn't think much of it. Thursday night I go to class and all the while during class, I can feel my congestion getting worse and the post nasal drip is making me cough more. I go home and go to bed. Wake up Friday and decide to stay home from work. Lounged around, sneezing and blowing my nose like crazy and feeling just plain exhausted.

Saturday morning, my alarm goes off at 7 a.m. and I realize that I can't go to class in my condition. I call the guy I give a ride and let him know that I won't be able to go today. I I go back to sleep and awaken three hours later. I go downstairs and sulk on the couch wishing I were in class. How am I supposed to get my aikido fix when I am stuck at home miserable!?! There is only one solution (and it is a decent one). I pop in a dvd that I am borrowing that has Chiba sensei demonstrating 5th and 4th kyu testing requirements and some other random things on there. For the most part, I found watching it helpful, but there were a few techniques that just amplified my confusion. I feel as if I saw 18 variations for nikyo for 4th kyu. As far as I know, there are only a few required for my examination. Then again, the posted requirements are not all inclusive. We have two lists and they don't match. Supposedly the two lists were combined into one, yet things are still left off this list. Not to mention, sensei has said that he likes to ask for tsuki kotegaeshi and a few other things that aren't on either of these lists. Basically, it is open to interpretation I suppose.

Well, at least I got some aikido into my day…. even if I wasn't practicing myself. Sunday pretty much went by the same. I went to work Monday feeling a bit better. Went in Tuesday feeling well enough to work, but exhausted. Part of the reason may be that I ran out of my thyroid medication. Stupid insurance plan switch and had to get a new scrip. Gah. Within a couple hours at work, I was feeling miserable. I decided that I would stick it out till noon. On my way home from work, I took a detour to get my new meds. By the time I got home, I had a full blown migraine. I go inside and try to be as quiet as possible (we put our shih tzu away in a room) in hopes that she won't realize I am home. I go upstairs and take my migraine med, which I usually refuse unless absolutely necessary and climb into bed. I put my head under the covers to block out the light and to help keep myself warm. To my surprise, Meili (the previously mentioned shih tzu) is still quiet. I close my eyes and hope the medicine kicks in soon before my head explodes.

To my utter horror, Meili begins barking. I lay in bed, hoping she will stop after thinking I am gone. After a few minutes of barking, I can't take anymore. Each bark is a sonic boom crashing into my skull. I drag myself out of bed and go to her. I lean down over the gate, pet her, give her smoochies and tell her to be good. This is usually our "good bye" routine. I am hoping that this will trick her into thinking I am leaving and be quiet. I go back into the bedroom and slide into bed. Within a few minutes she is barking again. I put my head under the covers again to wait out the pain. Luckily, after a minute she stops barking and I hear her lay down. Thank you! I close my eyes and eventually drift off to sleep (the meds have a sedative in them). I wake up around 1:30 to a rapid succession of about four "Droid" sounds (my phone's alert to text messaging). I groggily answer my friend and then turn the sound off my phone. I quickly text the guy I give a ride to and let him know that I won't be making it to class tonight and close my phone. I drift off to sleep again… the next time I wake up, I glance at my phone. To my surprise, it is after 4:30! It is a good thing I wasn't going to class since I am usually leaving at this time. I give my head a diagnostic check (feels okay) and jump out of bed. Meili has been in her room since 8 this morning. The poor thing probably has to pee!

I let her out of the room. Her tail wags and smoochies tell me that she forgave me for the error. We go downstairs and I take her out. The rest of my evening consisted of lounging on the couch and entertaining (or being entertained by) Meili. I sulk (yet again), wishing that I could be in class. Lately there have been very few people in class and I am convinced that the new kid will show up and not have a partner to work with. There really isn't anything I can do about it though, so I need to just let it be. When it is time for bed, I put clothes in the bathroom in preparation for work tomorrow. I figure if I am proactive about it, then maybe I will feel better tomorrow. I climb into bed. I wake up Wednesday morning and call work letting them know I am going to stay home. I am usually a little weird after having such a bad migraine. Turns out, I felt rather well by the end of the day. I was still pretty congested, had a runny nose and was coughing, but I decided that I was going to class tonight.

Luckily, it was a fairly slow going class. Only me and the yudansha I give a ride to were there for the first hour. So, we went slow and worked on Sansho 1. I am sad to say that I didn't remember very much from the previous time we worked on it. I have come to realization that the jo is beginning to grow on me. I used to think it was a pain in the butt, but now…. now I kind of appreciate its endless possibilities. I have also worked with it a lot more over time, so I am becoming a bit more comfortable with it. To be honest, I have kind of swung the other way and right now I like the jo a bit more then the bokken. Part of it is probably because I am having problems with my bokken, so it isn't getting any brownie points with me. New errors in my technique have begun popping up and to my dismay; I can't seem to fix them. I go from one extreme to the other without being able to find the middle. Grr….

For the second class another student came in. We took this class slow as well. We did quite a bit of suwariwaza. The other student will be testing for shodan at summer camp, so we have been doing a lot of things that will help benefit him. It is also neat for me because we do things that we don't do often. Today though, we stuck to simpler things, like katadori ikkyo and nikyo and then went on to yokomenuchi ikkyo, kotegaeshi and a few other things. Eventually, we worked on some tanto-dori techniques. I am sad to say that I am absolutely horrendous with these. We were working on techniques from a yokomenuchi attack. A few of them I was somewhat familiar with, but others were just awful. At one point I had uke bent over backwards in a headlock and I dropped to one knee and was trying to get the knife out of his hand. Well, next thing I knew, he was falling down on me. Oh well. At the end of class, I decided that I wouldn't stay for iaido. I was feeling worn out and didn't want to push my luck. After all, I am hoping to show up for tomorrow's class. I told sensei that I wasn't going to stay and told him that if I felt the same way as today, I would be here tomorrow.

Thursday is pretty much the same. Feeling a bit better, but still tired. I find myself wondering why I am tired. Am I tired because of my new meds and not taking any for two days? Am I tired because of my allergy meds? Am I tired because I am weak and am expending energy in class? The truth is, all of these are a strong possibility. In the middle of May, I go for another blood test to check my levels, so I will find out then if my medicine needs adjusting. I know the allergy medicine makes me sleepy, so that could be it. I am also fighting a battle with allergies, so my body is compromised and weak… so that could be it too.

Despite my dragging body, I decide that I am going to class. Let's face it… my name is Ashley and I am addicted to aikido. There are worse things in life I could be addicted to and I did take two days off of class! Turns out that the first hour is another small class. There's two yudansha (one is teaching), the first kyu, me and the new guy. The yudansha who is teaching pretty much works with the new guy while the other three of us work together. Luckily, the class is slow going. I had three tissues in my, so luckily, I was able to blow my nose. At one point, it was my turn to run out and grab the yudansha's wrist. I tried to hurry and he teased me by saying "Hurry up runny nose!". It was actually a good class. Towards the end we were working on ushiro ryotedori. At the very end, he just told us to do variations. All I could figure out was ikkyo, sankyo, kotegaeshi and kokyunage. I attempted a few other things, but they never really worked out. I guess that isn't bad considering I haven't done vary many techniques from that attack.

For the second hour, it was just me, the two yudansha and sensei. He had us work on a few iaido form that he did at a seminar with Didier Boyet. It seems like I have some more work cut out for me. After that, sensei had us do some partner work. For this, I was partnered with sensei for the remainder of the class. What a treat! This also allowed the yudansha to practice at a higher level as well. We did some responses and then we went to responses with someone attacking with the bokken and you empty handed. I had a bit of a problem getting my hand into the correct position at times, or not turning my hip enough. Sensei was very patient with me though. He then had me attack him and was throwing me into rolls or putting me into shihonage. It was rather fun. Before I knew it, the class was over and we were bowing out. In a way I was glad though. I was tired and I had used up all three tissues I had tucked into my gi earlier this evening.

On the way home I had a good conversation with the yudansha. I should really create aliases for everyone instead of saying yudansha and referring to kyu grades or new guy. I had created some names in the past, but I forget them! I need a cheat sheet really. We were talking about the quality of movement and how it is expected to increase as you go up in rank. Somehow we got onto the topic of testing and I mentioned that I wouldn't want to be testing for shodan this summer. The guy testing has a lot to cover before this summer. I mentioned that I wouldn't want to test for shodan unless I felt like I had everything down pat and then mentioned that I don't want to test for 4th kyu because I don't feel confident in the soundness of my techniques. He told me that when he was younger and training up through the ranks that he was often beyond the test he was testing for. I mentioned that I wish I had that problem. He looked at me and said "You do." I was skeptical and told him how I fumble with nikyo and sankyo all the time, so how could I pass a test that those are the main components.

He then went on to explain that at the lower ranks, they just want to see if you can get the technique. Can you get there and eventually complete the technique? He told me that it isn't until 2nd and 1st kyu that the quality of the technique is really an issue. At those grades, you should be able to apply the technique with more fluidity and you shouldn't stumble over the hand changes as much. I couldn't really argue with that logic, however I don't think it is much of an excuse for my lack of execution. Sure, I don't expect to look like a sandan, but geez…. I would think after doing nikyo so much that I should at least be able to get the hand locked into my shoulder and my hands in the correct position quicker then I am.

I guess in the end I am holding myself up to higher expectations. I don't see that as a bad thing. Heck, for all I know sensei and the yudansha expect more out of me as well. I stumble along, yet I continue to show up and train. Ever diligent in hopes that one day I will actually be able "see the light" and it will get a bit easier. Supposedly this 4th kyu test is coming up soon, but that has been said since I tested for 5th kyu in November. I am in no hurry. I see no rush to move up in rank. I mean, what is the point? It is like becoming another year older. I didn't really feel a difference when I was told I was now a 5th kyu. The only benefit I see about a couple of us testing for 4th kyu is to make the dojo more diverse rank-wise. We have five/six yudansha (excluding sensei) and they are mostly nidan and sandan, we have two 1st kyu, two 2nd kyu and after that there are a handful of 5th kyu and a couple 6th kyu. The 3rd and 4th kyu aren't represented, but that doesn't necessarily mean I have to fill that void….. does it?

A Small Class

Saturday morning I had a hard time getting out of bed. Seems that this is becoming more and more frequent, which either means I need more sleep or my meds need to be adjusted. Uck…. getting my meds adjusted means more blood work. So, for now I will just go with me not getting enough sleep. Unless I get to the point where I was before (sleeping all the time and barely making it through an aikido class) I will assume it isn’t due to my meds.

While I am getting ready, I get a message from the yudansha I usually pick up and take to class. He says he isn’t going this morning. At least this gives me another 20 minutes to get ready. Hard to believe it tacks on an additional 20 minutes to my trip each way… but it does. I get to the dojo and see the usual suspects there getting dressed. I hurry up, change into my semi-warm gi (I always toss it in the dryer before class when it is cold outside) and quickly tie on my hakama. I hurry upstairs and sit in my usual spot (as we sit according to time spent in this class). Today we are to work on mainly defensive and offensive draws. A nice break from the forms we have been doing a lot lately. This was also a nice choice since my head is bothering me a bit this morning. I am blaming my head issues on the weather and allergies at this moment.

We do each draw a few times with Sensei and then he walks off and stands on the raised platform where our shomen is to watch. If he sees something that needs to be corrected, he tells you specifically, or he may make a general statement if we all are culprits of the error. Then, he usually has us do it again to watch. Is he watching for new mistakes, or is he watching to see if you are trying to fix your mistakes; probably both. If he doesn’t see something that he needs to vocalize, he quietly steps back down, takes his position and says “Hai” for us to do it once more. Towards the end of class he had us work on a few forms. I once again got corrected for having improper hand rotation. For some reason, my hand just doesn’t rotate around like it should on a particular movement. Luckily, this movement is only in a couple forms. I keep trying and trying, but I always end up off. As frustrating as it is (knowing sensei will call me on it after watching me do it for the first time), I keep trying. I keep working at it… because I know that one day, my hand will fall into the proper place and he will then move onto some other problem that I have in that particular form.

Once class was over, three of us sat down for zazen. This usually lasts for a half an hour or so. Sometimes it goes by quickly. Sometimes it seems to drag on forever. Usually, I find this time quite helpful. I find peace in the tranquility of the moment and time does seem to pass fairly quickly. I was also hoping that my head could use the extra half hour to prepare itself for the hour and a half class that was about to ensue. Saturday classes are usually more strenuous and I was hoping my head would be up to the task (I didn’t bring any Excedrin). Zazen went quickly and before I knew it, sensei was ringing the bell to signal the end of the session.

While folding my hakama, sensei told me that one of the yudansha wouldn’t be here today because he injured his shoulder skiing, which then lead to us having a discussion about our injuries. I told him that thus far I had been pretty lucky and have only dislocated a thumb and sprained an ankle. I went on to explain how I incurred those injuries and how I dealt with them. He then began to tell me about a few of his injuries. One being broken ribs on the same day as a seminar he was supposed to help teach in. I have always found it interesting how people deal with pain and injuries. Some people baby the injury and see a doctor immediately. Others suck it up and deal and refuse to see a doctor because “It isn’t that bad.” Some people continue to train on the mat after taping the area or wearing support. Others choose to stay off the mat and observe. Still, there are others who opt to not come to the dojo at all.

I myself am a “tape it up and get back on the mat” kind of girl. At least to a certain point. If I had a cast around my leg, I wouldn’t be out there hobbling around the mat or anything. Sore muscles, a little bit of blood, bruising, achy joints or back, sciatica and even a light sprain wouldn’t keep me off the mat. As for a broken toe or finger, I can’t say. Maybe I would. If the pinky toe I stubbed back in the fall (which still hurts to this day) was actually a break, then I guess… yeah… I would still train. Now, one 2nd kyu student had his big toe broken in class. That is a little different. Your big toe does a lot of work and plays a part in balance. So, I could see not partaking in class. A severely sprained wrist or ankle might warrant sitting out of class as well. The last thing you need is to have your wrist tweaked the wrong way or having your sprained ankle rolled or whatever while running in circles for ukemi.

I guess in the end, you just have to listen to your body and see what is right for YOU. Just because someone else trained with that same injury doesn’t mean it is the right thing for you to do. Once our conversation about injuries came to an end, Sensei left the dojo via the back door (the inside way to the downstairs) and I left via the front door (go outside and walk to the side door that goes downstairs). I quickly used the bathroom and traded my iai obi for my regular obi. As I walked back outside to head towards the dojo, I started thinking about the fact that I didn’t see anyone else downstairs. I walked inside the dojo and found two people inside: Sensei and his wife. Sensei had a jo. I rei’d onto the mat and looked at sensei and said “I don’t know if there is enough mat space for all of us today.” Sensei was playing around with his jo. He smiled and told me to go “Get a jo.”

The class actually turned out to be both fun and quite the learning experience. Because there were just two of us, sensei was able to watch. For the most part, he didn’t really make many corrections. I guess he was allowing me to feel my way through it. The only time he would step in is if I got confused as to the footwork or if I was confused about flipping the jo around (we were working on all the basic responses to kesa- spelling?) The comments I did receive were: Drop lower to the floor, hit the hand, make the drop heavier, take her jo all the way to the mat, etc. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the class. It was relaxed and we took everything nice and slow. This allowed me to digest what I was being shown and I found it easier to replicate (or at least attempt to replicate) what I was shown.

Once class was over, sensei asked me if I was staying for the healthy neck and shoulders workshop. I told him that I would stay if I had the money. He told me that they would give me a scholarship to attend. I thanked him and told him I would love to attend. I then asked Sensei if he wanted me to run the mats by myself (we soak rags in a water/vinegar mixture and run the rags up and down the entire mats). He told me not to worry about it. He told me that I could sweep the mats though. The strange part was, I was completely willing to runt he mats alone. It wouldn’t really have bothered me. I went into the upstairs bathroom and got the broom for the mats. Once I finished sweeping those, I grabbed the other broom and swept the floor. I took the rug outside and shook out all the dirt. Once I put everything back where it was, I grabbed a rag and went and dusted the shomen. I couldn’t believe how dusty it was up there! I can only imagine when it was last dusted. I will have to make an effort to dust it myself more often.

The whole time I was cleaning, I found the experience to be very rewarding. I actually enjoyed cleaning the dojo by myself. I got to thinking if this was a taste of what being an uchideshi was like. How I would love to be in a uchideshi program. Our dojo doesn’t have one, but they do have a kenshusei program. As far as I know, no one is partaking in that program right now. This would seriously interest me if it weren’t for me living 30 minutes away and being married. I would have to train more then I already am (four days a week) and I am pretty sure my husband would like me home. We hardly see each other as it is now with him working weekends and “weekend” occurring on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I walked downstairs and asked sensei if he minded if I stuck around the dojo until the seminar started. He told me I was more then welcome to stay. I told him I was going to walk to the coffee shop and asked if he wanted anything. After a long pause, he decided against it. I told him I locked the outside dojo door and would go upstairs about 15 minutes before the seminar to unlock the door and wait for everyone to come. He agreed that would be fine and then told me he was going to pick up the skeleton they needed for the workshop. I then changed and took all my crap back to the car. I then went to the coffee shop and got my chai tea and a slice of banana bread. I hadn’t eaten since 7:30 this morning and wouldn’t be home until around 5. Once I got back, I plopped myself on the couch downstairs and called my mom. While chatting, I ate my bread and drang my tea. Once I got off the phone with her, I emptied the two trashcans that were downstairs and then played games on my phone till sensei came back. He walked in without the skeleton and asked if anyone brought it by. I told him that no one stopped by. He then unlocked the spare room upstairs and asked me if I could take out the blankets for the workshop and asked if I could create a sign in sheet as well. I told him I would take care of it. He then told me he was going out again to find the skeleton.

At 12:45, I went upstairs and unlocked the dojo door. I stood around waiting. When people started coming in, I asked them to take off their shoes, sign in and collected the fee for the workshop. Turns out that about 13 people or so showed up to the workshop! The workshop wasn’t quite what I expected, but I learned a bit more about the mechanics of the body and the importance of keeping your body in a “neutral” position. At one point during the workshop, someone asked what aikido was. Sensei motioned for me. I quickly ran over to him and grabbed his wrist. He threw me into a roll and then when I grabbed again he did kokyunage. After his mini demonstration the workshop took a break. A few older ladies walked over to me and asked if being thrown like that hurt. I explained that once you learn to fall properly, falls like that aren’t a big deal. I then went on to tell them about a gentlemen we had training in our dojo (but I had never met) who trained into his 90’s. Sensei came over and told them a bit more about various people he has worked with and told them about a guy he worked with who only had one leg. He said that this man had some of the best ukemi he has ever seen. Once sensei walked away, I told them that it is never too late to learn.

At the end of the seminar, I walked around collecting and folding the blankets, returning the blankets to the spare room, putting the zafu back, throwing away trash and answering questions. A couple people were interested in take the ATM or aikido classes, so I went downstairs to find some schedules for them. When most of the people had left, I asked sensei if he needed me for anything else. He told me I was free to go, but asked if I could stay till the last person left, turn off the lights and lock up the dojo. I told him it wouldn’t be a problem and then thanked him for allowing me the opportunity to take the seminar. I patiently waited for the guy to gather his belongings and then closed up the dojo. Time to head home to my husband and shih tzu!

Randori

You know you had a good work out/class when you wake up the next day and feel sore in some areas. This happened to me Sunday morning. I woke up and begrudgingly got out of bed earlier then I wanted. As I moved about my room, I realized that a few areas of my body were sore. I paused and took the time to think about what we did in class the day before. In all honestly, it was a fairly easy class (as far as strenuous activity goes). So, it really got me thinking. Despite the fact that our workout was easy, it was a good cardio workout and I’m guessing that I used the same muscles I use in most classes, just in a different way. If you take the time to think about it, the human body is a fascinating thing. It really is a miracle in and of itself. The things that a body is capable of are really quite astounding.

So what exactly did I do Saturday? It started off like most Saturday’s. By this I mean, I look around I am the only beginner in the dojo. There were five yudansha, a first kyu who was supposed to test for shodan this summer and myself. Whenever I see this, I always mentally prepare myself for a tough class. I guess I should take it as a compliment that sensei throws me into the tough classes. I don’t think he really expects too much out of me, but it is nice to know that he thinks I can at least manage enough not to injure myself (or others). What I didn’t know was that this wouldn’t be a “normal” type of Saturday class. The class somehow evolved into a randori class! We started off with simple partner work. Nothing too different there. Then he had us work with two partners. It started off with your two partners standing on opposite sides of you (either one in front and one behind or one on either side of you). You then had to find a way out of that pressure. The key to this was spinning your way out from the middle. After this exercise, sensei gave us two techniques and we had to use one of these two techniques on our two uke. The goal was to keep them on the same side and not let yourself get in the middle. We weren’t really throwing our uke around- just taking them to the point they lost their balance and they would walk a few steps in a direction to catch their balance.

Then sensei had us do the same thing with three uke. To make it a bit easier (probably for me), each person was assaigned an attack. One person would attack shomen, another yokomen and the third would tsuki. He kept encouraging us to be proactive and to walk towards uke and not be afraid to initiate. This was a bit more difficult then two people, but still manageable as we were all going slow and taking it easy (or at least most people were… some were still throwing you about). Sensei had us working in two groups of three, so one group would have time to rest while the other group was up working. It kind of surprised me how much randori takes out of you, especially if you are uke.

Once that was done, sensei then had us stand with four uke pressing on us. This was definitely harder then having two uke press on you. You really felt as if you had no place to go what so ever. Your only option was to spin and try to get out of the jumble of uke. At one point, sensei had us stand in the middle and the four uke would have bokken’s. They would all cut shomen at the same time and you had to get out of the circle. We also did the same thing with the uke having jo’s. Instead of shomen, they would tsuki. This all went pretty well and though I was a bit intimidated, I did alright. It was nice that I was the last to go each time (we went from highest ranking to lowest), so at least I got to watch several times. I don’t recall if we ended up doing randori with four uke or not. I think we did, but I just can’t remember…. So maybe we didn’t.

At the end of class, sensei had us do some breathing exercises to calm ourselves down. He told us that we would be working on this more in the future and that eventually, we will get to the point where the uke will be able to attack however they wish and you will just have to react. He closed by telling us to not be afraid of retreating during randori, so long as your attention and spirit continue to move forward. He told us, if all else fails and you are in a corner, run until you are in the open and can continue again. He also told us to not be “grabby” during randori. He said that if you grab too much, you can get stuck and it slows you down.

So, as I continue to ponder on whether I actually did something to warrant getting sore muscles, I conclude that perhaps I did. I used my muscles in a different way and I was under a bit of “stress” if you will. I was also thrown about fairly hard at times by an overly ambitious nage. It really takes you surprise when you aren’t supposed to be being thrown. It like being tackled during touch football, it happens, but that doesn’t mean it is necessarily expected. In the end, I think it was a good class and I learned a lot. I’m sure everyone was easier on me since I am a beginner, but I appreciated the fact that I got the opportunity to try. If it takes sore muscles to continue to progress and learn, I will take them. Push me to my limits and even beyond. Break me down so that I can rebuild myself into a stronger and more accomplished aikidoka. I don’t think I’m ready to spread my wings, but I’m beginning to trust that when sensei shoves me off the ledge, that I will be able to open my wings and fly.

On a completely different topic, sensei saw me last week looking at my hours. He said “I know you are way past due to test for 4th kyu.” I looked over at him and told him honestly that “I could care less about testing.” I then explained that I keep track of my hours at home as well and for some reason, the hours at the dojo and the hours at home didn’t match, so I was trying to find the discrepancy. Yesterday after Tai Chi, I was once again trying to figure out where the hours went wrong (this time for my husbands hours). The yudansha that I give a ride came over and asked me if I had enough hours to test. I told him that I did, but felt I wasn’t ready to test. I told him that I didn’t really feel like I had a grasp on nikyo or sankyo yet and I wanted to feel more comfortable with them before I tested. He looked at me and said “Maybe you should let someone else judge your competency for a change. You aren’t testing for shodan you know.” I looked over, smiled and mumbled something about being a perfectionist. He chuckled and said “I have no idea what you are talking about.” We both laughed as we turned off the lights and locked up the dojo. Good times……….