Never tell the Sensei you're tired!

Sidney Sensei taught today and we worked on a few ryotetori techniques. A very small class of 4 adults 1 child and Sensei.

My favorite was ryotetori kotegaishi where all you do is bring one of your hands in front of you and place your other hand on Uke's wrist and apply kotegaishi. No footwork to speak of. Anyway, when it works it is almost magical.

I've been on vacation for over a week with no exercise, so I was pretty whipped by the half way point of class. My partner at the time had to attend to a visitor of some such thing, and I hoped this would give me chance to take a break and recover. As I started to head towards the sidelines Sensei looked at me and I said “I'm tired” thinking this would seal the deal on my rest time.

He immediately motioned that I should work with him. Working with Sidney ALWAYS wears me out. But he thought this was the perfect opportunity for some much needed special instruction. For the next 15 minutes he tried to teach me that if you are tired the best thing to do is to not fight the techniques but relax and basically give yourself totally to the moves. He showed me how fighting wears one out and that if you are relaxed you can actually rest in the midst of the action.

And I “Got It”, mostly. I could see his point and I know I kept resisting, but even though I tried to relax I have always had a problem with that part of my practice. Boy was I tired afterwards.

So, even though I say “ Never tell the Sensei you're tired!” I don't mean it because if you have a teacher who is always looking for ways to help you, advice comes at the most unexpected moments.