2/28/2009

So what happened at class today?




So what happened at class today?

With only 90 minutes available what experiences can one person have?

Working with a “new” yet very experienced senior student (nidan or above), I got some great personal and detailed explanation on Katatetori Shiho nage. Which is something you learn early in practice and is one of those things that at the beginning you tend to think you “understand”

Anyway, today I saw that most of the time Nage and Uke work a little bit too much together and this sempai reminded me of things I had heard of before but had forgotten.

I seems I was still (after 3 years) trying to raise uke's arm with my shoulder muscles but should have been using my whole body, turning with my shoulders hand and center all connected. And then shift forward with my body and center and only then raising my arms AFTER uke was unbalanced.

The we worked on Kotegaishi which I also thought I knew about but when I was trying to explain it to a new student I totally missed that if you try to apply to apply kotegaishi with the arms too high the effectiveness is much deprived. Fortunately Sensi was there clarify.

At one point for a specific demonstration of how to approach Katatetori ikkyo Sensi used me as uke for the simple example of drawing in of uke from Katatetori where instead of going to ikkyo nage simply shifts even farther back and uke flys by and goes to a roll. The cool thing for me was thay even though I didn't know what he was intending (I may be a little slow some times) I manage to realize he just wanted me to go with the flow and finish with a forward roll.


By the end of class Sensi felt we all needed to concentrate on maintaining balance. So we spent the last few minutes trying to stand on one leg and place the other foot on opposite knee. And then lean forward and extend the free leg back, lean forward and still maintain balance.

But what a full 90 minutes. Where else can you find such variety?

2/08/2009

Swordplay



My heel felt OK yesterday so I went to Aikido class, which was a weapons class so I felt it was less of a worry.

I finally got to try out my Bokken at practice and it turns out it is just the right size. FYI if you hold the bokken where a tsuba (guard) would be if it had one, then drop your arm to your side, the tip of the sword should just graze the floor. And for me it was perfect.

I could not find exactly what we worked on in a YouTube clip but the above video approximates what we did.

2/01/2009

A Time Out


Last Saturday was a fine Aikido class, except for Sensei prodding me to take the 3rd kyu test the following Saturday. BUT on Sunday night my left foot hurt a bit and by Monday afternoon I decided I should skip class as I had developed a pronounced limp.

When I painfully took my shoe off I discovered a bump just off center on the back of my heel. It hurt to the touch and was about the size of a large olive. On Tuesday the earliest doctor's appointment I could get was the following day.

Anyway the suspicion is it is an inflamed tendon. So I'm to not stress it until it is all better. Therefor I have missed a week's of practice AND definitely missed taking the 3rd kyu test. MAYBE I can make Wednesday's class.

I don't remember anything causing it and it just seem to slowly grow painful. I'm still hoping anything bad will simply go away, which is pretty much my life philosophy.