Pooped!

I pooped out again this evening. I still had a good time, though.

We started the evening with shomenuchi iriminage, always a good starting point. T. M. Sensei emphasized the zanshin and ma ai while blending peacefully. A. Sensei picked up there showed how different (and easier/more powerful) the technique was if, while blending with the attack, you keep the uke's wrist in front of your center rather than whipping his hand down behind your hip. It doesn't take pushing, straining, or over-powering uke when done this way. Remarkable!

No T. tonight. Ah, well.

Sensei's Birthday!

T. and I went to class tonight. We had a good time all around even though I was a bit out of energy - I had to sit through one or two set of techniques. I don't like that. On the other hand, I am starting to lose weight by eating better. Gotta keep that up.

As is our birthday custom, Sensei took throws from everyone - one for each of his 56 years - at the end of class. Actually, during warm-ups he did 56 mae ukemi and 56 ushiro ukemi, too. Man, I hope I can do half that in 9 years. This year we split up my throws across several classes so I could do them all.

We did some interesting techniques from ryotetori including ryotetori tenchinage and several reverse entry shihonage that I've never seen before - and have a hard time reproducing! Actually, the quick-entry shihonage/iriminage combination is quite impressive. Unfortunately, it was about that time when I pooped out so I could only do it a couple times. I also tried in on my turn to throw Sensei for his birthday.

T. came to class with me, tonight!

She's been doing her rolls very well on our new mat at home. My shoulder is still achey but it mostly does the job.

Tonight we worked on munetsuki (pronouced mu-NET-ski) is a fist punch aimed to land in the upper abdomen to mid-chest area. As usual, there are *lots* of defensive techniques and we did a bunch of them! We had fun.

It's been about a year, now!

Last year, T. convinced me to take her to Aikido. We started about one year ago, just after getting our first second car.

I nearly didn't go, tonight. I've fooled myself into believing that I need to have some carb-laden food in the midafternoon before class to avoid feeling run down during class. Turns out that eating carbs (read: sugar) really makes things worse, instead. This afternoon I... well, had a little sugar binge and the resulting blood-sugar crash nearly put me to sleep. I felt so dragged out that I waffled about going to class at all. By the time I drove home, I'd collected myself well enough to put on my dogi and get to to dojo half an hour late.

I talked with T.D. after class who also almost didn't make it tonight. She suggested SuperFood and I think I'm going to order a round of it to see how it goes.

The mat fits - just barely - in the living room. T. and I did aiki taiso yesterday evening and she did a round of rolling. We figured out how she was coming up on the wrong side in her forward rolls: She starts with her off-foot forward. She switched feet and rolled out right.

The Mat Arrived Yesterday...

... but I haven't had it out, yet. We need to make room on our floor first.

Good class. Started with aiki taiso, of course, and some paired stretches. I couldn't do the overhead one because pulling my right arm up over my head hurts. While nikkyo is good the nikkyo pin is *really* painful on my sore shoulder. I found that out this evening, too. P. was very careful of my shoulder, though. We're getting ready to test three people right now, maybe more.

I was tired tonight!

E. is back from N'awlins where he was stationed to help out after Hurricane Katrina. It was good to have him back safe and sound and I bet his family is even happier.

After warming up we started with katatetori shihonage omote and several kokyunage variations from the same kataetori entrance (same-side wrist grab). We went on to nikkyo and ikkyo.

Some day, I'm going to learn how to fold a hakama properly.

My Shoulder's Improving

My shoulder felt much better this evening. It's a little frozen, still when rotating up and back or down and back. I was able to do rolls tonight - well, as well as I ever do!

We worked with yokomenuchi, an open-hand strike to the side of the head. First we moved through the tai sabaki to learn the movement. We moved under/outside of the strike, ending up beside uke behind the striking arm. This leads pretty naturally into iriminage, the entering throw. We also varied this movement to try sokumen iriminage, the upside-the-head-entering-throw™.

Next, we used the same entrance to get to ikkyo, the subject of the previous Tuesday's class. A variation on the ikkyo entry takes you into sankyo that was one of the tough parts of my gokyu test in May.

The sankyo hold on the arm really gives the shoulder a good stretch. I had several good partners this evening who carefully helped me stretch my injured shoulder. We've got good people at the dojo. Lots of good people.

T. sat out this evening's class.

New Session

T. plead exhaustion again. I picked up my new glasses on the way to the dojo. (I now qualify for bifocals but I'll still use my old glasses on the mat.) I was late for the bow-in.

We started a new session at the rec center this week so we went back to some basics. That always works for me.

After stretching, Sensei asked M., who'll be testing for shodan next month, to lead the aiki-taiso finishing up with koho tento undo. We did ki testing and harmonizing practice.

I think my shoulder is pretty much up for rolling but it still feels a little frozen when rotating it up or back. I've got to stretch that out.