Class tonight
While it's fresh in my mind.
Small class tonight (the smallest I've been to so far-- only nine people including me-- all senior students) I liked it because, I got more one on one with some great senior students and Sensei. I was a bit of a sensei target tonight since I was the junior of juniors tonight.. LOL
We did a *lot* in class tonight. I felt like I was in some kind of time vaccuum. The class went really fast, but at the same time, it felt like we were practicing for days. It's amazing how you lose track of time and yet feel like you've spent hours practicing when you've only been training for an hour. (same goes for work, but I'm not thinking about work right now... I'm going to enjoy my aikido "high")
Scott Sensei started class off with our usual quiet time stretching and then our rolls across the mat and back-- forward and backward. After Bob Sensei's focus on rolling Tuesday, coupled with my practice at home, I was able to get over the mat without banging my head... albeit rathter slowly. Scott Sensei said "much better, you couldn't do that a couple of weeks ago"
He spent a little bit of time talking about ki extension. He told us to imagine we were rolling towards a horizon miles and miles away. Treat each roll like it's the first of mannnnyyyyy rolls. He said to extend our ki in that direction. I don't know if that helped me or not O_o I made it across the mat though. (last as usual)
Afterwards we practiced knee-walking, focusing on keeping your head from bobbing up and down. Crikey, that's hard.
Sensei then told us to take up bokkens, and we spent a good 20 minutes focused on the proper way to hold a bokken, ettiquette...etc.. We then practiced some attacking exercises. I can't remember what Sensei called them, but it was interesting and new. :)
Afterwards we practiced empty-handed techniques. Shihonage, iriminage, kotegaeshi.. my mind is very blurry after class, because it seemed like there was not a real theme for tonight. Sensei talked quite a bit about commited attacks. Giving nage an attack to work with. We practiced some tsuki attacks and a few different responses that allows an opening for multiple techniques. I had a hard time with the tsuki as nage. I could not seem to figure out where I was supposed to be going, and half the time ended up with uke's fist planted in my shoulder or chest. oops. :)
I got to try katatetori aihanmi kotegaeshi omote for the first time (so far I've only done ura) and that was interesting. It has a completely different feel.
The highlight of the night was practicing a tsuki iriminage with Sensei. He was nage first as he wanted to see my attack. He didn't find anything to correct (at least he didn't say anything anyway) with my attack. He gave me pointers on iriminage... holding uke's head close to your chest as you tenkan and maintaining your grip on their neck until you step through. It was *fun* being uke with Sensei, though when I practice with him, I really feel how broken up and inconsistent I am. I have a hard time just allowing the technique to flow. But then, noone is expecting me to be perfect. *sigh of utter relief*
I got several comments on how I was doing well considering my limited aikido training. Of course, I have a bad habit of appologizing to my partners when I misstep or have to try an opening three times before I get through the waza. O_o
One of my partners said I had very relaxed, open shoulders... a good thing he said. Funny, one minute I'm relaxed, the next I'm too tense. My brain seems to reel sometimes. I got midway through a kotagaeshi and completely went blank! I had to stop. I know I'm not expecting to remember everything, and certainly I'm not expected to perform at the same level as my seniors, but I feel so akward sometimes, and I wonder if my partners are counting the minutes until they can train with a "real" student... LOL My own insecurities-- I'll have to deal with them I suppose. That's part of aikido.
After class we cleaned up. I was almost the last person to leave. (I change pretty slow.. lol) Sensei asked how I was liking class.... I get asked that question everytime. I told him I felt like a complete klutz. At work I'm in "the zone" I know what I'm doing... when I step on the mat, I turn into a complete, uncoordinated mess. (at least it feels that way)
Ah well, I'm looking forward to Saturday and Sunday's classes. I want to go to both classes. Also, Sunday night my friend from the dojo wants to go to the Ft Worth dojo to practice (now that we aren't *complete* newbies) We'll see how that goes.
Liz
Small class tonight (the smallest I've been to so far-- only nine people including me-- all senior students) I liked it because, I got more one on one with some great senior students and Sensei. I was a bit of a sensei target tonight since I was the junior of juniors tonight.. LOL
We did a *lot* in class tonight. I felt like I was in some kind of time vaccuum. The class went really fast, but at the same time, it felt like we were practicing for days. It's amazing how you lose track of time and yet feel like you've spent hours practicing when you've only been training for an hour. (same goes for work, but I'm not thinking about work right now... I'm going to enjoy my aikido "high")
Scott Sensei started class off with our usual quiet time stretching and then our rolls across the mat and back-- forward and backward. After Bob Sensei's focus on rolling Tuesday, coupled with my practice at home, I was able to get over the mat without banging my head... albeit rathter slowly. Scott Sensei said "much better, you couldn't do that a couple of weeks ago"
He spent a little bit of time talking about ki extension. He told us to imagine we were rolling towards a horizon miles and miles away. Treat each roll like it's the first of mannnnyyyyy rolls. He said to extend our ki in that direction. I don't know if that helped me or not O_o I made it across the mat though. (last as usual)
Afterwards we practiced knee-walking, focusing on keeping your head from bobbing up and down. Crikey, that's hard.
Sensei then told us to take up bokkens, and we spent a good 20 minutes focused on the proper way to hold a bokken, ettiquette...etc.. We then practiced some attacking exercises. I can't remember what Sensei called them, but it was interesting and new. :)
Afterwards we practiced empty-handed techniques. Shihonage, iriminage, kotegaeshi.. my mind is very blurry after class, because it seemed like there was not a real theme for tonight. Sensei talked quite a bit about commited attacks. Giving nage an attack to work with. We practiced some tsuki attacks and a few different responses that allows an opening for multiple techniques. I had a hard time with the tsuki as nage. I could not seem to figure out where I was supposed to be going, and half the time ended up with uke's fist planted in my shoulder or chest. oops. :)
I got to try katatetori aihanmi kotegaeshi omote for the first time (so far I've only done ura) and that was interesting. It has a completely different feel.
The highlight of the night was practicing a tsuki iriminage with Sensei. He was nage first as he wanted to see my attack. He didn't find anything to correct (at least he didn't say anything anyway) with my attack. He gave me pointers on iriminage... holding uke's head close to your chest as you tenkan and maintaining your grip on their neck until you step through. It was *fun* being uke with Sensei, though when I practice with him, I really feel how broken up and inconsistent I am. I have a hard time just allowing the technique to flow. But then, noone is expecting me to be perfect. *sigh of utter relief*
I got several comments on how I was doing well considering my limited aikido training. Of course, I have a bad habit of appologizing to my partners when I misstep or have to try an opening three times before I get through the waza. O_o
One of my partners said I had very relaxed, open shoulders... a good thing he said. Funny, one minute I'm relaxed, the next I'm too tense. My brain seems to reel sometimes. I got midway through a kotagaeshi and completely went blank! I had to stop. I know I'm not expecting to remember everything, and certainly I'm not expected to perform at the same level as my seniors, but I feel so akward sometimes, and I wonder if my partners are counting the minutes until they can train with a "real" student... LOL My own insecurities-- I'll have to deal with them I suppose. That's part of aikido.
After class we cleaned up. I was almost the last person to leave. (I change pretty slow.. lol) Sensei asked how I was liking class.... I get asked that question everytime. I told him I felt like a complete klutz. At work I'm in "the zone" I know what I'm doing... when I step on the mat, I turn into a complete, uncoordinated mess. (at least it feels that way)
Ah well, I'm looking forward to Saturday and Sunday's classes. I want to go to both classes. Also, Sunday night my friend from the dojo wants to go to the Ft Worth dojo to practice (now that we aren't *complete* newbies) We'll see how that goes.
Liz
posted by Liz at 3/10/2005 10:38:00 PM
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