Wednesday Night at the Dojo 5/31

Attendees: Tim, Randy, John, Keith, and Stanley.

Ukemi: did fairly well on both sides. Senseis are apparently pleased. More on that fruther down the page.

The Walk: Went well. Did it in a circle formation, everyone facing the middle. Strange

Releases: With John. Nice to work with someone my height.

Techniques: John worked with me and introduced me to 3 new techniques: Oshi-taoshi, Ude-gaeshi, and Ude-hineri (respectively, 6, 7 and 8 in the Ju Nana Hon Kata. 6 and 8 require belly-flop falls from uke, so they aren't terribly fun to take. It really helps if you breathe out as you're taking a fall. After working on those for a bit, we went through the first 5. I also went through some of the Bhakwas and through John on one of the moves, but left go of his arm when I should have held on to it. Oops.

After working through all of that, Senseis Tim and Randy wanted to see me go through the 5 techniques in front of them, sort of an impromptu "demonstration." Keith and Stanley sat quietly off to the side of the mat while I was doing this, so it was the atmosphere of a demonstration. John was my uke for this. He threw me a twist when I was supposed to be doing Gyakugamea-ate and blocked it, forcing me to go for Gedan-ate. We also went through Oshi-taoshi, Ude-gaeshi, and Ude-hineri on just the right side. Tim and Randy commented afterward that maybe I should get a green belt with a brown stripe, or some sort of puce colored belt, since I demonstrated some of the nikkyu techniques. lol.

It looks like my demo for green belt will be before the end of June and I'll be working with Keith for my uke. Plenty of time to get nervous.

Aftermath: Left lower back and left ankle are a little sore from volleyball, I think. Almost busted a toe walking around the house after aikido. Need to have the house covered in mats.

tag : Aikido