Wednesday Night at the Dojo 1/10

Aikidokas: Tim, John, Raj, Keith, Martin, Oliver, Shiela, Joey, Michelle, and TJ ( a new student). Wow, a big crowd. Not sure what the reason was. Not sure what brought Raj out of the woodwork.

Ukemi: I was introducing TJ to the joys of ukemi. It's good to learn how to teach the stuff.

The Walk: nothing unusual. Tim made Raj do the counting on the second iteration. Raj has a reputation (somewhat legitimately earned) of being an non-rhythmic counter and, occasionally, forgetting the Japanese numbers. He did fine this time.

Releases: Worked with Martin.

Techniques: Worked with Martin.

Kotegaeshi: spent a lot of time working on it and managed to get some throws from it. It's still very raw, but I managed to get throws on left and right sides. I started off with confused active hands and feet. I'd been doing the footwork at work when I was heating lunch or water for tea, but I wasn't incorporating the hands. So, I had the footwork down for a right-sided techniques, but my brain thought it needed to be a left-hand technique at the same time. I think I've got that straightened out now and I know the adjustment I need to make for the off-mat repetition.

Kotehineri: this is just Oshi-taoshi with a slightly altered hand position. Instead fo a push with the hand at the wrist, you place your thumb on the inside of uke's wrist and 3 fingers on the back of uke's hand (Sensei likes to have the index finger be pointing in the direction of the push). Footwork is king on this technique.

Aftermath: Another new student. Cool! When I started, I was the only white belt. We currently have 6, 1 of whom has not been seen since the start of the Christmas shopping season because of her job. It may mean more time is spent teaching than training, but I'm cool with that if it means the dojo is a livelier place.

Took a couple of Aleve before going to bed. Joints seem to be complaining a little after 9 sessions of aikido in the past 10 days. Probably 3 more sessions of aikido this week. And my right wrist was a little wonky. I think I tweaked it helping Kim at the library a while ago, and maybe an upcoming weather change is affecting it.

My left wrist was a reliable weather change indicator for a few years about 20 years ago. I've had two surgeries on it and until it completely "healed" it could senses barometric pressure changes.