Monday Night at the Dojo 4/9

Aikidokas: Randy, John, Robert, and Kim.

Ukemi: Not bad. I was doing some diving on the left side big falls. Sensei Raymond noted that and made a suggestion for me to bring my trailing foot up. I implemented it and the diving ceased.

The Walk: per usual. I forgot my place in the walk while doing the counting. I was trying to count, do the walk, and concentrate on making some adjustments. Too many items for my little brain to contain.

Releases: Worked with John. Did some tweaking on 6 and 8. I must keep my hand in my center as it's going over my head, if I continue to push out, uke twirls around instead of being forced backwards.

Techniques: with Robert. 5 sets of left side/right side Kote-geashi and 5 of Shihonage.

Robert went as tori first and did really well on Kote-. He had some entry issues on the left side but it went really well.

He had some amazing Shihonages. Apparently on one, he thought about doing the entry for Kote-, changed his mind and did the Shihonage entry. My off-balance was pretty substantial and I was toast. Shihonage works really well on me because of my height so, if you can get the off-balance, I'm gone. We did some adjustments to his control stance at the end of Shihonage. Nothing major

My Kote-geashi. Hmmm. My entries were off on a couple of reps. The main thing I need to do is to fall at gake and have uke hold me up. If that happens, uke will take a step and then my weight will be on his hand and he will have to take the fall.

Shihonage went fairly well. I've got to remember to feel for uke's arm and how far I can push it before forcing him on balance.

Aftermath: Bruise on Metatarsophalangeal joint (bulge on the inside of the foot near the big toe) on both feet from taking big falls. A little sore to walk, but not horrible

Plumbing leak has reappeared in the dojo. I'm going to go over and strip off some sheetrock panels to make it easier for the plumber to find the problem.