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By watching me in class, people must wonder how on earth I make it through the day without killing myself.
I walk through the doors of the Dojo and I swear I forget how to even walk. The moves are so deceptive. The look so easy when Sensei does them, I watch carefully, get up, and I freeze. I guess the only thing worse than my regular memory is my muscle memory.
One move my partner & I were working on...he just looked at us and stopped the class to again show us what we were supposed to be doing. I almost pulled a muscle trying not to laugh.... other than two people dressed in white, it looked nothing like what we were trying to do. What a sight we must have been.
Some of the moves are at least starting to look familiar. I think I need to slow down and really pay attention to the details. If I could just get over worrying about the person I'm working with. I really hate to go too slow and drive them nuts. Although, I guess being a petite person, I should get down the details, it's certainly not like I can out muscle any of those big guys.
Out of the entire time, I just love working with Sensei. I swear, I get more out of just two minutes of instruction with that man than I do the entire rest of the hour. I'm sure part of it is I'm less self-conscious and more relaxed when working with him. Although, I swear he must tell me the same thing twenty times before it even starts to sink in. He must be either the most patient person in the world or think I'm only worki
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We actually put some of the basic moves together. It was great to see the reasoning behind some of those strange "dance" steps we've been practicing and all of that rolling around on the mat.
As I was working on rolls, it occurred to me how funny this would look to an elementary school student -- having to get instructions on how to do forward & backward rolls.
I was amazed that one of the moves (that had some great sounding name, but I can't come close to remembering what it was) actually moved someone off balance. Now, I know that someone who's been doing this for more than a few hours would say, "Of course -- Duh." But for some reason, the idea that at only 5'1 I could move this big strong guy off balance just amazed me. He, at least, was kind and masked his surprise when I asked him, "That really worked?" I'm not sure what outcome I expected, but I guess not that.
I actually had a moment when the moves actually flowed together one thing "clicked." The other students were incredibly helpful and great fun to work with. I hope I can quickly get to the point where they are not constantly having to guide me. That certainly cannot be too much fun for them.
The bowing…okay, turns out I haven't really overcome the bowing issue yet. But, I sort of tilted my head getting off & on the mat. That's got to count for something. I suppose it's along the same reason I wear sweats & don't have Gi (I wonder if that's the ri
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Class focused on more moves. Hum…turns out I'm completely uncoordinated. He talked about trying to be "elegant." Certainly that would be the very last word that could be used describe the way I was moving. He makes it look so easy when you watch him. But, when I start to move, I feel like I have four feet, and all of them left. I did learn from last week to put long hair up. Much less painful when you roll over it and I left the dojo with more of my hair on my head and less on the mat.
We started forward rolls from a standing position (I'm sure there is some slick term for it, but I certainly can't remember what it is). This is one of those things that looks so easy when you watch it, but then when it's time to hit the ground, it takes some getting used to. It was pretty humbling and certainly made me realize how much work has gone into the moves that I watch those guys do. It would be great to see a little demo at the end of one of these classes on what it looks like when you know what you're doing - with advanced students and the instructor.
The highlight of the class is when the Sensei has time to work with me one-on-one. It makes everything much clearer (not to mention he's just so much fun to work with its easy to look forward to).
Still having trouble with the bowing when getting on/off the mat. Not sure why, but I feel like an idiot doing that. Probably something to do with being such a beginner it feels fake since I have no idea what I'm d
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Feb 2, 2003
My first class was two weeks ago. Talk about feeling like a fish out of water. Not to mention being really nervous knowing that I was going against doctors orders to not start class for another eight weeks because of the Rotator Cuff tear. But having already waited three months for this thing to heal to start class was all I could take. My patience had reached its end and I just told myself I could fall on the right side and be fine. I probably should have said something to the instructor, but I certainly didn't want to be labeled a whiner or weak, so I figured I can fake my way through it. It did work, but I know I'm going to have to be really careful to avoid ending up in surgery. I imagine the recovery from that would take forever.
When we first got there one of the advanced students began telling us about all of the things that we could & could not say or do when the Sensei came in. Since one of my biggest pet peeves is large egos, by the end of the conversation I was set to not like this guy at all. Bow until he leaves the mat? Kneel while he speaks? It wasn't long before I caught myself thinking, "Who on earth does he think he is?" By the time he walked to the front of the mat, I had a big attitude just ready to go. But, I have to say after only a few minutes he won me over. What a nice guy. A great teacher that really started from the basics. He was very patient and was refreshingly laid back. My first impression is that this guy is really awesome an
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05-14-2004 01:03 AM 
