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1/22/04
I could still feel the effects of having overdone it on Tuesday. It was a good secession today. I received a lot of help from Sensei on my Tai no henko kihon. (The moving one??). I seem to have a lot of issues with this, and my norm seems to be to forget who's turn it is, and then to forget which way I am supposed to go, and run into them. While this has to add a certain comedy to those around me, it does make me feel awful. It seemed to go easier with Sensei, then again everything does when he works with me. It's like I get to do something on remote control, he has me grab him, then magic and he controls the major muscle groups of my body. (How does he do that?)
Later in the class, practicing with Linda, I was trying to understand what exactly it was that I should do when uke on Gykute dori ikkyo, standing there grabbing her wrist seemed to not be realistic, or helpful to her, I truth it seemed kind of lame. I asked her about this, and Sensei came over and explained to me that as we went through learning, I would become a better Uke, and then I could do more to help my partner. Later we would add motion to these moves, and even reverse them on our Nages if they left us room to do so. He felt I was doing well, and explained that part of working together required that the uke had to be able to safely take a fall, take the energy that was involved in the technique. I knew this, makes sense, I don't want to get hurt. It would happen, and we would work on it as we went along. ( I still felt extreamely silly, and embarassed. I want to at least be a good Uke to people! ) Then to make his point, he explained to me that my feet were completely incorrect when being uke for Gykute dori Ikkyo, and that I was not blending with the force of the twist on my whole body, just above my waist, I needed to let my feet twist around too. He then did some magic, took over my body while doing it, and my feet did what they were supposed to. It was amazing. How did he do that? We tried it again, and my feet were mine again, and did it wrong. Two more tries, and I got it right. (Either that or he gave up to go help a more promising student :-) ).
Linda and I went back at it again, and I learned that I needed to get closer to the Uke in Gykute dori ikkyo. I also started to feel a little of the energy of the uke in this. If I pulled a tiny bit when they grabbed my arm, which would seem natural, then they would pull back, then I could push on their arm (Not natural for either party), and I would already have half the bent arm thing automatically. Then even better was to use that to bend their arm even more, giving me an even greater lever. Wow magic again from a tiny pull and a tiny push.
If I could only get my feet to stay on the right way for an entire class. It seems most classes they feel like they are on backwards, toes pointed in back of me, every time I try something.
I have to do something with my Gi, I need to find a sewing machine, and get the arms the right length, and take some off the legs too.
I wanted to go back for a second class in the evening, but felt it more prudent not to after Tuesdays marathon.
01-23-2004 03:26 PM 