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Oops! I had no idea I didn't get Tuesday's class entered in here. I was there... all two hours of it. It was a really good class, but man my memory must have gotten wipped by last nights class because ...
AH! Wait, I remember now. Tuesday we tested Mr. Derren Hill! That's what it was. He passed his test from 3rd to 2nd kyu. Did a pretty good job too! On his keitin nage (sp?) he was stepping behind the Uke as opposed to drawing his leg straight back. I caught that! (No one else mentioned it, ha!) Otherwise it was an excellent test.
Lots of hip! Yonkyo was brutally fast, dropped me like a rock.
Now then... LAST nights class. Two hours of "How to move your damn feet."
*sigh*
It was amazing. Sensei asked us what we wanted to do, as it was just two of us. Lan suggested we do jiyuwaza until he spotted something that we needed correction on.
Good thing he did to, because we hit on something major last night: Moving Off Line.
My footwork got all hung up so we switched to ryorandori. My footwork was even worse, so I suggested NOT using my arms at all, just stepping off line instead... Sensei agreed that was a good idea. Well, it went from bad, to worse... to worser...
I couldn't move my feet for $#!+! Argh! Like roots, they were. And I found out why:
The Rules!
"This is the line of attack." ----------------------------------
Wrong! The line of attack is the most direct route between YOU and the UKE! Not that stupid little line on the mat floor.
"Once you get off line, you got back to Point A and get ready for the next uke."
Wrong! Once you get off the line of attack, you are standing on a NEW Point A toward which the NEXT Uke will make his attack!
"Don't move off of Point A."
Wrong. Now mind you, these are not "rules" that Sensei or anyone else ever told me. These are rules that I observed for myself, supposedly, and shoved myself into. I had all these wierd bounderies and restrictions on things I could or couldn't do. Huh! WRONG!
Once I ripped out all the old wiring in my head and established what I was REALLY supposed to be doing, boy did things change. I'm walking, I'm weaving, I'm getting in and out of traffic. It felt like I was in the 2nd Matrix movie, weaving in and out of traffic with Trinity on the back of her motorcycle. Then it was Pivot, Turn and begin again.
I wonder how many other bogus rules like that I still have in my head.
Last night was the night when I really started to shed the lower kyu ranks and began stepping into the ranking of 2nd kyu, onward toward 1st and beyond. hopefully.
Ki no nagre = flowing movement. It beats the regimented lock-step of the lower kyu ranks. Ugh...
More work. One night of practice, does not an expert or corrected student make.
Karen, remember that comment you made about working on moving yourself instead of the uke? I have a MUCH better understanding of that now.
06-23-2005 02:15 PM 
