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Another amazing day. I'm learning a lot about attending seminars. Sit in the middle, so you can hear. Drink more water than you think you need to. Eat something at each break. And now I know that if you throw the morning's sweaty gi in your car at lunch, all the windows will be fogged up when you go to leave in the evening.
There are a lot of levels of understanding at work. There are some things I just Do Not Get. I can't even understand what's being explained, never mind attempt it. There are other things I understand, conceptually, but cannot begin to do at all. Someday... Then some things I get glimmers of success, and could see being able to do them with some exploration and practice. And there there are the ones where I Really Got It, and was able to do the technique the way it was shown. Woohoo!
This morning's sessions included a good mix of all those things. A few "duh... what" moments, and a few "aha!" moments, with a lot of everything else in between.
At lunch a few of us went to the park at the bay to take a quiet break, and just rest. We ended up with a dead battery, but luckily another friend was able to come rescue us with a jump start, and we all got back in time for the afternoon sessions, which started at 3:00.
About midway through the afternoon I was really tired, and my knee was tight from sitting around on the lunch break. I and some of the people I was working with were not catching the subtleties of whatever was being shown, and were sort of just trying stuff. I almost bowed out, figuring I was wiped, and not getting anything out of the rest of the day anyway. Maybe I could grasp it better by just watching. But then I got to work with a couple of folks who got what was going on. Their technique was great, and/but not subtle at all. I did a whole bunch of the hardest falls I've done in Aikido (not high breakfalls, just going down hard) and had no problem with that. The technique was really effortless to do, sneaky, and very effective. LOL It was actually hard to not drop Uke like a ton of bricks. Then on the next technique we did quite a lot of pitching each other rather forcefully into forward rolls. All of that kind of woke me up, and I was able to make sense of at least some of the rest of the afternoon.
In the evening there was a beer social at the dojo. It was great to have a chance to sit and chat with some of the folks I've met. I'm starting to put names, faces, and dojos together. I'll probably finally get a few names right on Monday, when the seminar ends. ;-)
Now I'm in that state of mind when one is immersed in an experience over a few days where you start to hear your own thoughts in the accents of dialects of the people you've been listening to all day. Even the way I was moving when doing my laundry and feeding the critters felt different. Weird zone to be in. I'm completely wiped out, and on my way to another hot bath and early bedtime. Back at it in the morning!
01-16-2010 10:49 PM 