<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<!--
	Downloaded: 06-20-2013 04:24 AM
	From AikiWeb Aikido Forums, http://www.aikiweb.com/forums
	Userid: 3238
	User Name: CatSienna
-->

<blogEntries>
<blogEntry id="4067">
	<title><![CDATA[A Feast of Seminars]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[It never rains but pours.  This month we're seeing 4 shihans come through Singapore and it's not that they're coming all for the same big event either. 

I guess they're all coming through the region and Singapore is a convenient place to stop off so the aikido community here is lucky enough to have so many all crammed into one month.  My dojo is fortunate to have three of them kindly conducting sessions there.  And I was lucky enough to go watch from the sidelines one class last weekend just to see the remaining shihan.  

I've seen two so far and this week brings the other two.  I'm looking forward to their guest-instructing at my dojo.  There are certainly benefits to being the airhub of SE Asia and on route to the Pacific region.]]></body>
	<date>11-21-2010</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="4068">
	<title><![CDATA[A Feast of Seminars]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[It never rains but pours.  This month we're seeing 4 shihans come through Singapore and it's not that they're coming all for the same big event either. 

I guess they're all coming through the region and Singapore is a convenient place to stop off so the aikido community here is lucky enough to have so many all crammed into one month.  My dojo is fortunate to have three of them kindly conducting sessions there.  And I was lucky enough to go watch from the sidelines one class last weekend just to see the remaining shihan.  

I've seen two so far and this week brings the other two.  I'm looking forward to their guest-instructing at my dojo.  There are certainly benefits to being the airhub of SE Asia and on route to the Pacific region.]]></body>
	<date>11-21-2010</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="4052">
	<title><![CDATA[Inspired by Shihan's Seminar]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I haven't been to a seminar in a while but as Fukakusa Shihan was in town, I popped along to the Tanglin CC dojo where I normally practice.  And as always I was inspired to watch and learn from him.  He never fails to surprise me with his moves and his litheness despite his age.  I'd certainly never imagine he was so old as he moves with the flexibility that some of us never achieve throughout our entire lives. 

He taught an extremely interesting move, among others, that I really liked and want badly to remember so am making a brief note here for myself.  

From a label grab, out, and down into what looks like to be like a standard elbow lock but instead use a slight twist at the end to turn it almost into a nikyo by a very slight sawing motion at the bicep level.  I'm not sure it's called a nikyo but it sure felt like one at the uke's end.  

During practice I kept digging into my poor partner's bicep which hurt and worked but wasn't quite what he taught.  The actual method being taught required less energy/force but was even more effective.  And I only figured it out once the Shihan himself kindly came over to help me with it. 

Classic.]]></body>
	<date>11-03-2010</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3912">
	<title><![CDATA[Another Year, Another Grading]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[There were three shodans grading for nidan and three nidans grading for sandan.  The three nidans proved a joy to watch with the tanto and bokken techniques and the multiple attackers.  Since I was one of the shodans, I wasn't able to see the other two shodans grade other than the occasional glance in their direction to avoid colliding with them.  However I am sure they were fine.  

We had several changes of ukes as the grading went on for an hour and a half for the nidans and an hour for the shodans.  There were a bunch of brown and black belts also on the mat at the start grading for their respective grades but naturally they got to sit down a lot earlier than the rest of us did.  

I think the shodans all ran through 6 ukes each or at least I did.  I'm very grateful to the ukes, most of whom were some outstanding ukes in the dojo and they were certainly put to the test for their stamina and ability to take freestyle attacks.   

I learned where some of my weaknesses were and where some of my strengths which is always useful to know.  I do not remember much else other than the techniques I occasionally fluffed and the rest is a blur of movement.  

Back to training!]]></body>
	<date>04-15-2010</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3812">
	<title><![CDATA[The Next Step Forward]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I've been lucky enough to partner some of the very experienced guys in the dojo and some of the not so experienced.  It helps me train each time as each person teaches me something different.  

With the very experienced and senior guys, I learn subtleties I would often have not grasped without their help.  Often my grip can be wrong without my realising it as the sensei pointed out about my executing a movement to grasp one end of the bokken without locking myself in in the next move.  

Or I'm not moving out from the centre although I think I am.  I learned the last session that I need for yokomen kotegaishi that I need to initiate the first movement exactly as I would do for the basic body movement.  

Or that I'm using strength when I think I'm using technique.  And how to change it so I rely more or technique. 

What I appreciate most though is their sense of control.  And I guess that is one of the distinguishing marks of the more experienced practitioners: the ability to control without or causing minimal damage and with minimal effort.  It's never been an art about how hard or how fast but an exercise in self control and in controlling one's opponent.

I'm glad they've helped me take these steps out.]]></body>
	<date>02-03-2010</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3747">
	<title><![CDATA[A Surprise Grading]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[We had a momentous grading in our dojo last month.  Momentous because two senior women who have been practising for 15 years were asked to grade on the spot when they were on the mat, about to take ukemi, for other dan grades. 

As one is easily one of the top aikidoka (male or female) in our dojo, and the other is very good indeed, it was well worth watching.  Needless to say, they did well.  The human drama was amusing to say the least as they were initially called up to the testers' table and a long conversation ensued with much bowing and apologetic smiling on behalf of the two senior aikidoka.  The upshot of it was that they lined up again, but this time to be tested, not to take ukemi.  

It meant everyone was on the mat and some of the people grading ended up having to serve as ukemi as well as do their own gradings.  

It all went beautifully and predictably everyone passed.  The two women are now sandans.   

Gambatte!]]></body>
	<date>12-06-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3676">
	<title><![CDATA[Our annual seminar]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[It's good to see Fukakusa Sensei again.  It's time for our annual seminar by him and by now it's the middle of the seminar and we've learned a great deal in the last two days.  

He's teaching us a great deal of how to move.  Nothing like basically moving offline.  As always, what impresses me is how a small, subtle shift in angle can change the dynamics so much.  We're revising a bit of what we learned the last time he was here and it's good to be reminded.  

Note to myself: 
- the third way of moving offline.]]></body>
	<date>10-22-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3551">
	<title><![CDATA[Visiting Sensei]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[We've had a visiting sensei come back to train with us these past couple of weeks which has been nice to see.  He was one of our Chief Sensei's star pupils and has gone on to found his own dojo with our Sensei's blessings in Canada where he migrated to.  It's great to see he has as much style and speed and efficiency of movement as he had years before when I joined and saw him.  His daughter apparently has inherited some of her father's ability but I haven't had the chance to watch her train yet.  

For my own improvement, I've been learning to correct some of the more basic mistakes i've been making and note them here so I don't forget. 

1. for kotegaeshi: while turning the person around, don't forget to change the grip just before turning the uke over so that the pressure can be exerted on the uke.  Now I know why one of the other guys I partnered a while back had put such pressure on my arm while practicing that movement on me...he was trying to show me how to do it.  

2. I somehow forgot how to do shihonage with a shomen jo attack and had to be shown that the upper arm grip is face up while the lower hand grip is face down.  I'm still trying to figure out though how far back I can let the jo go as i turn.  I tend to hold it firmly in front of my forehead so that my balance remains grounded and I can't be pulled off balance.  But I notice that my uke then tends to let go of his top hand which means I will end up changing the technique halfway through.  I suspect though if the uke were taller he'd be able to retain his grip.  My uke last night isn't more than 3-4 inches taller than i am so i think his arm reach is not long enough. I could give a little more space by raising my arms a bit as  I turn but as he is much stronger, I suspect he'd just pull me off balance.]]></body>
	<date>07-13-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3550">
	<title><![CDATA[Exhaustion during Grading]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Grading yesterday was fun to watch as the one first kyu grading for his shodan did a good showing.  He was visibly exhausted though and I was wondering if he could last the grading.  His first uke was changed halfway through and he got an even abler uke the second half.  I was impressed by how grounded he was and how good his balance was.  It's always nice to watch someone take their shodan and show good spirit despite being pushed to their physical endurance limits.]]></body>
	<date>07-13-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3533">
	<title><![CDATA[A New Kid's Class]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I've started volunteering at the children's aikido class on Saturday afternoon.  It's the small kiddies class where the youngest is probably just about 4 years old so very young.  It's turning out to be fun although I have to confess to being mildly bored the first couple of lessons but after that I began to get into it a bit more and it's now more interesting and there's more camaraderie too with the other volunteers.  

I kinda like this bunch of volunteers as it's a small and dedicated bunch as this is the smaller sister dojo of the main dojo.  They're a highly organised who are generally very disciplined and impart that to their students.  Today I arrived 25 minutes before class to help out with the mats and they were already all in place.  Now admittedly that's not the usual story but the usual story is that the mats are usually ready some 10-15 mins before class so it's great.

And the instructor tells me that the last class, the older advanced kids need no prompted to help keep the mats.  They just all pitch in.  It's simply understood.  No fuss, no bother.  It's what they see their seniors all do so they fall in line automatically.  And we're talking teenagers here.]]></body>
	<date>06-20-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3507">
	<title><![CDATA[A Visiting]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm definitely missing aikido and wishing I'd brought my dogi while on vacation.  I thought I wouldn't really have the chance to train but as it turned out I did have the time to pay a visit to a nearby dojo to watch a class and it was a good class.  I learned a lot just by watching and would have learned even more had I troubled myself to lug my dogi and got permission to train! 

Ah well, next time.]]></body>
	<date>05-23-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3460">
	<title><![CDATA[Seven shodans]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[We have seven new shodans in our dojo.  Five men and two women.  It's nice to see their progress.  They all had a lesson in hakama tying and of course we teased the guys after about their skirts. 

We also had two new nidans and the usual bunch of kyu promotions.  Was pleased to see the two new blackbelt girls.]]></body>
	<date>03-17-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3448">
	<title><![CDATA[Companionship is about Giving Encouragement]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Companionship is about giving encouragement. 

Something I need to remember: not to focus on the negative but on the positive.]]></body>
	<date>03-02-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3445">
	<title><![CDATA[Extending the Person]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm increasingly struck by how much people's personalities are extended onto the mat.  It's the quiet ones that in the end impress me the most as they go about their aikido with an ease that belies their skill.  

I'm also struck by the people who don't bother to blend or fit in, or who simply lack the subtlety to tell that it is the sheer effortlessness of the movement that really marks skill.  It's the correlation between their real life personalities and their ability or inability on the mat that I find the most striking.  

I had always separated mental skill from physical skill ie some people may not be good at things physically and so may be quite different off the mat.  One could for instance be an adroit lawyer or skilled mathematician but be physically clumsy and so I had initially assumed the two would be separate.  But it is to my surprise that while physical talent is separate, the personalities often extend.  The people who are subtle off the mat in other fields and areas of their lives "get" the whole subtlety of aikido considerably faster than those who barge their way through life and their practice of the art therefore differs in essence and this is reflected consequently in their ability to practice the physical form.

With people who have natural physical talent, this point is reached much sooner, but it is still evident in people who have a lower level of natural skill though that takes slightly longer to emerge.   Either that or i notice it only later :).  

People can change obviously but it is a striking thing to me  how much of our personality remains the same and is reflected so much in our physical ability to practice.]]></body>
	<date>02-22-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3437">
	<title><![CDATA[Newbies]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[We've had a sudden influx of 5 new girls.  One who joined a short while ago and then another four came along last week.  One is an old student who's already 2nd kyu and she brought 2 friends and the last walked in on her own.

Nice to see all these new faces and they're not faring too badly on the mat.  Think there are a couple of new boys too but as I don't have as much contact with them I don't really keep track.  

The fine white cloud of dust has deterred a few but all the die hards are still showing up and sticking it out.  We've also got better at coping with it and now mopping the mats before hand has taken on a heightened importance.]]></body>
	<date>02-09-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3430">
	<title><![CDATA[A Fine White Dust]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Our dojo has turned into a construction site.  So our mat space has shrunk and become dusty with a fine white powderly dust from all the renovation work that's going on.  They've cancelled Friday classes but otherwise we're more or less soldiering on.  However I think it'll get worse before it gets better over this month and there's a grading on 1 March so all those grading will have to put up with the dust and lack of air circulating since they've papered over the windows so we can't open them. I'm not entirely sure what improvements they're making but well, since it's only for a month, we'll live.]]></body>
	<date>02-04-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3420">
	<title><![CDATA[The Ugly Parent]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Today was a great class particularly the second class.  I had one of the really good women partner me and she was forcing me to make my sankyos more effective by grabbing me harder than usual and supplying me with some very effective but helpful resistance.  

My first class was somewhat marred by my having a little tiff with an ugly Singaporean parent just beforehand.  He  got my goat this time not just for his teenage daughter's behaviour but for saying that one of the senior aikido instructors was "unfit to teach" in the dojo.  And he repeated that three times.  And expected me to agree with him.  Needless to say I wasn't about to do that so I pointed out that if he really thought that, he'd remove his daughter from the dojo. 

I already told the mother off on another occasion when she said her daughter was entitled to attend class but not have to lay mats because they paid "adult fees what"....ah, what people think money can buy and what it really can't.  

I really must be getting old...this whole younger generation is entirely spoiled thing is a clear sign of age]]></body>
	<date>01-19-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3417">
	<title><![CDATA[Getting back my Aikido Mojo]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Great friday class...actually I had a good week at aikido.  Wed and Fri classes felt really good.  And we did a new move in Wed class I'd never seen before and am hard put to describe.  It just ended with ones arm pinned over one's head in what looked like a wrenching way.  

Anyway, it's nice to be back in the aikido groove again.  Haven't had this feeling for a long time since all the injuries, illness and work got in the way the last couple of months.  And of course i'm squeezing as much aikido as I possibly can in for the next week before the dojo shuts for Chinese New Year.  

Sadly the whole month of Friday we don't really get classes at my dojo as they're upgrading the place.  So even more reason to practice hard while I can this coming week.]]></body>
	<date>01-16-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3410">
	<title><![CDATA[Missing Training]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Sadly I don't think I'll be able to make aikido classes this monday/wed/fri like I normally do.  Work is definitely getting in the way with a lot of work functions at night this week.  

I'd rather be doing aikido!  

But well, one must earn a living so I managed to make the Sunday morning class and stay on to help in the children's class which is massive so they need all the adult helpers they can get. 

Plus I did however manage to do a pilates class and a body pump class so far this week in lieu of the aikido.  Let's see how much I ache tomorrow.  My first body pump class on New Year's Eve I ended up aching for 4 days afterwards.  For some reason I don't usually ache much after pilates class even though I don't have strong stomach muscles especially the lower abs.  I'm not entirely sure why.  

Hopefully my aikido schedule next week things will revert to normal since there's the Chinese New Year's break coming up and I'm sure that week the dojo will close.  So I'd rather not miss any more classes than I can help.]]></body>
	<date>01-07-2009</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3403">
	<title><![CDATA[New Year Resolutions]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[This morning I managed to go to the gym and do a Body Pump class which is a light weights class set to different music tracks.  It was fun and half way through, my muscle memory started to kick in.  I'd last done the class some 4-5 years back so I declared myself as a beginner to the instructor so she wouldn't wonder why I was slow.

It felt good.  I'm hoping to supplement my aikido with general keep fit activities this year and that was the start of it on the first day of the new year.  It'll also help as i think this year I will have more work related interruptions to my aikido so the Body Pump, pilates and yoga classes I can do at the gym will help me mantain muscle tone and fitness levels on non-aikido days or days when I can't make it to aikido.]]></body>
	<date>12-31-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3401">
	<title><![CDATA[Ending off 2008 and Starting 2008]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm awfully glad to see my new thumbnail growing out in more or less the right position.  I'd thought initially I'd have to go see a hand specialist and some minor surgery might be needed but it looks as though it might turn out right without any further intervention.  

It's yet another year end and this year end has been marked by injury and illness unfortunately.  However now that the flu has largely abated, I'm hoping to go back to normal practice and also do some resistance training at the gym to bring my muscle tone back.  That's my new year's resolution.]]></body>
	<date>12-29-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3393">
	<title><![CDATA[It's good to be back]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[It's good to be back after my short break.  While i'm still a little wounded, I can do enough that it's not too slow for my uke.  I just can't exactly grab someone with my left hand and i have to adjust my ukemi a bit since I don't like putting and sudden weight on my palm and don't like putting any weight at all on my thumb.  The throws are actually reasonably easy and i got to practice rolling and those work fine.   

I also stepped back also for the first time into yoga class today and yep, all this lack of activity has made me stiffer.  The class was good as it helped me loosed my left shoulder a bit as it was slightly stiff.  Of course the nice thing about having a bandage on my yoga class is I go as slow as I want and the teacher doesn't pick on me :p 

So I'm trying to return to a level of physical activity that was in place before the injury.  Just signed up at my old gym so I can return to some light resistance programmes like body pump and pilates so i can at least keep up the level of physical activity while I can only do beginners aikido.]]></body>
	<date>12-06-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3388">
	<title><![CDATA[Back on the Mat after hand injury]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Stepped back on the mat after a two week break to allow my hand to recover sufficiently and the wound to close.  I still can't really use my thumb since it hurts to even put the smallest amount of pressure on the thumb but beginner's class isn't too bad.  I just warn my partner before hand not to touch the thumb and bandage it so there's always a clear visual indication as to which thumb it is.  

Pins are definitely harder to execute properly but throws are ok since they don't require such fine use of the digits.  The ukemi isn't too bad as long as i'm not thrown to hard since slapping with that hand on the mat isn't exactly a great option right now to dissipate the energy of the throw.   

I'll probably stick with beginners' class for now until the thumb recovers a little bit more.]]></body>
	<date>11-24-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3373">
	<title><![CDATA[Friendship seminar]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Fukakusa Sensei is doing his annual visit to my dojo and it's always instructive and illuminating to see him in action.  Not to mention humbling :).  I feel like a beginner all over again because I feel like there are so many things I'm simply not getting as I've never been that good a visual learner and there are most certainly  a bunch more things I don't even know I'm not getting.

I was lucky to be partnering two guys who are actually a lot better than me the last two sessions though so they caught more of the subtlety of the movements and helped me try and discover those aspects.  

We did a lot of moves where we had to slip to the side very slightly.  Just enough to "enter".  And I found a lot of the time I wasn't either raising my hands up at the initial movement in a sword hand movement to protect myself and meet the attack just before sliding slightly to the side.  

Either that or i was simply not "entering" deeply enough so that I was close enough to launch a response that came from my centre.  

So many things, so little time....all I can say is I hope I remember to drill these little movements as without the followup practice, it's all going to fade away fast.]]></body>
	<date>11-05-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3309">
	<title><![CDATA[Slightly wonky knees]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[My knees hurt.  Not a lot.  Just a little and just enough to make me a bit more cautious going down stairs as the left one can buckle without warning so I hold tight to the bannister!  At least that's what it's been the past three weeks.  I don't know what's wrong but I'm hoping it's either a minor injury that will mend soon or that it's one of those things like getting loose joints at certain times.  Taking some zinaxin ginger pills at any rate to see if the little inflammation wears off faster.  

Needless to say I'm glad at this point to be partnering the nice new newbies during first class who go slow and the senior women in the second who have a lot of control.  I don't even have to tell them i have a bit of a problem as they adjust automatically without even knowing it :).]]></body>
	<date>08-11-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3268">
	<title><![CDATA[Improvements in Randori]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm finally getting used to doing randori.  It's taken a while.  It's not that I'm any better technically but at least it's less stressful being out there and I can actually enjoy the process and start to think a little bit more about what I need to try and work on when I'm out there.  

I've been trying to figure out how to not circle around so much because although it looks nice and generally people can't touch me, I can't control the situation.  So one of the guys told me that I should actually try and enter more.  So I've been trying that the last couple of times.  I find it means I have a higher tendency to grab (hard on the uke and less fluid and wastes time) so then the next time I tried turning even less but then while i stopped grabbing so much, I realised my positioning got a lot poorer and there were a couple of times I got swamped.  

So i'll have to keep trying to find a good balance and learn how to position myself better.  

It was also fun watching the new shodans get out there.  Some of them can move so those are the ones who are real naturals at it but others started out pretty much like me.  Getting swamped by losing time through improper technique then the whole session falls apart.  Taking ukemi is also tough on some of them I notice but one of them who actually looks like Po in Kungfu Panda turned out his ukemi is improving by leaps and bounds (literally).  It's a joy to watch him now and it's fun to do randori with him.]]></body>
	<date>07-09-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3266">
	<title><![CDATA[Kids Not Helping with Mats]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Sometime back I wrote about a 13-year old who is allowed to join the adult class and who never helps with the mats.  Earlier this week I found out why: it's the parents.  The mother told me the father tells her not to help with the mats because she's tired after school, she's so small she can't do much etc (she's as tall as I am and frankly the adults don't expect too much just that she tries.)  

That would explain a lot.  It explains why despite being told, asked politely and eventually scolded by her sempai, she would always say yes but skulk upstairs rather than coming down to help despite being early. After all, father trumps sempai.  It was only when the sensei himself went up to her and scolded her after one class in no uncertain terms that finally she showed up with mom instead of dad (who usually just sits and reads newspapers by the side).

I pointed out to the mother that everyone is supposed to come and help with the mats, and her child, especially since she was being allowed a special privilege to attend the adult class and be trained by the adult sempai, is doubly expected to do so.  However that didn't seem to carry any weight as the mother then responded that, well, she's not been there that long (it's close to 6 months already) and that they'll start to pay adult fees soon at which point I really got annoyed and told her point blank that I can see where the problem lies, it's with the father's attitude that's the real cause of the problem isn't it and then walked off to class.  I don't blame the child in this case any longer, as it's clearly the parents fault.  To them money buys everything and those who have to do menial work like lay out mats are lesser beings than they.  

She, her daughter and father, have lacked the emotional sensitivity to figure out if her child continues to behave in this way, her child will continue to bear the consequences as there's already a clear sense in the dojo that this is a difficult child to partner.  The ones who care, scold her, the ones who don't simply avoid partnering her.  All of us can sense her attitude and the attitude of her parents reflected in her.  

Sometimes I think Karate Kid should be required watching for all kids taking up martial arts.  At the end of the day, martial arts train the mind and heart as well as the body.  It's extremely shortsighted of parents to think otherwise even though it clearly takes more effort in the short run to discipline.  A child needs both love and discipline the balance of which each parent must divine as best they can.  One without the other leads only to pain later in life as this child is discovering.]]></body>
	<date>07-09-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3262">
	<title><![CDATA[Kungfu Panda]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Kungfu Panda's a blast.  I just saw it today with a bunch of aikido mates and we all enjoyed it hugely.  Was laughing out loud through much of the movie with all the antics of the characters.  

It's got a fairly predictable plot (and i'm not going to say anymore about it so no spoilers here) but so well executed it's a joy to watch.  I really like the fight/training sequences and my favourite sequence has to be when the choosing of the next Dragon Warrier is on and the hero is trying to get into watch the proceedings. 

The fight sequences often are to me like the martial arts movies I've seen with characters swooping from tree to roof at impossible distances etc.  With animation it can be done far more smoothly and plausibly in an imagined world than with real life actors and props.  It's why i think I actually prefer this done in animation than in real life movies.  Kinda like a Platonic ideal.

My favourite line:"I eat when I'm stressed."]]></body>
	<date>07-06-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3249">
	<title><![CDATA[Get out of the way]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I find it strange that some people never seem to learn the first basic lesson of aikido which is to me: get offline!  And that this means psychologically as well as physically.  There really is little point in learning a complex and subtle martial art like aikido if one is simply going to retain that combative and confrontational attitude on the inside since that will rise to the forefront at the moment of stress.  

Self control is a hard lesson indeed.  And flexibility of the mind is an even harder thing to train sometimes than flexibility of the body.]]></body>
	<date>06-26-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3209">
	<title><![CDATA[Randori Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Had another randori session.  I have this love-hate relationship with randori.  I think it looks incredibly beautiful and it really displays aikido at its best sometimes.  But it's always not that easy being uke for me as my ukemi skills at high breakfalls still leave much to be desired.  

Nevertheless, being nage, gives me a lot of practice and last Wednesday was no exception.  I don't think I did as well as I did the last time but I figure it's one of those things, the more I practice, the better I will get at it.  

This time I had two very good guys be my ukes and one very good woman...all senior to me and I think they did pace it a bit to suit my ability.  Ended up doing a lot of turning on the spot repeatedly cos I always seemed to have two ukes about to attack so I was thinking in retrospect, I'm pretty sure I made some mistakes there and should have tried moving away a bit!  Would have made it harder for me to get so surrounded.]]></body>
	<date>05-16-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3202">
	<title><![CDATA[Flu Epidemic]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[About 1 in 3 people I know is sick in Singapore or it could be closer to 1 in 2.  It's like an epidemic but as it's a mild thing in intensity, most people just kinda go about normal and no one rings the alarm bells, thank goodness.  For anyone who's had to live through the SARS epidemic, the city kinda went a bit neurotic and hysterical well after the danger had passed its peak. 

So anyway, to cut a long story short, i'm sick.  But die-hard enough to finally show up for class after a week of not going to class.  And then discovered that about 1/3 of the class was recently or was sick like me.  And like me were die hard enough to show as soon as the symptoms showed any sign of abating.  I did wonder before I went if I should show up but I also figured well, it's so prevalent and the people who show up for aikido aren't high risk groups and have already probably been exposed to this.  Plus by now I must have developed some level of resistance so they'd get half dead germs which is the best kind to get.  

Despite that, the class was packed.  20 people I counted which for a Friday class is a record for the last 2 years.  ( I should add that our normal classes for other days of the week numbers more around 50...so it's only the aikido diehards who burn their friday nights at the dojo :) )]]></body>
	<date>05-02-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3188">
	<title><![CDATA[Learning Points from Fri Class]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I learned so much in class today...one of the yudansha took class and he seldom teaches this class so it was a refreshing change.  So I'm noting down all the bits I was doing wrong so I will hopefully remember.  

1. ukemi for yokomen: I should glide forward with the front foot a bit if necessary to retain balance.  Also should check if I'm moving too early if nage doesn't move.

2. shihonage from a yokomen strike: do not use the blocking hand to hold.  Use the other hand.  It makes pushing out the uke's striking arm easier.  

3. shihonage: extending uke all the way through...proved very hard with the nage I was working with but essentially i was told that I tended to give uke back his balance in the second half of the movement..but I haven't yet managed to figure out if I need to move further behind uke to achieve this or to angle uke's arm down earlier...will have to experiment i guess.

4.  kotegaishi omote from katate dori: tenkan then "step out" and remember the drawing back of the front foot goes into 270 degree circle...I kept stopping well before that cos i was just too afraid of hurting uke

5. kotegaishi ura version 1: keep uke's arm clasped down close to the body at the hip and just turn by taking tiny steps on the spot and above all remember to look towards my back shoulder while doing so and turn that way.  

There were other points but well, I think that's all I can clearly remember for one evening.]]></body>
	<date>04-18-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3184">
	<title><![CDATA[It Just Keeps Getting Better]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I've had this happy glow both today and last Monday after class.  And it's just because I've had good classes in the sense that I'm learning more aikido from a point where I know enough to start playing...which is always fun...

It's also it's just at a point where I'm so comfortable with the people and there're are enough people who are just obviously happy to see me and I them...that nice glow only really comes from that kind of community spirit that's been built over years.  And since that's been rather hard won, i treasure it all the more.

And then i thought, there are very few areas in my life, where it's been so easy and so rewarding to build this up...as long as I worked steadily at it.  The beginning was hard but because I loved the art itself enough, that alone was enough to get me through it week after week.  Other areas of my life still take a lot of hard work and it's like ploughing in rocky ground...no matter how hard I work, nothing much seems to grow and flower but scraggly little plants which are barely getting by.  Aikido was like ploughing in rich soil...it still took lots of hard work to get by but the plant that grew and grew made it all worth while.  

So it's just nice to have this sweet spot in my life that I can go to several times a week to recharge.]]></body>
	<date>04-09-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3169">
	<title><![CDATA[A Lesson in Striking]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Halfway through the beginner's class, my Sensei had me punch his face but i kept pulling my punches an inch from his nose so he kept not moving and telling me to really hit him.  I have to say it really takes some nerve to try and really hit him because I figure once I pass that point, I really won't be able to stop and if he doesn't move (which of course I know intellectually but it's still to grasp that at  gut level), I will end up hitting him in the face in front of the entire class.  Now that would really be a faux pas.  

I had to try several times before he was satisfied and it was interesting to me to see how far I had to go before he'd move ie that I was executing a fully committed attack.  I realised he only moved at just that point when I had just about overextended very slightly and of course that was enough for him to just take me down lightly.  

It's really such a huge difference in ability and I'm not sure I'll ever get to the point he's so clearly at where he can tell immediately if I'm really coming at him or can still pull the punch.  Sometimes *I* can't tell if I can control it and I'm the one throwing the punch.  It's what gives him that amazing ability to time his response so that he looks like he's moving at an incredible speed but while he's moving very fast, it's actually a lot more to do with timing and knowing where his uke's going.   I on the other hand have great difficulty figuring out what my uke is going to do sometimes so it's more like I'm reacting and slowly at that.    

It also made me think about the other martial arts where there is a lot more punching:  taekwando comes to mind where the punches are generally done only from a very rooted position.  Now I know why they generally teach a fast punch from a rooted position and an equally fast withdrawal.  Not of course that I'm an expert on other martial arts.]]></body>
	<date>03-24-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3168">
	<title><![CDATA[Washing with Vinegar]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I try and wash my hakama once a month and last week since it was the Easter weekend, I decided it was a good time as there was no class on Good Friday, to wash mine.  Unfortunately it also rained a fair bit at the time and my hakama somehow didn't dry out fast enough.  The result was, come Sunday morning, and I discovered it smelled musty.  Eeeooooowww.  

Drying it in strong sunshine helped only momentarily but as it rained hard just before aikido and my gi pants became damp from me walking through the rain, the hakama in contact with my gi pants started to smell again.   :yuck: 

So back to the drawing board.  I tried washing it again last night and  did a final rinse with a generous helping of vinegar.  I'd rather smell of vinegar than that musty smell.  It's now hung in my window so that the afternoon sun will hopefully hit it hard.  Let's hope it works.

PS: Guess what: the vinegar rinse worked.]]></body>
	<date>03-24-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3167">
	<title><![CDATA[Ukemi: Kaiten Nage]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I finally learned how to do ukemi for soto kaitennage.  It was one of those things I'd been doing wrong forever and didn't know it was wrong.  So just as well today my friday instructor partnered me during the intermediate class and corrected me...and it was one of those he had to tell me cos I clearly wasn't noticing it on my own :)...now I know why other people's ukemi while doing this looked so much smoother than mine.:blush: 

Now I have to figure out nage's role better as I felt I still didn't have a lot of control over uke when performing this technique.  

I was also picking up pointers on just simple throws (down and out not straight out)...and using the ken which I think I still need a lot of practice at.  Anyway, inch by inch then.]]></body>
	<date>03-24-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3166">
	<title><![CDATA[You Know When You're Getting Old When....]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[What does it take to get teenagers to help lay mats I wonder.  There's definitely a difference since I first started aikido 4+ years ago.  While there were always those who didn't help out, I did notice there were distinctly more who did come in to help from young kids to teenagers.  Now there's only one very young shodan who comes in each Sunday morning early and helps lay mats.  

The young 13 year old who comes early with her dad never steps in to help even when politely invited and she has been given special permission to attend adult class during weekdays and she clearly hero worships our Sensei.  Same pattern but in this case, it's clear she's there because she wants to be whereas I do have some sympathy for the kids who are dragooned into it and don't blame them for not helping out much.  

I'm actually quite happy helping with mats before class and as long as I have time to do so, I will...it's also in our dojo, I do try and come to lay mats because in general it's the guys who do the heavier work of lifting and stacking them back after class so I figure it's only fair I try and do what I can before class when many others are delayed because of work.  

But yeah, you know when you're getting old when you start grousing about the next generation :).]]></body>
	<date>03-24-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3165">
	<title><![CDATA[Visitors]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[We had a couple of visitors this advanced class today.  One of them is from a dojo which has a good relationship with ours and the other was a visitor from Bangkok.  They enjoyed the class but unfortunately they missed the opportunity to partner with the locals as they hadn't realised we don't normally change partners during a session and they kicked off by partnering each other.  So I think they were kinda taken by surprise and a bit disappointed although they enjoyed the teaching and the rest of the class and they were decent enough to show up nice and early and help lay mats. 

Well, they'll just have to come again ;).]]></body>
	<date>03-23-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3152">
	<title><![CDATA[New Recruit]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[One of my mum's neophytes came to watch with a view to joining and since she liked what she saw, I introduced her to Sensei who then ordered me to get her the forms.  So hopefully she'll appear on Wednesday and it'll be nice to have a new white belt woman on the mat now that the last batch have all graduated to become at least blue belts and the three i often hang out with are already brown belters and don't really need me to act as sempai any longer.  I'll pray she sticks around and brings her friends to boot ...would be fun if the church crowd she often hangs out with comes along as I know and like them too...just don't spend as much time with them as she does.]]></body>
	<date>03-03-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3146">
	<title><![CDATA[Randori - Not Bad]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[For the first time, I've managed to do at least not abysmally at randori....or at least in the words of my sensei, "not bad"...which sure beats the last few times I tried :).  

I'm sure part of it was that I had some very good ukes but for the first time, at least for the first half of it, I was actually doing ok as in not getting stuck with ukes and remembering at least half the time to turn right around rather than turn to throw one uke and turn back.  I could still do with some improvement on that front but at least it's a start.    

With these ukes, it really helped that they moved in a way that helped me to concentrate on getting my placing vis-a-vis them right.  So it really helped my training.   I was also moving without thinking so that I actually don't remember what I did until I did start thinking at which point I faltered because I then couldn't decide which of two equidistant ukes I should take...I had no real idea where the third one was but of course in those precious split seconds, they all closed in fast and then it was all over.  

So yes, definitely still lots of room for improvement and lots of mistakes at the end but hey, I got fairly far along nicely until then which is a first.]]></body>
	<date>02-21-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3142">
	<title><![CDATA[Note on Tanto technique]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[had fun practising on Sunday morning with one of the guys whose technique I like a lot as it's very smooth and he's very sensitive in general to changes in uke's balance.  Am trying to figure out how I can develop the same level of connection both as nage and uke.  I still feel like I'm not that sensitive because I'm still using too much muscle...still need to attain that fine balance between being relaxed but not a rag doll.  

Just one note from that practice so I don' t forget it: kotegaeshi from a tanto thrust. Use a small down movement to destabilise uke first then raise hand up rather than sideways as this is less dangerous to nage.

Postscript: I tried that little variation of kotegaeshi with a tanto attack on another nidan, but lo and behold, it didn't work anywhere near as well...hmmm...back to the drawing board.]]></body>
	<date>02-03-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3138">
	<title><![CDATA[Pilates &amp; Yoga]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm so pleased that I finally discovered how to do the boat pose in pilates/yoga.  I've always been under the impression my lower ab muscles are weak as getting to do these slow curls into and out of a boat pose are next to impossible for me at very low angles...and the yoga teacher finally said something which worked.  She said that if your feet rise faster than your head, you'll never be able to do it...and I realised she was absolutely right.  I was just raising my legs way faster than my head most times.  

It's not really got anything to do with aikido but I thought there are also these moments in aikido when the instructor or one's sempai notes something and it suddenly makes sense.  One of these aha moments.  And they occur certainly in aikido as well.]]></body>
	<date>02-02-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3130">
	<title><![CDATA[Nattering over Supper]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[A bunch of us gathered after Friday class for supper and for the sole English chappie amongst us, a couple of beers.  For the rest of us Singaporeans and Malaysians, sugar cane drinks with or without lemon and plates of oyster omelette ("or luat"), satay (grilled meat on sticks) is the equivalent of a pint in a pub on the way home.    

The conversation turned to how aikido tended to moderate one's behaviour in general and one of the guys said it had actually made him calmer.  That was interesting to me because since I'm not generally given to losing my temper so it's harder for me to imagine what it feels like internally to lose control so easily.  (If anyting I have the reverse problem of too much suppression of emotion ;)  ).  So it was an interesting confirmation of what our chief instructor had said in another class earlier in the week.  He'd pointed out how aikido actually often has this regulating or moderating effect on people's temperments.  For people given to anger, it helped them calm down and for people who were more timid, it built up their sense of confidence and courage.  For this particular person, he said he really agreed with that and discovered it had that effect on him.  He also said aikido was a very good way of balancing his emotions before he went home and faced the demands of family life.

Plus he said he just liked the logic of aikido.  Instead of trading blows, getting out of the way then taking someone down with a minimum of effort and minimising any hurt if possible, was just much more sensible.    And coming from someone who has actually been in more than his fair share of fights that was an interesting statement.   

That sure made a lot of sense and for me it's always very interesting to see and hear other people's perspectives on aikido especially when they're very different people from me.  For me, other than the fact i just love the sheer art, it's always been a good de-stresser after of course I got over where my hands and feet had to be :) which took quite a while in my case.  So it's definitely a strong reason for showing up after a hard day in the office, not that I need one aiki addict that i am :D .]]></body>
	<date>01-12-2008</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3114">
	<title><![CDATA[Pint Sized Whirlwind]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Minegishi Sensei visited our dojo today and taught a seminar.    There was a lot of focus on ukemi and it was interesting seeing the variations what she chose to emphasise.  She was exacting in her demands on the ukes she picked.  I'm noting some points here before I forget them which are the ones I'd particularly like to remember:

(a) as uke bringing ones feet closer together often creates more ways in which one can roll or breakfall out whereas having ones feet more widely spread apart tend to narrow the angles one can breakfall safely out of.   
 
(b) keeping one's back straight and head out of the way of nage is standard stuff but something I know I can forget to do.  She certainly didn't let any of her ukes forget.  It also means that overall one keeps one's butt in line and maintains balance better on the whole.

She also taught a couple of interesting variations.  One was on tianqi nage which was to draw uke first towards nage before throwing them.  I thought at first it might be hard to do then realised well, if there was a committed attacker even if he was a lot bigger, then it would work fine since there would be forward momentum from uke.  She was illustrating that particular variation and said because she said in her experience this worked better for a smaller person against a bigger person.   

Overall though the best bit is always seeing a pint sized woman at age 67 well able to hold her own and bursting with life.  She could easily be 40 with the sheer amount of physical energy and strength she displayed.  I certainly think of her as a role model for me...and hope that come age 67 I'll have at least some of that energy.]]></body>
	<date>12-07-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3111">
	<title><![CDATA[One Step Forward, Two Steps Back]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Just when I thought my high falls and general ability to take falls was improving, i realised today that I'm still too fearful.  My instructor did a move I've only seen once before with me as the uke and I just completely stopped and that was even though I kinda half recognised it and it was a perfectly safe fall to take.  But i just got scared and stopped.  And then after I got up and tried again, a few times into ukemi, I managed to hit my head on the mat.  Not enough to get hurt but enough to bump it.  And I realised just how bad it was that my fear was getting the better of me.  

I watched the other uke take falls and he's very good so the instructor threw him using a lot of techniques and throws we often don't practice so the class could see how the ukemi worked.  All I can say is that I'm just disappointed with myself but also am sitting here wondering where's the balancing point for me between safety and fear.  Fear has a role to play by stopping me from doing things that can be too difficult for me but it also means I don't take a chance when I should and then it paralyses me and stops me from growing.  And this time around I'm pretty clear that it wasn't that nage was going too fast, at least not physically, but that my fear simply got the better of me, my brain then kicked in and over-rode my reflexes and I stopped to think:o .]]></body>
	<date>11-30-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3107">
	<title><![CDATA[High breakfalls and rolls (again)]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yippee!  I'm getting slowly better at high falls.  Our Friday instructor is moving the class along slowly but surely and just giving us the time and space to keep drilling till we begin to feel more at home with them.  This time round we still did them slowly but distinctly faster than the nice soft low ones we did the last time.  Am definitely feeling a little more comfortable about shihonage but of course we're still drilling at relatively slow speeds and not forcing uke too much.  

Also figured that my left front roll which has a distinct tendency to be be crooked gets a bit better if I start out by bending closer to the ground to start with...maybe it just makes me turn my hips less.  I suspect I unconciously turn my hips just before I roll which is what causes the problem.]]></body>
	<date>11-23-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3101">
	<title><![CDATA[Notes: another one of the guys]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Notes on last practice:

1. shihonage: extend more to keep uke off balance when turning.  I have a tendency not to and my uke after several rounds of me not extending, finally just pulled me in to show me where the hole in the technique was and told me how to fix it.

2. kotegaeshi: the first lock on the wrist is a lot more effective when done at my waist level.  Have been really doing it too high.

3. relax more: especially in the kokyu exercise at the end, my uke demonstrated how I was using muscle strength when I could simply just reach and achieve a far more relaxed and effective result

Haven't praticed with this particular uke since I was a blue-gold and was really happy to get to partner him after so long.  He's one of the senior dan guys who are actually very nice to the more junior to them and impart their skills very effectively.  He always reminds me of a giant teddy bear somehow but with great speed and flexibility.

My falls really sucked yesterday though...somehow my left front rolls were really crooked, even more than usual.]]></body>
	<date>11-14-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3097">
	<title><![CDATA[With the Boys]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Today i got to practice with one of the guys whose aikido I like and I've never really partnered.  He was kind enough to give me a couple of pointers which I note down here in the hopes I'll remember them on the mat.

kotegaeshi: in the turning around, I need to hold and turn the hand close to the ground in order to ensure the uke is well and truly pinned down

sankyo ura: turn in and backwards...i'm not quite getting the angle right for ura somehow although my omote is more effective.

He was fun to work with in that he plays a little and experiments so that there's always a possibility of being surprised which keeps me more alert.  Plus since he's got excellent control so I feel freer to attack in a more committed fashion since I know he can bring me down safely and softly.]]></body>
	<date>11-12-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3093">
	<title><![CDATA[Breakfalls from Shihonage and Kotegaeshi]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I've always been afraid of breakfalls particularly from shihonage.  So in our last Friday small class, our instructor took the whole class through breakfalls 101.  

Turned out to be quite easy and not too painful even if one forgets to slap the mat first.  What made it easy was that he asked that nage drop to his/her knee and simply allow the uke to fall out at her/her own pace.  This reduced the distance to the mat considerably and therefore the impact and scariness factor.    

We then did breakfalls from kotaegaishi which I've always found very elegant when done slowly, so it's more like a roll since nage leads with his hand very close to ground.  Uke tips over very slowly and unfolds into a breakfall rather than a roll.  Easy-peasy when done at this nice relaxed pace.

Our instructor then called up the shodan guy to do it at a much higher speed to demonstrate that the technique is exactly the same when done at higher heights and speeds.  But fortunately we didn't have to do that yet :).

So I've finally learned how to do them...at least at a slow pace.]]></body>
	<date>11-02-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3073">
	<title><![CDATA[Learning how to Breakfall]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Today we spent much of our time in class learning ukemi.  It's good as we rarely have a chance to spend this much time on it and I for one sorely needed to practice my breakfalls.  Friday's class being a generally much smaller one means we have a lot more space on the mat and the instructor has time to give us each more attention.    

It turned out to be more fun and less scary than I thought it would be because the instructor kept the breakfalls light and gentle by keeping the speeds down so that people could gradually get used to how to fall.  We'd throw each other in such a way that uke could do a slow and soft breakfall almost like doing a roll, but without getting up at the end.  It worked very well as there wasn't any slight "leap" into the fall but just tip over at the point of loss of balance.  Helped reduce my fear of breakfalls at any rate.  Then as we got used to that, we increased the speed and height a little.  Not too much, that would be for future practices and this was really the introduction.  

The practice was a good one and the women in the class were especially appreciative of it.]]></body>
	<date>09-21-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3068">
	<title><![CDATA[Fukakusa Shihan Visits]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[As our "grandfather" sensei, Fukakusa Shihan visits my dojo in Singapore every year at our Sensei's invitation.  We're always pleased to see him and have him instruct us.  It never fails to amaze me how powerful his techniques are.

While there were a lot of things to learn, the most important thing I noted this time was that my tenkan is still very weak.  He corrected my posture as he said I had a tendency to lean back and not extend my arms out enough either.  I also noticed when he did a basic turn on the spot, how powerful that could be.  It didn't even have to involve stepping back or moving the feet other than on the spot.  So the circle becomes smaller each time, tighter.  

It was also nice bumping into an old friend at the seminar.  He had returned recently from several months in Thailand where Fukakusa Shihan teaches and he recounted his experience training there.  Hearing his tales certainly gave me a new respect for the students and teachers at the dojo there and made me realise that when I met some of them at a seminar in Bangkok two years ago, all the hard work that must lie behind the generally high standards they had.]]></body>
	<date>09-08-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3063">
	<title><![CDATA[Being a Guest]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I was in Hong Kong recently so toddled along to the HK Aikido Association just to see what it was like, with my sensei's permission of course.  I had fun...watched one class to see if I could cope and then went back the following week when i had a free evening, to join in one class.

The people were certainly friendly which was nice and they were fine with having a stranger in their midst.  I found the ukemi very slightly different which threw me (pun intended) a little and I found I was being rather clumsy and falling rather "splat" like instead of doing nice graceful rolls out.  (Now where's my newly bought donovan waite dvd arriving? :blush: )  So I think to be more effective there, I'd have to actually change my ukemi very slightly so that I can cope better.  Naturally my nage skills could also do with more polishing but I always figure being a good uke endears one more.    

Let's see if my travels take me there again.  I figure there's a reasonable chance I'll have to go up to HK more often due to my work so I may as well start getting to know the folk there.]]></body>
	<date>08-25-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3047">
	<title><![CDATA[inch by precious inch]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[We're sure doing a lot of randori practice in the run up to grading.  I'm not grading but it's the time where in our dojo a lot of this practice gets done for those who are going to grade.  

I really suck at this so it's really putting me on the spot whenever I have to go out there and take my turn.  I actually got let off fairly lightly this time as sensei picked guys who were more controlled in the way they attacked but still I have major problems coping with the speed at which it happens.  So the result is that I'm still committing all the common mistakes a fair amount of the time once the speed picks up: grabbing uke's arms instead of just letting them fall, not turning in a circle and instead getting distracted by the next uke coming, and of course, simply not timing my throws right ie I simply need to move a bit faster!  

It helped a great deal that I had one of the best women in the dojo to practice with beforehand and she taught me a fine point about how to drop the uke to the ground and she said if it's one of the guys you really have to go for their elbow otherwise they won't go down.  She taught me how to angle the downward cut so that uke would go down at a sharper angle whereas I'd tended to always throw out rather than down.

Anyway the ukes were all being really nice but also not letting up too much on the speed and force so I could learn, but it was still painfully obvious to me and everyone else watching and my ukes that I was doing really badly.  So it was awfully nice that one of the 4th dan guys came up and told me I'd done well and my movement was nice.  I think he was just trying to make sure I wasn't too discouraged.  So here it is, I'm making progress in little marginal inches.  And so it'll go, inch by inch and hopefully my ukes will continue to be patient with me until one day I finally get it enough to do a decent job of it.]]></body>
	<date>08-01-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3045">
	<title><![CDATA[Randori Again]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I was pitted as nage against 3 guys in my class one of whom attacks hard and fast, much more so than most guys in the dojo and doesn't budge unless he really gets thrown.  So the result was I made a complete mess of my randori.  At least that's what I thought and a lot of it was actually that I wasn't really moving fast enough so I'm not used enough to full speed training.  

What was a surprise to me though was that when I walked out of the dojo, I got a very different reaction from my fellow yudansha.  They were all going, way to go!  Hey I really liked your hip movement when you threw him..hey we were rooting for you there etc etc.  I was very surprised as my sensei had very clearly indicated I had not done well and then proceeded to show the class how it should be done.  And one of the assistant instructors when I passed him just said, you need more practice ie that sucked in there and you need to do better.  So basically I was even more puzzled by my fellow yudansha's reactions.  

I think in the end while my instructors were right and my technique clearly was inadequate on technical grounds, many of the senior yudansha all hadn't expected I could take down this uke at all.  I'd missed my chance to take him down properly and instinctively just flipped him in a static throw once I figured he wasn't about to let go.  Since he's considerably bigger than I am (not hard since I'm pint sized) I think no one really expected me to be able to flip him from a static position.  Naturally in real life I'd have been slaughtered several times over but well, it wasn't real life, it was mat life.  So they were basically cheering the underdog.

Anyway, the nice thing is clearly that while I was initially mortified by my own performance on the mat, clearly i've gained some street cred, or mat cred!  

I should however try to make peace with the uke for dumping him quite unceremoniously and certainly not gently on the mat.:blush:]]></body>
	<date>07-26-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3041">
	<title><![CDATA[Learning Reversals or Counters]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[There's a slow motion exercise I came across to learn reversals or counters which I found very interesting.  It involved continual contact with nage executing a technique keeping contact at all times and executing the technique in a very flowing way and not quite ended it.  For example there is no actual throw or pin but the movement stops before that point is reached and the uke then turns into nage and executes a move that counters or reverses or just whatever move that would flow naturally from that point.  It takes a bit of getting used to but I realised it's kind of a preliminary exercise to figuring out openings and what movements might naturally counter a particular aikido technique.  And it's a way of learning it quite gently.]]></body>
	<date>07-18-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3037">
	<title><![CDATA[First Randori]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I've never really done a proper randori exercise and yesterday was the first time.  It was interesting.  I realised that I don't ukemi safely enough (yes, sensei was issuing corrections from the sideline :) ) and tend to get up towards the centre when I should be rolling myself outwards.  And when I'm the nage, it's awfully hard sometimes to know whom to take down first when more than one comes at you at any one time.  I think i definitely made the wrong decision or placed myself wrong twice as I found the second uke was basically already upon me by the time I took down the first. Usually the third was somewhere else on the mat so I didn't have to worry about all three at the same time but if I can't handle two I'm thinking gee...it doesn't look very hopeful for three does it?  

I always knew it was difficult from watching the yudansha but now that I'm up there myself, I know it from experience.  Ah...well, practice and more practice I guess!]]></body>
	<date>07-12-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3023">
	<title><![CDATA[The Answer My Friend is Blowing in the Wind]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I got asked by a senior yudansha after one class what my goals in aikido were...I found it hard to explain but gee, I never have goals...it's awfully hard to explain to such people but I basically happily drift through life paying as little attention to goals as possible since it seems to interfere with life and being happy in general.  :cool:

And then the seed grows into a plant and into a tree, quietly but surely, and before you know it, there is a tree before you, growing silently in the wind.

The organic approach seems to work for me but clearly not for others and definitely not for my questioner.  And reminded me of a skype conversation I had with a friend today: he said he was trying to keep busy and I said I was trying to keep free :p ...and we both laughed in recognition of the very different approach each of us had to life and what makes us happy .]]></body>
	<date>06-28-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="3015">
	<title><![CDATA[Sailing Conditions]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I had the pleasure of training with two guys I'd never trained with in the dojo last night during weapons class.  One of them was a shodan I don't see all that often so I think he usually practices at one of the sister dojos.  The other was a brown gold who really impressed with with his accuracy and level of control.  His ken work was also better than mine as far as I could tell in the shihonage movement.  

I really appreciated being able to train with them also because since they were both a lot larger than me, it is always a reality bites exercise for me to find out whether my aikido techniques hold out or not as there's no way I can muscle through any techniques.  

Hope this trend continues.  I figure for them it's more of an exercise in light control rather like learning how to sail in light winds rather than be fighting gusty strong winds and waves.  One gets the adrenalin going while the other is finesse and subtlety and an exercise in just enough force without oversteering the boat. For me, it's the opposite exercise in steering a boat in strong winds.]]></body>
	<date>06-18-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2957">
	<title><![CDATA[shodan grading]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I graded, I graded, I graded today!  it's a good feeling to have reached this stage.    

My poor uke didn't get a break and had to uke for me the whole way through and I suspect it went on for a good half hour or 45 mins or more (it's hard to tell when you're up there).  Poor chap.  I really do need to buy him a drink.  I thought the sensei would give the ukes a break by bringing on a fresh set but turned out he was saving the ukes for the later gradings where they were needed even more.

It was really spectactular watching soooo many senior dan grades grade that day.  The 8 person panel of examiners turned into a 3 person panel as the rest of them came down onto the mat grading for sandan to yondan.  And before that a bunch had graded for sandan and for nidan.  There were so many of them they couldn't all be on the mat at the same time and were tested in batches of 4.  The multiple attacks with weapons as always were the most spectacular sessions.  I was wondering how the ukes all felt cos the mat got pretty crowded and although the senior dan ranks all usually have excellent control, still, there's always the danger of rolling into another uke under the circumstances.  

I'm glad I was  a part of this grading.  It just felt good to be a part of the party.  And to see all my seniors go out there and give their best.  Gambatte :)!]]></body>
	<date>04-08-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2944">
	<title><![CDATA[shodan application]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I've finally sent in my application for a shodan grading.  Yes it would be easier to wait till I'm further along the curve and my grading would be easier than having to struggle through it at this time, but I figure I have good company as some of the very good 1st kyu guys are grading with me so we'll all be on the mat together.  It's somehow reassuring.   That plus one of the guys at my level very readily and happily agreed to uke for me, so with all that support it's hard not to.  And of course the biggest incentive is not having to grade for a very long time after that, if ever.

That being said, i've been experiencing mild pain in my knees and think it's because I'm getting more inflamed than usual or else I'm getting osteoarthritis in both knees now instead of just one.  I think it's partly exacerbated because I stopped taking primrose oil supplements a month back and wasn't regular with the glucosamine either.  Now is about when that should start to show up.  Sigh.  I guess I shall have to go back to taking supplements.  I've been trying to eat more nuts and seeds as a way of ingesting anti inflammatory good fat but maybe I need even higher doses.]]></body>
	<date>03-20-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2928">
	<title><![CDATA[practising with my betters]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I had the pleasure of partnering one of the best aikidoka of around my rank in the dojo on sunday.  It's only the 2nd time I've had this chance.  He has had the distinction of being awarded a jump from brown straight to black and well deserves it.  I find his technique beautifully smooth and firm and for the life of me I cannot figure out how he does some things ...it's all in the details and I feel once more like a young aikidoka trying to fathom how my senior is executing a move which I'm doing my darnest to imitate but still somehow mine turns out choppy and no where near as effective while his is elegant, smooth and very effective.  It was a great learning and humbling experience.  I'm waiting for him to get his shodan.  He richly deserves it...nothing like natural talent combined with a dedication to practice.  

I also think there's definitely something wrong with my ukemi.  It's just not working well for irimi nage cos I'm too afraid of getting my face smacked.]]></body>
	<date>03-04-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2927">
	<title><![CDATA[Post Pineapple Tarts]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[The Lunar New Year is finally over, and so no more pineapple tarts, bakwa (honey grilled crisp slices of pork), love letters or other yummy goodies I consume by the half dozen around this period.  Sadly this eating upon the heels of the Christmas feasting have left their, one hopes not indelible mark, on my waist and hips.  

And I've come to realise that the better one gets at aikido the less energy and strength I use...either that or my ukes are all being too nice :).  Just kidding.  

Anyway, I've been seriously contemplating returning to weight training and since I find it mind numbingly boring, I'll have to go find one of those snazzy sleek (and expensive) gyms with body pump classes and train for a few months.  I have to say though it's a great programme especially for women who want to just build tone and strength without bulk.  The music, rhythm and energy of the class keep me going.

Afterthought: Just was reminded by a doctor that it's the fat on the tummy that's really dangerous, not around the hips or shoulders etc.  And the fat from all other parts of the body without activity will tend to migrate there.  Sigh....that's exactly what's been  happening to me so all the more I'm resolved to return to the gym.  The nice thing is that I discovered there's a pool in the one I want to join that's long enough for laps.]]></body>
	<date>03-04-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2912">
	<title><![CDATA[Every Man a Tiger]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I spent my time over this Lunar New Year break and on my recent trip to Yunnan, China, reading a Tom Clancy book called Every Man A Tiger which is a book of American military history covering the period from the Korean War to Desert Storm.  

There's one lesson in it that struck home: General Chuck Horner's insight on the difference between ruling by fear and ruling by reason.  Naturally in an armed forces scenario discipline will remain of paramount importance, nevertheless, he came to the conclusion that modern resilient armies cannot be ruled by fear, but must allow for the exercise of individual initiative and that must be given its due space.   This in no small part was due to the fluid nature of warfare and the much higher speeds at which warfare can be conducted these days. 

I couldn't help but think of dojo culture in the light of this especially since there is considerable emphasis on tradition and the trade off that must occur when this conflicts with initiative.  The issue of where this line is to be drawn will recurr with every new generation  and one sincerely hopes that wisdom triumphs over ego each time.

or is the wise thing to do simply to tenkan :P]]></body>
	<date>02-20-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2899">
	<title><![CDATA[News of Dojo in Guangzhou Province, China]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Missed a week of aikido as I had to travel to Yunnan, China on business.  And amazingly enough bumped into a fellow dojo mate at the airport when he sat next to me in the waiting lounge.  He happend to be travelling on the same flight there and back on business too and had he not chosen to sit next to me, I would never have been aware he was on the same trip at all.  Needless to say he failed to recognise me as I often do too when I see my dojomates not in the dogi.  I suspect he's just never actually noticed me in the dojo before since it's a big dojo and the girls rarely practice with the guys and the gap between his rank and mine are considerable.  It was fun nevertheless on the way home cos he took time out to come sit and chat to while away the time no doubt off a 4 hour flight on the way back.  

I found out from him that his brother had started an aikido dojo in Guangzhou province and had 11 students.  It's not that easy to find aikido dojos in China given the history of the two countries and the strong tradition of Chinese martial arts.  So it's good to hear that it's started up and I certainly hope it flourishes after this initial start.  

I'm going to have to miss another week because of Chinese New Year next week when the dojo shuts down for slightly over a week.  So this month I'm only really getting about 2 weeks of training.  ]]></body>
	<date>02-12-2007</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2833">
	<title><![CDATA[Tamura Sensei Seminar]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I continue to be amazed by little Japanese senseis like Tamura Sensei who can so lightly an easily throw guys easily twice their size around the dojo.  Attending his lessons and those of Fukakusa Sensei, who accompanied him down to Singapore, was certainly inspirational.  It's a big reason why I took up aikido, that I could possibly do this well into my older age.  

He showed us a few nifty moves which naturally looked dead easy when he demo-ed them but when I tried to replicate them, I struggled for a long time before I figured out where my hands were even supposed to be.  

The fun bit was the final dinner, where Tamura Sensei even graced us with a song, after a few drinks no doubt, ...and he does have a remarkably good voice.  Then we had an NZ member of our dojo, a schoolteacher, come up and sing us a maori kids song...she said later she sang in maori so that no one would know if she was singing the wrong words :).  And she sang really well too...I can so see her being dragged up every event thereafter to be the evening's entertainment as she certainly had presence as well.  I'm sure the kids in her school love her.  ]]></body>
	<date>12-09-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2797">
	<title><![CDATA[Moulding the Technique]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[One of the blue gold belts has really come a long way.  I hadn't practiced with her in a while and then lately did a couple of sessions with her.  I'm impressed by the fact she really has made distinct improvements as there was a point where I did get somewhat exasperated with her apparent lack of progress.  I'm not proud of my lack of patience, just realistic about the fact I have limits and will slowly work on them.

I can see why sensei allowed her to grade for her brown belt.  I think there are a lot of little things she doesn't get, but I've also realised that sometimes I focus a bit too much on the stuff she doesn't get in spite of numerous attempts to show/teach her, that can be glaringly obvious and entirely miss what she has been improving which is the general overall movement and flow.  And that at the end of the day is actually the most important thing.  

I have to say that my sensei's great strength is to allow people to learn at their own pace and to create a dojo in which this is possible for people.  He clearly saw her progress where I couldn't.  He calls it allowing his students to mould the technique and I think he's right.  It's often the most effective way in the long run although it seems slow at first sight but it's often the most realistic way too as it enables an organic growth that is deeply rooted and strong.  Teaching top down can often result in something that is technically by the book but isn't deeply rooted enough in the person's everyday practice and therefore the aikido is less strong and resilient as a result.  Allowing organic growth with very gentle pruning is the easiest way to grow as a student plus allows the gentle evolution of a personal style suited to one's own body and temperment within the broader boundaries of the general dojo style.

Practice Notes:
I partnered one of the sandans and she taught me that my suwariwaza irimi is the omote version...I hadn't even been aware of that.  I'd been cutting the movement down when it was meant to be the ura version.  The strange thing is how I can totally not even realise I'm doing something wrong for years!  
Must go and watch my aikido DVD again in slow motion.

I went for the advanced class on sunday and had fun for once practising with the canadian chap...he's oh so typically canadian, very unassuming, very nice and actually very efficient and reliable...just so quiet you barely notice he's there most of the time.  He's good to practice with.  Kind, polite and considerate plus he outranks me so technically i learn from him.]]></body>
	<date>11-15-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2788">
	<title><![CDATA[Grading]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I just graded for 1st kyu...as usual I think I didn't do that well technically but at least I was less nervous this time than the last, and that was despite being right under the judges's noses.  I had decided earlier on some weeks back that I needed to not think about it otherwise I'd just freak out and blank out on techniques like the last time.  I figure heck, getting one's emotions under control is really half the job so I figured this time aound, at least I would work on that and improve that.    

The weapons work was a surprise but since it was tanto techniques which we'd been rehersing and the easier ones at that, it was fine.  I'd entirely forgetten that 2nd kyu to 1st get tested on tanto.  The 1st I noticed had to do a much wider range of tanto techniques.

I also think I need more stamina!  I uked for my friend who was going for her 2nd kyu then got a rest as they changed ukes.  But found myself actually attacking slower and getting up slower than I normally do in class.  So time to get back a bit to more aerobic work...sure need to push myself harder at class to keep up the pace.  I do like doing a bit of uke work though as it helps me to warm up and I figure is better that I'm slightly tired then too adrenalin pumped which makes me too jumpy and hyper.  ]]></body>
	<date>11-05-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2782">
	<title><![CDATA[Changing Partners]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[We had a few partner changes but only for three of the techniques during the second class.  I think it's actually quite a good idea in a dojo that generally has the practice of sticking to one partner throughout, but I also noticed that generally people still only changed amongst little cliques which rather defeats the purpose.  I certainly find it useful to have new partners every now and again as it keeps me on my toes, whether I like it or not :).  

I figure both having the same partner throughout as well as changing partners is good.  I think at beginner classes it's generally better to have the same partner for longer periods but at more intermediate levels, rotations amongst a very varied range of partners might be better.  The difficulty is always for people who can't adjust quickly but I also figure that since the number of people in the dojo is finite, after a few rounds of this, we'd all get used to each other's styles anyway and by then our range should have broadened out.  Kinda like changing dance partners...all the seniors move over to the left :)...

We practiced kaiten nage from ushiro and yokomen.  Moves which I remember well I could not figure out at all the first time I had to do them but which by now come more easily although certainly not any where near perfect.  I was lucky to be partnered with a dan grade for these and she was rather good at both techniques so gave me a pointer for each of them.  It reminds me also that I should be more patient with those who know less than I do, in gratitude for what others have passed to me, in their great patience since I'm not exactly a fast learner.]]></body>
	<date>10-26-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2775">
	<title><![CDATA[yokomen and ushiro variations]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Had a very enjoyable practice this friday evening.  The Friday instructor in prepping us for grading, had us do a tonne of variations on yokomen which we practice infrequently.  It helps a lot cos sometimes I just don't remember when it's called out during grading.  I had not really practised ikkyo from yokomen much before, or nikkyo for that matter and got it completely wrong at first.    

Then he did the same in the second class with ushiro.  All the variations which we don't often do like ushiro irimi nage and kotegaeshi and shihonage which I often forget how to do.  And oh yes, kokyuho.  

Good practice.  

Plus the haze wasn't so bad today afternoon and evening.  It was just a bit bad in the morning.  ]]></body>
	<date>10-20-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2771">
	<title><![CDATA[Struck Dumb]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Hmmm...the haze shows no signs of blowing away.  And by today my sore throat has escalated into congested lungs and cough.  I'm blaming the haze.  Am not normally asmathic so I hate to think of those with greater sensitivity to this than I have.  Also am losing my voice much to my surprise as it's the first time that's ever happened.  Ah well, will see how the haze levels are tomorrow and fortunately there seems to be rain on the horizon so with a little luck, I'll be back on the mat tomorrow.]]></body>
	<date>10-17-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2767">
	<title><![CDATA[Smoke Gets in Your Eyes]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[The haze drifting south easterly is sure clouding up the Singapore skies.  The pollutant reading today I think is going to hit a record high and the die-hard consistent practitioner that I am, even I am thinking twice about a vigourous workout which draws more smoke particles into the lungs.  Yuck!  Sigh.  I can't wait for the NE monsoon to start this year, the earlier the better.  The wind and rain will blow away all that smoke drifting over from Sumatra. ]]></body>
	<date>10-16-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2758">
	<title><![CDATA[Japanese Masks & New Partners]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Went to see the Japanese Masks exhibition today at the Asian Civilisations Museum.  There was a very interesting old mask that was so very abstract and intriguing.  It was made of clay with just a few markings that made up the nose, eyes and mouth but could contain more than one expression.  The other masks that I thought were very interesting were the one of a young Japanese woman and and older Japanese woman.  The masks are supposed to be slightly asymmetrical: the corner of the mouth turns down slightly one side but up the other and the eyes, one looks up one looks down.  But although I could see a very slight asymmetry, it's hard to actually see how that changed the expression of the face depending on the angle.  Saw the exhibition with an aikido buddy who's now pregnant so she has to stay off the mat.  I kinda miss practising with her as well as my two other aikido buddies who've migrated to Oz.  

The good thing about not having the usual suspects to practice with, is that I am forced to practice with new partners.  Yesterday I worked with a 3rd kyu guy who I think seems to have returned after a break or transferred in from another sister dojo.  It was interesting and I should definitely seek more partners who I don't usually work with.  Forces me to adjust to different people as I've been too comfortable.    ]]></body>
	<date>10-02-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2730">
	<title><![CDATA[my life back]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[My English bosses finally left town in the middle of last week so I could get my life back.  They would want to go drinking on the very nights I have aikido practice or have work related dinners so there went my aikido for two and a half weeks.  Naturally I blended with them and dutifully drank my share of wine ;). 

I did manage to attend Sunday morning practices though so that kept me in touch.  It was a tumultous work period and still remains busy, just that I have my evenings back.  There are major changes in store which may mean my life at work has jumped up a notch in terms of load for good or at least until reinforcements arrive mid-next year.  

I just lost two aikido friends to melbourne.  One's already shipped out and the other is moving before the end of this month.  I'll miss them on the mat but I think they'll continue practice there once they get settled in so I should go downunder sometime to see them.  


 ]]></body>
	<date>09-05-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2681">
	<title><![CDATA[weapons seminar]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Hattori Sensei is visiting town and conducting a weapons seminar...ahhhh...getting up at 6am on weekend....i hope I don't hit anyone on the head with my bokken while keeling over fast asleep during morning class :O...zzzzzz.....]]></body>
	<date>07-06-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2673">
	<title><![CDATA[Back to England?]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[The prospect of going back to the UK for a business trip came up recently, and naturally after I figured out possible places to stay, assuming company allows the extravagence, the aikiaddict that I am, started checking for dojos in the Nottingham area which is where I would be.  Shall just see whether the gentle aiki-elf me dares to enter the shodothug's dojos which seem to be the ones there which I've found.  Of course that depends also on my sensei's permission and the sensei who run the respective dojos but we'll see...I have plenty of time to think about whether I want to pack my gi or not since the trip may not materialise in the end.

It'll be certainly a nostalgic trip though cos the first time I ever saw aikido was years ago when I was in university...funnily enough, at my relatively elderly 30+ years now, my coordination is actually a lot better than when I was in my late teens/early 20s.  It's an art form I managed to take up in my 30s but way back then, I was even more uncoordinated than I am now, and also less sure of myself, so even though the teachers at my university were gentle and patient, my own self consciousness would have been the hardest thing to overcome.]]></body>
	<date>06-26-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2661">
	<title><![CDATA[a bit off]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I have gastric flu...no wonder my aikido seemed a bit off last night and why at work for the past few days concentrating just led to eyestrain...and why I just slept and slept over the weekend.  Clearly my body knew what it had to do but I just kept going.  Ah well, now I know what's wrong I'm just going to curl up and nurse myself back to health.  Nothing like a good excuse to sleep!]]></body>
	<date>06-12-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2654">
	<title><![CDATA[shihonage breakfalls]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Just did my first shihonage high fall.  Slowly of course.  First time ever so I'm chuffed...my friday instructor had me come up as demo uke and he talked me through it then had the rest of the class do it since he said see, even the girls can do it which of course isn't fair on the guys since gender doesn't really make a difference in falls but it was obviously as a joke and meant to egg the guys on.  And of course one of the guys then responded with, girls are lighter so they hit the ground less like heavy useless lumps ;).  Have to say though that I'm still not taking enough of the impact with my arm so it's not that comfortable yet as too much reverberation is still going through my body and head.    So it means I can't do too many of them in any one session.  

The gradings were held too this last weekend and it's always fun watching other people being grading and just sitting on the sidelines completely unstressed. ]]></body>
	<date>06-04-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2650">
	<title><![CDATA[High Speed Practices]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yesterday I had a chance to practice with the small light girl who's size belies her speed and strength of attacks.  It's always challenging working with her and I seldom do as she's good with beginners and partners one of them  usually in the first class.

There is definitely something wrong with my ikkyos from a shomen attack.  More omotes than uras although even for uras I'm stepping in too deep so that they're less effective.  Was working with superfast shodan girl yesterday and realised that at her speed of attack, my much slower reflexes mean it's hard for me to enter fast enough to throw her off balance before her arm comes down.  Anyway, practising with her was an experience...it's always super intense for a full hour and last night I was wondering if I was actually going to last.  But when we shifted off the ikkyos I got my breath back :).

I did notice though that she does her shihonages very close into uke's body.  I tended to move further out.  I think staying close andn using hip is better for omote but not necessarily for high speed ura versions.  At that speed it doesn't really matter whether I'm close or far, just as long as I get offline first :).  Although I should have tried staying in closer to see what the effect of that was...I've found it actually doesn't matter much with bigger guys and in fact gives me more room to get them off balance.  

I tried to slow down her falls as she kept going down but realised that her style of uke almost guarantees she'll slam down as she doesn't adjust along the way...it's a very uncomproising uke style and hard on the body for her but well she's young still at 22 so she can deal with that.  IT's sure not a style I'd want to adopt simply cos my body will not take that much punishment.    

I'm slowly learning to do the fall from irimi nage by dropping down onto the inner knee but it doesn't come naturally and I have to think about it.  I have to practice it to the point it comes without thinking.  

The second session was with one of my favourite girl partners and usually I find her more resistant but after dealing with superfast strong attacks from a girl smaller than me, this was a cinch :).
]]></body>
	<date>05-30-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2622">
	<title><![CDATA[knife at the throat defences]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[knife techniques: we had an interesting q&a yesterday concerning the knife at the throat problem with the uke at the back.  Then various volunteer nages  came up to see if they could get out of that situation.  The results were interesting.  

The closest attempts were done by two of the really fast experienced yudansha: one attempted sankyo and was foiled by the very fast response of the uke who simply switched the knife to the other hand to "knife" nage in the stomach.  Then another tried a different move which was faster than I could really see...but it went the other way and down but the uke still managed to counter with a little bit more difficulty.  Then the sensei tried and two of the techniques he used worked.  But I think the whole class realised this was one difficult situation and it would largely be safer to wait for a better opportunity before making a move.    ]]></body>
	<date>05-08-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2607">
	<title><![CDATA[tall people]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Practice today was fun: got to partner this very tall young man in the earlier class and he resisted a lot so it tested my skills a lot more than usual.  And of course I found some of my techniques needed improvement to succeed against him.  I found in particular I needed to drop my centre a lot more to make him lose his balance and the instructor came around to show me how to adapt moves when there's such a large height difference.  The later class I was partnering one of the senior yudansha which is always instructive as well.  Have to say the guys tend to keep my training real as they're all generally a lot stronger so a little resistance goes a long way.

Lots of guys are showing up on Friday now...we have 17 people on the mat today...I think it's the prospect of grading coming up.  I fortunately don't have to grade this time around so I can kick back and relax and just help them train by being crash dummy :).
]]></body>
	<date>04-21-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2604">
	<title><![CDATA[mozzies & aikido]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I've discovered what works on mozzies: incense burning of lemongrass scented sticks for hours in my bedroom at night.  I slept soundly last night for a full 8 hours for the first time in a couple of weeks.  hooray!  No more aikido with mosquitos at in the middle of the night :).

Lots of kaiten nage at aikido last night.  It's my least favourite move as I'm really not good at it particularly the ura version.  Being uke is even harder than being nage.  I really have to watch how I fall out of that and find it hard to fall safely even slowly.  It's actually slightly easier to flip out of it but harder to do so safely and I have a slight ache in my left shoulder cos I think I fell slightly wrong yesterday.

Someone asked a good question during aikido last night...I have to say people are loosening up a lot more during q&a and coming up with all these attacks they want to learn to get out of.  It gets quite interesting although of course by that time it's 9.30pm at night and I'm raring to go home to watch the korean serial I've become addicted to: Jewel in the Palace :).  All that yummy Korean food!]]></body>
	<date>04-19-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2578">
	<title><![CDATA[sleepy]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm so completely zzzzzzz......

It's all these mozzies that creep up into my bedroom in the early hours of the morning that kill my sleep.  That plus I'm itching from sandfly bites which I suspect I scratch in my sleep so of course it gets even itchier.  this is hell for my work the next day especially when I have to work with figures. Just waiting to go do aikido then drop into bed with lots of lemongrass scenting the room to keep the mozzies at bay and lots of chamomile tea to hopefully get me to sleep sounder.  

[After aikido]
Aikido was fine though.  Got there late since I had to stay back a little to finish up a piece of work since I'd been too sleepy to work earlier.  It was a relatively light but difficult session with the jo.  There are these little movements which produce a large turning circle with the jo that I find hard to get.  Now why does that sound like the rest of my aikido :).  

And I finally got a decent night's sleep so I'm a bit more normal today and able to work better.  



]]></body>
	<date>04-10-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2572">
	<title><![CDATA[sauna]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[It's been awfully humid with humidity levels well over 95% in the afternoons and evenings this week.  Combine that with temperatures around 28 to 30 degrees celsius and you get the right conditions for a sauna during aikido.  So these days I'm usually prespiring heavily within the first 20 mins and stay that way throughout the first class.  Funnily enough I'm usually less hot during the intermediate class.  I think it's because I usually end up in a better spot in front of the fans whereas first class usually finds me in the corner of the dojo where the doors are shut so there's less circulation despite the fans nearby.  

The dojo is non-airconditioned which I like as I prefer fresh air coming straight in from the outdoors through the large french doors.  But it does mean it does get very humid at times in this tropical country.  The community centre where it's located in has a large multi purpose hall with a ceiling that rises some three storeys so it's great.  There's a stage at one end and we take mats out from the nearby storeroom each time.  Usually several people come early to lay mats and I actually find it's a good warm up.  For Monday and Wednesday classes we lay mats that cover almost the entire room as there's quite a crowd.  On Fridays we generally lay about half the size as the class is about 1/3 the other days.  

The Dojo is open with glass doors all around so we also lay out chairs outside the dojo on one end so that people can come and watch or wait for their loved ones to finish.  It's a good spot outside from which to observe people without feeling like you're intruding as a visitor or having to sit in seiza for that matter :).  I always found it a bit intimidating to go into a closed room dojo where it's all too obvious you're entering someone's territory.  I've always liked really open architectures for the tropics.  It just makes a lot more sense to keep air circulating.  And the human environment also seems more open that way.

]]></body>
	<date>04-06-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2558">
	<title><![CDATA[sliding]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Today's practice turned out to be a little longer than I expected.  I also find that if the pace is fast, I feel it less whereas if the pace is slow, I actually feel it more.  I think it's the adrenalin that makes the difference.

Today there were 9 people plus the instructor.  I spent part of it learning how to slam as I've realised I never stick my hand out in time so I figured friday's classes are a good time to get in that practice as we were doing a lot of throws.  So instead of rolling out, I'd try to slam.  It took a while and I'm still not sure it'll come automatically but it's a bit better now.  

For ikkyo from a wrist grab, the instructor taught me to be more economical and instead of lifting my hand to get to the elbow, to instead just turn it out slightly and slide along uke's arm to the elbow.  Far more efficient and effective.  And then a similar thing for reacting to a punch...to block then slide in and elbow into uke's face before extending out the arm.  Overall to just learn to slide hands more along uke's limbs/body rather than lifting off which takes more time and gives uke more of an opening to respond.  

For irimi from katatetori: To ensure the hand that's being held makes a little circular turning out motion.  More effective and breaking uke's balance and hold.  

I've been feeling really very "xien" at work...i should just step up the aikido during this lull period.  Go and practice more as the physical exercise takes the edge off my frustration and boredom during this lull period at work.  It was really bad today.  I need to find a way through this desert.  Worst thing is that I can't really leave the office early as I usually have to do a bit of a conference call at the end of the day to the UK and given the time difference it's the only sensible time to do it.

]]></body>
	<date>03-24-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2556">
	<title><![CDATA[Pulling]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[yesterday's practice was humid to say the least...it's very energy sapping.  

I noticed that when I partner with H, I tend to pull her when she resists or is stiff.  Not a good habit.  I should slow down more and figure out how to turn around or flow over her resistance instead of just pulling.  I also need to move more from my centre.  This was particularly true when I did my least favourite move: what I call the windmill move this time from a yokomen attack.   H is good uke for me as she points out when I'm not taking her and tells me what more I need to do.  She said all I needed to do was to push uke's arm more over the body of uke and the uke would naturally overbalance with very little effort on nage's part.  She's right...she's good at these little things.  I used to hate this move but it's one of her favourites as she says with very little effort it's possible for a small uke to control a large strong nage...I'm thinking, gee, I never feel I'm in control of a big strong guy when I do this move on them!  Clearly I'm not doing it right.  

ushiro: during freestyle I realised I wasn't responding well at all to ushiro attacks to the shoulders.  Don't know why.  I could get an initial move out by twisting under the uke and then not know what to do.  Bummer.  HAve to go revise those moves.  Didn't have a problem when it was ushiro involving one or both wrists.  

I really like practising with H.  We're a good match...I'm a bit more supple and fluid with gentler control but she has more strength, is taller, and is generally better at getting the technique to effective point.  So we learn off each other as we tend to make different mistakes and have different strengths.

There was a fabulously strong pair right across from me, a girl who's about my height and only a little heavier and her aikido is soooo strong.  She was working with another yudansha who's a lot bigger than she is but his uke abilities are excellent.  So watching this little woman throw a guy much bigger and stronger is totally amazing.  She really takes him down.  

]]></body>
	<date>03-22-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2550">
	<title><![CDATA[A Growing Crowd]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Wow, a whole 15 people for Friday class.  Attendence I notice is creeping up slowly.  It was 12 the last two weeks and now it's 15.  Let's see what it's like for the next few weeks.  I tend to really enjoy the contrast of friday's class with the other classes on Monday and Wednesday.  

I notice there are more newbies coming for friday's class.  There seem to be at least four now who show up each time.  I was chatting to one of the newer white belt guys, a huge sturdy guy whom I first thought was american but later after talking to him realised he was probably Irish.  Turns out he's done judo and karate before but got injured quite a lot.  He told me that in judo he got his ankle broken four times.  He says he's also got a nagging shoulder injury so he's having to be careful with that.  I think it would be interesting to see how his aikido evolves as I don't know anyone else who's come from a judo type background.  I notice the ones who have a kendo, karate or TKD background tend to have more linear, harder styles.  

The other white belt guy who was really stiff appeared again much to my relief.  I didn't partner him though as I figured he'd probably had enough of me laughing at him from last week.  One of the very senior yudansha guys partnered him which I think was good for him as he's very patient.  ]]></body>
	<date>03-18-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2547">
	<title><![CDATA[soft as a feather]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Getting thrown into a soft slam breakfall by sensei is the most amazing experience.  It felt as soft as a feather even though I forgot to stick out my hand to slap the mat.  I'm still marvelling at the control he has.  It was one of those kinda like hip throws but not quite which neither my partner nor I could figure out properly how to do, so he came over to demonstrate and over I went, light as a feather, gently onto the mat.  Amazing...that's control.  I don't know anyone else in the dojo who can do that.  the senior yudansha often have a lot of control but it still feels harder whereas this was just floating down.     
]]></body>
	<date>03-15-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2540">
	<title><![CDATA[Felling a Tree]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Today I ended up partnering one of the newbie guys, older and very stiff and still of the mindset that harder is better.  Fortunately I had another senior girl who's supremely flexible so we both worked with him but I realised that he falls like a tree.  Somehow he automatically tenses his entire body, as if he's bracing himself, when he loses his balance.  Naturally he then topples over like a felled tree rather than trying to fold down or roll down and he seems to think that's the way it should be.  And I broke my rule of not telling people to relax as I couldn't stand it anymore :(.  I'd pause midway through one of the techniques and say, *this* is where you need to relax.  And he actually did start relaxing a teensie bit which made his fall softer.  Unfortunately all that got undone in the second class as I notice when he gets hyped up he just goes faster and harder cos he just kept telling me when I was nage "go harder, go harder" and he just seems to love slamming down no matter how lightly I threw him, so it was kinda pointless.  I tried really hard to resist the temptation to laugh but must confess to cracking into laughing out loud after desperately trying to stifle my chuckles after about 1.5 hours.  Needless to say I admire all my teachers and sempai for not laughing at me when I was a newbie!!  Plus I really wish I were like one of the yudansha women who can actually imitate my mistakes and then show me the right way of doing it.  

Anyway, I'm getting an immense amout of practice in learning to control a very stiff and moderately strong uke which is actually good practice for my control.  Plus I can't throw him too hard so it means I really have to make the technique work s-l-o-w-l-y so that he has time to adjust his ukemi...not that he usually does but at least then if he slams to the mat it's because he likes to not because I made him.  

I have to say at this point, I'm glad to be a girl :)....girls seldom do the heavy handed approach...they make different kinds of mistakes but seldom this one. ]]></body>
	<date>03-10-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2532">
	<title><![CDATA[TGIF!]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Today's friday's class was one I was looking forward to and it did not disappoint.  It's the end of a very very busy and sad week for me so it's good it ended on a happier note.  

There were about 12 of us, double last week's paltry 6 and we had a rollicking time towards the end where there was a lot more free flow of movement in the round robin practice and lots of people helping the sole white belt...at one stage I saw him being helped and explained to by a yondan and a 2nd kyu who's probably the best 2nd kyu in our dojo.  The explanations he was getting were very good but I know that when I was at that stage, none of it sank in :).  All I could absorb was maybe one thing per lesson and I was lucky if I remembered that till the next lesson.  Maybe he absorbs stuff better though.  I was really not good at remembering things at the start.  

But it was really the mood of relaxed casualness, experimental but people being careful.  Also great seeing Peter back on the mat after his hamstring injury.  

i'm turning into the only girl in the advanced class.  Not sure where the other three gals who turn up have disappeared to.  The other woman had a health problem so she tends to stay for the first beginners class only.  It's kinds fun though cos it meant I got to partner lots of guys which I think is good for me and I got to partner the best black belter around whose really great to work with as he's got just lovely, fluid, gentle control and he works very deliberately.  He kept telling me to slow down or I'd get tired but I think what he really meant was to slow down and get more *accurate* rather than my quicker sloppier movements.  And I agree: sometimes I sacrifice sloppiness to keeping the momentum.  That's largely cos I find in bringing down bigger guys that it's the fastest way to get them down but if I pause for a second they have the chance to regain their balance.  But I certainly take the point that I should definitely slow down a little and build accuracy then when I'm on firmer ground with that, start again on speed.  ]]></body>
	<date>03-03-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2492">
	<title><![CDATA[transcendence]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I've discovered what it means to be a black belt...I have to take ukemi from the instructor more, and it's faster and harder.  Fortunately I trust this instructor a lot :)...and he never pushes me beyond what I'm able.  Just not that used to finding myself on the mat before I can think :D.

Aikido was so good for me today.  I had a really bad last two days and was carrying around a lot of emotional hurt from being scolded by my boss over a mistake I made (legitimate scolding) and for my earlier blow up with my two friends.  And while the latter's not resolved and maybe will take many years, it's just one of those things...with one friend I'm fine and we made up and it helps a great deal that I see she's trying, but with the other, I think we're two such different personalities that there is this huge area of incompatibility which makes me feel very unloved.  So I've decided to walk away for a while.  I'm one person for whom it takes a long time and a lot for me to blow but unfortunately once I do, it also takes an awfully long time to heal.  

So aikido was good for me, because it really helped me to relate to those around me and it helped me to relax physically and let the tension go, and to breathe deeply and well.  And yeah, to stop my mind from dwelling on hurtful things.  I felt free-er somehow when I was on the mat.  There are so many reasons why I love this art.  This is one of them...it helps me transcend things.  ]]></body>
	<date>02-10-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2487">
	<title><![CDATA[lunar new year practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[ha! aikido dojo is open again.  Yay :D.  I thought it was supposed to be closed for 2 weeks ie the entire duration of the lunar new year but it turns out I was wrong and it was only closed for one week.  Luckily someone put me right so I turned up for class. 

It's always a little strange to be back after a short break and yesterday I was a bit rusty on my tenkans especially since I was partnered with this superfast shodan girl who has very sharp fast attacks.  I simply could not get my tenkans into position in time.  I actually often have ths problem with her.  I think she just moves much faster than I have the reflexes to cope with and it means the only effective way of dealing with her is to irimi/enter rather than tenkan.  

I was thinking with a big guy I'd rather tenkan than irimi but with a small fast opponent I'd enter.  Then what would happen if a big fast guy comes at me??  Runnnnn.....:D.  But more seriously, I think then I'd have to atemi, to feint to throw him off balance.

Oh I really felt my inability to do ukemi for irimi...sigh.  I really really have to get one of the seniors to show me how and drill me through it cos although I've seen it done, I can't break it down for myself.  I need to learn it step by step.    

I feel my age more now though.  It's kinda catching up with me :(.  ]]></body>
	<date>02-07-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2485">
	<title><![CDATA[akido substitutes]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[now of course that I've been for a week without aikido, it's less awful to contemplate another week without it. So with all that free time, I played tennis on the 3rd day of Chinese new year with some non-aikido friends.  My arms and legs ached a bit for two days, and I stubbed my toe.  It's comic how I always manage to injure myself at tennis and never at aikido.  Had a whale of a time though rushing around the court merrily.  I'm too impatient really for tennis so I tend to need to learn to wait for the ball to come to me.  But given that it was the first game I'd played for close to 10 years, it went well.  That's if you don't count the ball I hit into the swimming pool :o

I tried golf too!  The game I swore I never would try till I was a lot older.  The golf pro gave us a short free lesson as an introduction before asking us to sign up for 10 lessons.  Unfortunately for him, it also made me realise that it was an easy enough game so that I could learn it without an instructor.  There's only really one move: the golf swing.  Just do it bigger or smaller.  And with different clubs.  And I found a cheap way to practice too: just rent the club and the balls at the driving range for less than $10 a session.  So I might try to just hit some balls around with my friends who want to learn it.  Lessons are just so expensive they're a luxury I can do without.  

I figure heck, if I learnt badminton without professional coaching and squash without professional coaching, this was easier than either of those two sports.  Just friends who knew how to play.  Tennis was a different ball game though (pun intended) and I did have some lessons when I was young and they were invaluable.  

I also did a session of yoga which was really good for me.  I have these two great VCDs which I follow.  I notice that if I do yoga in the morning and then do aikido in the evening my body is a lot more limber during aikido especially at the start.  ]]></body>
	<date>02-04-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2468">
	<title><![CDATA[no aikido for a fortnight :(]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Soooo sad that the aikido dojo is shut for Lunar New Year, not that I begrudge the instructors their holiday at all...they've incredibly faithful to keeping the dojo open and this is actually the first time I've known them to close for any length of time.

But now of course I know how addicted I am!  I did yoga this morning and will play tennis tomorrow and may even try golf...a game I swore I'd never play.  And maybe go back to learning the argentine tango...None of these however ever give me as big a kick as doing aikido.

]]></body>
	<date>01-29-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2463">
	<title><![CDATA[Giants]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I got partnered with the Biggest guy in aikido class last night.  He's a big German guy I think and easily the biggest guy literally in class.  I'm not the smallest but I'm one of the smallest women in class and probably only weigh 1/4 what this guy does.  He's well over six feet and very broad and strong.  I can't imagine why anyone would ever want to attack him :).  His wrists are so large it's very hard for me to keep a hold on them.  Sensei came around to tell me to hold harder....I try!!!  I did get the hang of holding his wrists hard later though but I have to get a *really* good grip.  

We were doing kaiten techniques both from inside and outside from ushiro which i've never understood before.  Last time I tried I wasn't able to figure out after the initial move out of the ushiro hold where I was supposed to cut down to execute the kaiten move.  I was better today than the last time after sensei came around and said it's like ikkyo at the initial stages of cutting down.  But I think somehow I never quite feel l have full control of uke.  Especially if the guy is big.  I somehow feel I'm too far from him when clamping down on his neck.  There's too much of a gap between my centre and his.  It's really my least favourite technique both as nage and uke cos I'm bad at both.  At least with this guy he's more in control than the last chap I partnered so my falls are better.  I go over quite naturally most times.  

We also did kaiten from kata dori and the guy showed me how I must extend my arms more and make it a nice circular movement then it works far more smoothly.  I think that advice applies to a lot of my techniques.  I need to learn to extend my arms out further in a lot of the moves.  I have an unconscious tendency not to...it helps when I partner guys as they're stronger and heavier and larger generally so that I'm forced to extend more naturally whereas with other women even when I'm not extending very much I can get them down with relatively imperfect technique.

Anyway, I think the big guy was highly amused when sensei sent me over and he had to partner this tiny woman.  He was very patient and taught me.  I'm always grateful to these giants...I always figure they'd be happier up against someone their own size but well, once in a while they can partner me and teach me :).

]]></body>
	<date>01-25-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2458">
	<title><![CDATA[Grading Results & Special Needs]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I was soooo happy to get my black belt.  It's not even that I get more than fairly average grades most times when I grade but I'm just enormously glad I got this far at all, and I just feel it's also so much of a team effort.  Without the long suffering patience of my sensei, the assistant instructors and my sempai, and anyone who would practice would me,  I would never have made it this far.  So I'm just very very grateful to them all.

I found out recently also that my friend has enrolled his two kids into the children's class and the younger one has down's syndrome.  She stubbornly decided 10 mins into the class that she didn't want to do it and sat on the sidelines.  I think she'll come around and come to really enjoy it but it'll take her a while to adjust emotionally although I doubt she'll have a problem physically as she is a very strong little girl.  It's one thing I also really appreciate about my sensei that he'll take on so special needs people or people who lack confidence or who may have other physical problems.  And it's amazing how far they can go with that kind of support.  

Aikido is really for everyone.  ]]></body>
	<date>01-24-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2443">
	<title><![CDATA[Changing Partners]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[First lesson I partnered one of the senior women who has a problem with inflammation of her joints so I had to be super careful.  But for the first time my nikkyo actually worked on her.  I've never been able to get it to work on her before because she seems to have superflexible wrists and very few people can do nikkyo on her as a result.  

Second lesson, I partnered one of my friends whom I've never partnered before in aikido.  He's very good.  Much stronger than I expected and the posture is almost rigid.  I responded by strength which isn't the best way at all since I can't possibly match his strength.  So I need to find a way to flow around him.  Both as nage and uke as I found my ability to blend with him wasn't very good.  I have a big problem with taking ukemi properly from irimi at a slightly more advanced level.  I can't go down and come up on my knees naturally and easily to make it easier on myself.  Happened both yesterday as we were practising irimi from yokomen as well as on Tuesday with a guy so I know for sure it's my problem not theirs.  

I also have a problem with kaiten nage.  It's the outside version and the very last bit that I'm not doing right.  I think one steps back with the front foot but the last move is to just turn the hips while keeping the feet in the same position but just swivelling around.  For some reason I never feel I'm in the right position to manouvre uke around me to do the last twist of the hips.  And I don't know why yet.  

I'm definitely learning a lot from partnering new people I don't usually partner.  It's a real lesson in learning where my weaker points are.

Strikes: yokomen needs to come from turning the hip.  Shomen needs to be straight in front of me keeping my body behind to protect myself.  
  
]]></body>
	<date>01-18-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2437">
	<title><![CDATA[Visiting a Sister Dojo]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[A visiting Japanese sensei was in town so our chief instructor opened the sister  dojo to all who wished to go from his other dojos.  I took the opportunity to go visit and practice there as I'd never been there before.  It turned out to be a heap of fun and quite different in mix of students and the informality of the practice.

I found it very helpful that there were far more senior students around and they were actively helping me to figure out how to do a move or to correct me when I did it wrong.  The class was largely composed of people above 1st kyu with just 2 blue belts and 1 other brown belt.  Plus most of the people I practiced with were bigger and stronger than me so that's always interesting to see if I can still move them.  

The visiting sensei taught a few moves I'd never seen before.  I wasn't able to grasp his variation on the kotegaeshi which involved an irimi and tenkan in a different direction from what I was used to.  There were other moves which involved stepping forward into uke's space while moving the opposite (held) and in the other direction.   It worked well though but it takes me a long time to get used to these new ways of moving.  I think I just find it hard to observe and pick up where to put bits of my body still.

The group went out for drinks and a bit afterwards at the nearby food centre.  I was sooo thirsty and i love the sugarcane juice with lemon.  The others mainly drank beer but I hate the taste of most beers.  And we all got a lesson aikido philosophy especially in intentions ie no winners and make committed attacks mainly.  I must say I really liked this Japanese sensei although I don't really understand most of what he's saying!  ]]></body>
	<date>01-17-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2431">
	<title><![CDATA[Aikido Jam]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm super sleepy this morning after having worked till close to 3am after aikido.  And figured I had to be in the office early in case my boss had any amendments he wanted done on the slide I'd done for him.  So here I am falling asleep at my desk and I can tell my boss hasn't even looked at the work I sent to him...he probably got busy with something else urgent.  And I'm zzzzzz.....

Don't regret it for one minute though.  Last night's sessions were fun.  The first class I got to partner one of the most senior women and her control is unbelievably good.  I keep wondering if I'm doing shihonage right on her though cos I can't seem to control her to get her to come down near me but end up following her down to the mat cos I'm too scared of potentially hurting her.  Its probably her way of telling me that I need to pull her more towards me rather than straight down which is a common mistake I tend to make.  The mat got really crowded too at one point and I was terrified of dumping her into the path of other people practising near me.

Second session had a Japanese visiting sensei alternating with our chief instructor.  First the Japanese instructor would demonstrate a technique then we'd practice then our chief instructor would demonstrate the same technique with a bokken.  It was a lot of fun and I was thinking it's kinda like a jam session.  

I had a really good partner in the second session as well, yay!, She's a couple of levels above me and recently tested for her shodan.  She was helping me figure out some of the bokken moves, why it was that my moves were not entirely effective.  She figured out I had to twist the bokken butt end towards her more both to break her balance and her hold.  It's a kokyu type move.

My aikido friend who's moving to Oz didn't show up although the TH guy whom I know from work did...would like to try partnering him before he leaves and I no longer have that chance.  I should partner with the TH chap too at some point just to see what it's like to work with him plus going against a guy much bigger and stronger is always instructive as to whether my techniques are really working.  He used to be ex-military for I think more than 10 year.  He seems to get very tired on the mat, I'm not sure why as he does biathalons: running and cycling.  Obviously the guys work harder ;).

and yes, tonight if there isn't any urgent work, I might get to go to the cairnhill dojo for the first time as the visiting sensei is still around so Sensei has invited everyone to come to the (small) dojo there...I'm thinking it's going to be so crammed!  But fun.  

I just saw a note that the dojo's going to be closed for two whole weeks around CNY ...I'm sooo going to go into withdrawal symptoms.  
]]></body>
	<date>01-16-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2423">
	<title><![CDATA[a little breakdancing]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Classes on Fridays are so different from other days: they're much smaller and as a result more informal.  Usually I show up early to help lay mats with the other early birds.  I end up hanging up the scroll of O Sensei for the first time and getting all the first aid box and attendance sheets ready as well. 

The beginners class turns out to have three newbies in it.  I partnered the only other girl in the class.  She's wearing a white belt but I found out during practice that she's got two years of aikido practice under that belt in another dojo so her level is more like blue gold.  She does a pretty good shiho nage...I've decided that she does the bit over her head better than me and I should learn from that.    She asked me at the start was it always like this on Fridays ie were there always so few people? to which I said, yeah, other people have a life ;P.  

We did a few round robin practices which I like as it gives me a chance to practice with guys I don't normally practice with.  

The second class was a lot of ki training which I'm not good at.  One move was like a breakdance move: rippling the movement through the arm.  One young man in the group clearly had done this before cos his move was definitely more fluid than everyone else's.  All I can say is I don't feel ANY ki.  But hey maybe we can put aikido moves to music?  All these ki exercises, add in a little rhythm, a few irimis, tenkans, rolls and we might just have a good dance routine.
]]></body>
	<date>01-13-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2414">
	<title><![CDATA[2nd Kyu Grading]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Grading was fun although nerve wracking as usual.  I was lucky as I got to be in the last row right next to a good aikido buddy who was grading with me.  Provided a lot of psychological comfort.  I also had two great ukes.  The first who reminded me to go slower at the start cos I was jumpy and moving a bit too fast.  And the second who tried to help when I blanked out on one move.

It seems to be a grading tradition of mine to always completely blank out on one move. Last grading it was ushiro shihonage and this time I certainly got that one right :) but then promptly blanked out on the next technique which was ushiro iriminage.  And I know I've practised it before and should know how to do it...I did it just the previous day.  Sigh, well, time to take more ginko!

Just found out after the celebratory tea I had with a fellow aikido mate that he's planning on migrating later this year.  I'm kinda sad cos he joined around the same time as I did...ah well, he's offered me free lodging where he is going if I visit him so that's an incentive to go travelling plus he'll know the local dojos there by that time.  ]]></body>
	<date>01-08-2006</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2335">
	<title><![CDATA[Mon Class]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Was very happy to be at aikido yesterday particularly since afterward I had to go finish up drafting a paper for my work.  I'm just so glad to work in an office that's generally flexible enough so I get to leave mostly on time and go do aikido then go home and complete work where necessary.  OF course it meant I was up to 2am but that was partly my fault for wanting to attend *both* aikido classes and watching Las Vegas on top of that till midnight. And of course having to get up early the next morning to call my boss in KL to discuss what I sent him the evening before.  

Actually I think there was a little aikido move in Las Vegas.  It was the episode where the secret admirer declares himself and the big boss kotegaeshi's the snatchthief or at least that's what it looked like to me from a seated position.  

Anyway class was great.  Just normal fun.  I tried to make my uke fall in the same place for irimi nage and decided I couldn't most of t he time...so much for the classical finish.  First class was a lot of drilling in basic techniques but I got to partner one of the dan grades who's just got great form and is a very nice uke.  One of those people who's amazingly immaculate all the time in her uniform.  Me...I'm a slob...my hair invariably all comes loose at some point and I have to retie it.  

Second class we did an interesting move from ushiro where uke moretoris one hand and then nage has to turn right around so that head and both hands fit through uke's arms and then a kokyu type throw.  For the life of me I kept getting myself into knots until sensei came up to show that I simply wasn't bending my head enough to get it through.  D'oh!

Then we did jo and dagger work.  I like the jo but whenever there's any move involving flipping it around, I just don't get it easily.  Spend the time trying to figure out where it was supposed to be but suspect I largely never quite got it.  



]]></body>
	<date>12-06-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2327">
	<title><![CDATA[notes from lesson]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[nikkyo: keep control at the end by leaning uke's pinned wrist against the crook of nage's shoulder while transfering hands

sankyo: keep control in the middle by pushing uke's arm up immediately after the inital ikkyo like pin down, then transferring hold to other hand.  I've been shifting my hands without doing this which means there's an opening.  

yongkyo: rotate uke's wrist inward so that fingers are pointing towards uke's body immediately after initial ikkyo move.  Then transfer hands and apply pressure point lock.

gokyo: push into the shoulder and don't really need to change hold on elbow.   instructor pointed out I have a tendency to lift that hold to turn uke's arm but in this hold there's no real need.

irimi nage: the classical end is to have uke land where he started.  And I need to stop side stepping away so fast.

ushiro: I'm getting slightly (key word being slightly :) ) better at the footwork but still need a lot of practice generally with these techniques.  Today we tried ushiro irmi.  It did however give me a chance to practice stepping out of the hold and ensuring I go low enough and turn enough to break uke's hold.  My dan level partner was pointing out I didn't break his hold  near enough to the ground where he's the weakest.  

]]></body>
	<date>12-02-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2320">
	<title><![CDATA[ryotedori ushiro kaiten nage]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[ok, it's official, my ryotedori ushiro kaiten nage both omote and ura suck big time and I have to get this right before grading :(.  Come to think of it, a lot of my ushiro techniques suck but that one is my least favourite move as it combines my two least favourite things: ushiro attacks and kaiten nage responses.  I do two main things wrong: one is that I don't stretch out my hands above the height of my head far enough so that uke is overbalanced and the other is that I don't cut down uke's wrist near the ground.  I need a lot of practice just to get used to how it feels and to feel out the right way of doing it.    

I think I also need to practice my ryotedori ushiro shihonage which I was completely fumbled last grading.  ]]></body>
	<date>11-30-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2303">
	<title><![CDATA[notes to myself on techniques]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[kotegaeshi: must remember to use both hands on uke's hand/wrist to flip uke over.

shihonage
 from ryotedori: I can't seem to do this well.  I think I am not moving from the body/hips enough.  When one of the guys holds my wrists hard, I can barely move him.   

one handed: I must remember to drop uke by pulling slight behind rather than directly downward

kokyu/irimi: 
i need to remember to make the throwing hand do an "thumbs down" ...there's also a subtle difference I don't always get in bringing the arm down onto uke.  Don't really know how to describe it but I know I'm not getting it right a lot of the time. 

kokyu suwari-waza: 
for one fleeting moment the instructor on friday got me to do it right and then it was gone.  But I think again it's the same problem that I need to move more from my centre and it's the little finger cutting up from my centre that should make it work...just can't do it most of the time.  

also turn wrists outward rather than straight in.  

ushiro:
footwork: go into hanmi.
arms: lift arms towards front not side as I move back

]]></body>
	<date>11-21-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2287">
	<title><![CDATA[Things I learned from AAF sempai]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[kotegashi: 
One of the very nice thai aikikai young men showed me that as I was short, I could just bend more at the knees and bring the uke in towards my centre by brining the hand in towards my centre as I tenkan.  I've been trying it out and it works.  It gives me more control as nage and I need to move around uke less.  I do need to practice it though to make it smoother.    

kokyu:
last night's practice: this has always been elusive to get it consistently right.  During the practice, one of the yudansha at AAF showed me to turn the wrist more to cut using the small finger out and that would make the uke's wrist also turn more effectively.  

last night:
we practiced in the dance studio for once and since it has mirrors on one side, I occasionally glimpsed myself and realised my posture isn't upright enough for a lot of the moves.  I need to be more aware of what the correct position is.  I think sometimes it's because I'm compensating for a technique which doesn't quite work and that's the only way I can maintain fluidity.  
]]></body>
	<date>11-16-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2280">
	<title><![CDATA[back to normal practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Friday's class: first class back after the seminar.  I'm still feeling that great after holiday feeling.  Don't think it's improved my technical skills yet though :).  I'm blaming my muscle spasm behind my left knee which made me really afraid to move that leg and that's so not good for aikido.  

I'm still remembering parts of the seminar: the shihan who could do 450 degree turns and the shihan who was very straight, very tall, who always went literally for the throat.  ]]></body>
	<date>11-13-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2275">
	<title><![CDATA[Asian Aikido Federation Congress memories]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Shihans: I think it was Arai shihan I'm remembering from the conference.  Little old frail looking man with white hair and no more than 5 feet, throwing men far bigger and stronger than him.  

There were so many others that were memorable: Shihan Kobayashi I think was the one who executed 450 degree turns.  Lots of variations on turns.  Great sense of balance.  I thought it was also very effective for shorter people.  He himself is no more than 5 feet.  His son is much taller and acts as his uke a lot of the time.  

Since I'm short I'm also taking note of all these technqiues which work well for little people :).]]></body>
	<date>11-10-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2261">
	<title><![CDATA[Asian Aikido Congress]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Just came back from Bangkok from the AAF congress.  It was a great experience, more than I expected.  Seeing the country demonstrations followed by the shihans and doshu was very good.  And before that the different classes conducted by the different senseis was also highly instructive.  It taught me a lot about how far more I need to keep learning and keep trying to improve as I felt my techniques tend to be weak where by now I should at least be able to do those basics so it's back to the drawing board!  I was very impressed with a number of my partners and some of them particularly the senior ones were patient and taught me in the short few minutes I had with each of them for each technique we learned.  

More details later but overall a great experience.  Not to mention the rip roaring party at the end :)...an unexpectedly boisterous party with lots of beer and music to dance to.   Also made new friends from the other dojo in Singapore and certainly got to know my own dojo mates better from travelling with them.  
]]></body>
	<date>11-08-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2200">
	<title><![CDATA[multiple ukes]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Sensei's having us do more multiple uke attacks and defences.  It's quite interesting and very challenging.  I find myself too on edge as opposed to being relaxed and concentrating on technique.  I need to consciously slow down to ensure I'm getting enough control and precision and retaining balance.  Could have been the overdose of green tea but my mind was so not absorbing any visual information last night as one of my ukes, a very nice shodan guy had to tell me what to do with the first uke.  ]]></body>
	<date>10-20-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2191">
	<title><![CDATA[green tea]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I couldn't believe it but turns out I react to very concentrated green tea with nausea.  I think it's cos it was up to 6x more concentrated than it should be as it was my first time making matcha from powder so I thought, gee, one teapson should do it and I did a heaped teaspoonful.  Then I found out from my friend it's more like 1/4 of a teaspoon.  So I guess that's the end of my green tea matcha experiment for now until I regain my taste for green tea!  I really did love the japanese tea ceremony green tea though.  That was like drinking the cappucino version of green tea.  Next time I'm going to ask someone who's experienced at mixing green tea to tell me how first.  Nothing to do with aikido other than the fact I usually drink cold sweet green tea in between sessions of aikido to quench thirst.  Today I think I might stick to plain water.

Monday's aikido:  I'm practising when really tired mentally which means I can sometimes not get simple moves.  We did a kind of kaiten nage which involved sliding alongside uke's punch with my back to uke then turning around in a kokyu like throw.  But I kept getting confused and turning the wrong way.  There are just some moves I never get for a long time and this is one of them.  I was also getting confused between the ai hanmi and gyko hanmi versions.    ]]></body>
	<date>10-18-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2169">
	<title><![CDATA[Dancing Circles]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Friday's class was fun.  The instructor had us stand in a circle and we then each took turns in rounds to execute techniques.  Rather like a salsa dance circle except we're not all doing it at once but rather consecutively.  The class range was largely junior with 3 white belts, 3 blue, one brown gold (me :) ) and a couple of black belts, then two very senior level.  It was very interesting getting the feel of different people as usually in my dojo we stick to one partner for each practice session.  

I realised that I really need to improve my basic balance even more than my techniques. And I found myself muscling through some techniques because of poor balance/]]></body>
	<date>10-09-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2118">
	<title><![CDATA[nikkyo notes]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[against the crook of the shoulder: remember to turn the hand and wrist of uke as much as possible and nestle it firmly against the crook of the shoulder before applying pressure otherwise it won't work.

freehold away from the shoulder: angle it just past the outside of uke rather than directly at them...seems to work better when just off the centre of the person.]]></body>
	<date>09-23-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2100">
	<title><![CDATA[correcting my uke habits]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Points to note:

I'm trying to remember not spin out of the "outside" throw when the partner doesn't take you down. Just walk straight out.  I seem to have developed some bad uke habits!  Also I have to work on being more grounded as uke particularly for shihonage where a nidan told me during a couple of practices with her that I was tending to lose balance a bit too easily sometimes.  

Yesterday's practice was intense during the first class as the shodan lady I partnered has the fastest reflexes.  Ikkyo ura her usually means I don't move into position fast enough.  I feel like sometimes I'm not tenkan-ing close enough to her and am relying too much on arm strength as opposed to strength coming from body movement...once in a while I get it right then it's great but the rest of the time, I'm trying hard to just get into the right position in time.  I noticed I had the same problem with simple tenkan exercises.  I can't seem to move to her side fast enough.

We also did 2 attackers against 1 and I definitely have a tendency to run away :).  Sensei came around to tell me I was running around too much.  I think practising close quarters will help me prevent that a bit as I think our initial spacing was too wide.  Lots of room to run ;).    ]]></body>
	<date>09-14-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2067">
	<title><![CDATA[Bangkok, windmills and ukemi]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm all signed up for the aikido trip to Bangkok in November.  It's my first ever aikido trip and it's the all Asian gathering which should be fun.  

Lots of practice of the "windmill" throws today.  I still can't quite get the hang of doing the ukemi and don't do proper rolls out of them at least half the time.  My execution as nage isn't great either so I can see this is going to take a lot of practice.  

kokyu ho from suwari waza: as uke I should remember to try to stay stable and not let my knees lift off the ground.  ]]></body>
	<date>08-31-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2059">
	<title><![CDATA[Visitors]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I had a whale of a time today during intermediate class practising with a visiting shodan lady from hawaii.  She was good and as the rhythm was up, I was bouncing off the mats and she was gentle enough so that I didn't bounce too hard off the mats :).  The instructor came around to tell her not to throw me too hard just before we started I think cos he finds I'm extra-sensitive to pain!  Yeah, clearly I need to look more fragile and ladylike so he doesn't have to go around posting warnings ;).  

Actually come to think of it the most fragile and ladylike girl in our dojo is the fiercest on the mat plus she has great ukemi and an amazingly flexible body.  The rest of us gals are lambs compared to her.  

]]></body>
	<date>08-26-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2054">
	<title><![CDATA[sawadeehi]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[The All Asian seminar in Bangkok looks interesting.  So far 15 from my dojo have signed up and I'm contemplating joining in.  I figure it's the one chance I'll have to see Doshu and lots of shihans all gathered together.   And by now I've more friends in the dojo so it'll be more fun being on a trip together.  

I haven't been to Thailand for over 20 years too so it'll be interesting going back.  Pity the new airport is still mired in delays so the old crowded congested airport will have to do.  ]]></body>
	<date>08-25-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2051">
	<title><![CDATA[uke's eyes]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[We're *not* supposed to look at uke's eyes according to Sensei but to look at the entire body and pay particular attention to the shoulder because a lot of movement will start from there.  

So earlier post of mine was wrong.  Must try and change that about my practice.  Although I have to say that focusing on the face does help me connect with my partner.  ]]></body>
	<date>08-23-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2035">
	<title><![CDATA[dancing ukemi]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Sensei was teaching some interesting new technique variations for ushiro on Monday.  We did Sankyo from Ushiro.  And he had us walk uke around nage backwards in a sankyo hold to ensure we had proper control before then going into shiho nage.  I had lots of fun with this one because it's a bit difficult to transition from sankyo into shihonage and my partner didn't quite get it either.  So we looked like a couple of dancers who were doing the dance a bit wrong till sensei came up and grabbed my arm in a sankyo to demonstrate it and had me walk backwards around him...since he's taller than me, I of course went up on the balls of my feet immediately and danced backward...and elicited a "good dancer!", "good ukemi" from him much to my surprise.  

I always knew learning the argentine tango would be good for my aikido :). Now that's a dance that really requires the girl to stick close to the guy and follow very intuitively.  

Now if I could only do equally responsive ukemi from the "windmill" throw, or a shihonage breakfall.  That's much harder to do.  I would also love to be able to do really soft ukemi and land from a breakfall without making much noise.  ]]></body>
	<date>08-17-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2026">
	<title><![CDATA[Friday: learning slams and staring]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I had a fun time in second class partnering one of the older black belts who's very good.  He's accomplished in karate and kendo as well so it's not at all surprising he's good at aikido.  He trained me today to keep looking at the opponent's eyes.  I have always looked at the shoulder ro arm rather than the face but he refused to do any move until I looked at him so that worked as a correcting method.  By the end of the class I got used to staring straight at the opponent and he's right, I can react faster when I do that.  I also learnt that I instinctively time my breath with his attack when I look in his eyes which makes the technique more effective which was an interesting result.  Overall it means I'm just more engaged with my uke.  He also taught me how to relax a bit more just before springing into action and explained that if I'm tense before I need to move, then I will not be able to move fast enough.  He's right of course but that's harder to achieve in practice.  

Today we tried to breakfall from shihonage which I've never been able to bring myself to do before but did manage just one before the class broke up.   I tried rolling out first but decided that slamming down is actually easier but this was a gentle practice where the partner doesn't really force the throw but let's uke take the initiative to throw oneself over.  That worked cos then I didn't feel so much pressure and actually not that much momentum is needed to go over.    

Hooray and thanks to my training partner!  It's really great when I get to partner such good guys who are able to teach as well as practice as I learn a lot from them.  It's something I really appreciate from them as I figure they probably get more fun out of an all out practice slamming other guys around the mat but they are forced to be more gentle with me for which I'm grateful but I always feel like I'm slowing them down.  

The other girl on the mat tonight is really good.  She's just got all the right body moves so she had the whole class clapping and exclaiming when she did the throws as part of the demo with the instructor.  She's much shorter than me and I'm not tall at all...but she uses her body to the fullest effect.  


]]></body>
	<date>08-12-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2003">
	<title><![CDATA[Friday's class]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Today I was the only gal in the class and ended up with two very nice guys to partner whom I've never practiced with before so it was fun.  First guy was much taller than me so I had problems doing the kokyu move where one simply steps aside from a wrist grab and lifts arm over and drops it on him.  When one is distinctly shorter it just doesn't work so the instructor came over to tell me that I had to draw him down to my level or jump up to his if he refused to move. 

Second class he had us try out hip throws which I've not done before.  So yep, I've survived my first hip throw.  My partner was quite accurate and tended to hold onto me a bit so I certainly had very soft landings.  But before I had a chance to try it out as nage we switched over to modified ones where nage goes down on knees and the uke then rolls over instead of being thrown.   Much easier and at least I was getting more used to the general idea.   

We also practiced rolls a bit and I'm learning to get my left side a bit straighter.  I just have to remember not to turn too much before rolling on that side to keep my rolls straight.

Friday's classes really do get quite interesting as a lot of the moves we've done I just never done before plus I often practice with people I've never worked with before including the guys and that's important I think to keep me learning and experiencing new ways of working.    


]]></body>
	<date>08-05-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1991">
	<title><![CDATA[working at it]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yesterday I had a good session.  First session I partnered one of the really formidable women in the class.  I haven't seen her in a while and haven't practised with her and it just struck me how much power was in her moves.  I always felt she could just snap my neck in the irimi nage moves.  I also notice her ikkyo moves she really maintains such control from start to end.  I
was trying to figure out which bits I should imitate to improve my own practice but then she had to move away to partner someone else.  

The second session I was happy to partner a friend who's been away for 4 months.  But as she's always had a strong natural talent, she pretty much bounced back easily into practice.  Another friend said she's coming back on Friday after a long absence as well so I'm looking forward to having more women to practice with on Fridays.  These last few months it's often down to 1-2 women which I find a bit disconcerting.  I know I shouldn't and I actually learn a *lot* from practising with guys and they've generally been very helpful to me on the mat, but well, it just is nice to have other women around.

And grading results are out, so now there's a new crop of shodans, black belts and lots more blues too.  The chap who was a white belt I practised with several weeks ago got his double jump to blue.  I figured he would.  He was so good when I worked with him.  

The good news is that my knee seems to be functioning normally now.  No more iliotibial syndrome symptoms so I've taken off the knee guard for practice.  

My left side roll is still not straight coming out of a throw.  A bit dangerous when the dojo is crowded and I nearly rolled into a fellow aikidoka as a result.  Really must practice my left side rolls.  ]]></body>
	<date>07-27-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1952">
	<title><![CDATA[Watching Grading and Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I think the general standard seems to be rising.  The 3rd dan chap grading to 4th dan was just spectacularly good as was the nidan to 3rd dan woman.  It's inspiring and when I watch them I think, yeah, this is why I do aikido, because when they practice, the flow is incredible, not to mention just very effective.  It's not that I think I'll ever get there, I probably won't but to watch people who are just very good is just great.

Today's practice: I'm compensating too much for the iliotibial band syndrome the result of which the other side of the knee got a bit swollen.  It went down after I returned home and iced it.  I stopped after the beginner's class.  I figure I probably shoudn't be practicing but it's hard not to go :).

Nikkyo from shoulder grab: I need to nestle the hand into the crook of the shoulder and then lean into the person.  I tend to not tuck the hand in comfortably first and then tend also to lean outwards which has little effect on the uke.  It's great to partner the dan grades because I learn so much from them and today my partner taught me exactly how to do it describing it when I clearly didn't get the subtleties.  

Rolls: I'm getting slightly better at keeping my left side straight but not always.  At least I've figured out what I'm doing wrong...I just turn too much as I go down so then I roll slightly tangential.  Now I need to train it into my muscle memory so I don't have to think before I roll.  My right side rolls are all nice and straight although I'd like to be able to tuck them in a bit more so the footprint is smaller.

kaiten: one of the dan grade women is really really fast...and when she comes and grabs I just stand stock still in shock at how fast she moves.  I need to be trained to that kind of speed cos I figure yeah, that's pretty much the speed at which a real fight might occur but my reflexes are getting old.  I notice though that because she pushes the person with her bum, it's hard as uke to do a nice elegant roll out of it.  It's probably very effective in real life cos it's liable to push the person into a face plant!
 

]]></body>
	<date>07-11-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1947">
	<title><![CDATA[After a Short Break]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm back on the mat after taking a 10 day break.  It was a bit tense for me because my knee isn't completely normal yet so I kept worrying about which positions might cause pain.  And it caused a problem right before class while I was laying mats but it didn't recur during practice.  I've finally figured out I think I have iliotibial band syndrome.  Hmmm....I notice one of the stretches done to stretch this muscle is a common yoga stretch.  I think I should seriously consider going back to yoga as a complement to training in aikido since yoga really does help to stretch a lot of the smaller muscles and would overall increase flexibility.  If i'm reaching a point of overuse then I seriously need to consider going back to yoga to prevent injuries.    

I practiced with this very good white belt today.  He's astonishingly good...I can't believe he's a white belt but I think he is as he's good enough to be blue but not much more than that.   I'm sure he's going to do very well for his grading this coming Sunday.  I think I threw him a bit too hard the last throw cos the instructor came around and looked a bit pained :0...i must remember he's a white belt.  Just that he's so good so I tend to forget.]]></body>
	<date>07-08-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1903">
	<title><![CDATA[Monday Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Weapons practice: bokken suwari waza 

I need to remember that when lifting the bokken and slicing it towards uke while uke has a one handed grip between my hands, I have to slice the bokken above uke's head not lower which is what I usually do.  That way it will feel lighter and uke will overbalance more easily.  Sensei came around to demonstrate for me and for once I got what he meant immediately.  

My ushiro techniques need a lot of practice.  Particularly the shihonage from ushiro where I need to remember that it's like an ai-han me shihonage.  Will take lots more times before that gets imprinted into my muscle memory as I'm still stopping to think about it.]]></body>
	<date>06-22-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1891">
	<title><![CDATA[Look ma, no arms!]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Practice was fun today.  We tried out "no arm" practice with several moves which just involved the body rather than the use of arms.  I particularly liked the one where from a shoulder grab, nage takes a step back and then sinks down on the back leg and turns so that uke will breakfall over nage.  If nage stands up in the process then it turns into a hip throw.  But we just stuck to letting uke breakfall over nage which for me is an acheivement in itself cos it's a bit nerve wracking to throw myself over nage...funny thing is that I can do it without fear on one side but the other side always makes me hesitate.  Then I realised what I should do is go halfway down as nage turns then the ground doesn't look so terrifyingly far away :).

I was also happy to have my best aikido buddy back.  She's been missing for months due to an operation and work and it's just nice to be able to practice with her again.

I should remember during shihonage while turning to keep my hands at forehead level all the time, no higher.  I realised that I find this very difficult so when dealing with an uke who's not much taller than me, I sink instead to my knees.  I'm not yet sure I'm doing it right but well, I'll ask the instructor one friday.  I should also remember that while being uke in shiho nage not to move until nage forces me to as the instructor told me I was moving too early.



]]></body>
	<date>06-17-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1842">
	<title><![CDATA[Regaining Form]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm slowly regaining a bit of my form and I'm finally realising how not to grab so much in ikkyo and *enter*.  

irimi-nage: i must remember to grab the guy by the scruff of his neck, i must remember to grab the guy by the scruff of his neck, i must remember to grab the guy by the scruff of his neck....

new move: from a two handed shoulder grab, atemi at the face with the nearest hand then duck under the same side.  Remember chin to chest as I duck otherwise no way can I break the hold of the two handed grab.

I'm also trying to figure out how to practice with an uke who kind of overspins a bit and I don't think it's cos I'm using too much force.  But when I go into sankyo or yongkyo I notice she turns slightly away as she goes down and I'm not sure why and I don't like the lack of control it implies on my part of course :).  Or is it that with an uke like that I have to adjust differently?  I just haven't been able to figure out what to do to control uke better.  Maybe I should just try after the inital take down to remember to push her in the same direction she turns.
 
Not sure why it is that I lost my concentration and hence form over the last week or two...probably stress from work but that's never happened before.  Usually the more I stress out at work, the more aikido practice becomes a haven, a place to concentrate only on aikido.  

]]></body>
	<date>05-25-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1808">
	<title><![CDATA[Basic Corrections]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[argh....feel like my aikido is getting worse.  Monday's session I was particularly uncoordinated in weapons class.  

Wednesday's class I partnered one of the nidan women who is a particularly superb teacher.  And she wasn't letting me get away with anything and pointed out all the very basic mistakes I am still making.  I think my problem is that I don't remember what it feels like to make the right move and can't tell I'm doing something wrong except when the person refuses to move in the right direction.

Hence ikkyo omote: I'm *still* tending to grab rather than just move forward fast.  And I realised that it's partly cos I tend to keep both hands at the same level whereas actually one hand is ahead.  but the difference is to me so subtle I tend to lose it all too easily...v frustrating to learn it and then forget it

ikkyo ura: the version where it's done after the arm comes down I must remember to just push downward first.  After doing it wrong for a few moves and having it pointed out to me, I got it right and took myself by surprise by moving faster than my brain could think on pure instinct. 

shihonage: extend out a lot more in the omote version and stay far enough away from the uke and slightly more behind that I normally do.  For the ura version I should also move a bit more behind the uke.

kate nikyo: I need to remember to keep the arm as straight as possible in the final pin to prevent uke's pain during practice.  I also need to remember to move off line in the first move and then cut *down*...i tend to cut too much towards me which can result in uke overbalancing toward me whereas what I want is for uke to overbalance downards.

Intermediate class:
I am soooo not getting the soto version of what I call the windmill throw...yeah not the standard term but I remember it better this way.  Kinda not good even at the ukemi for this.  I need to remember for kaiten move that the power to move the uke is coming a lot from the knees bending and I'm failing to do that anywhere near enough.

It's a bummer I have to miss Friday's class...I'm getting to like it a lot.]]></body>
	<date>05-12-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1793">
	<title><![CDATA[By the Scruff of his Neck]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[irimi nage from a tenkan: I must remember to grab the guy by the scruff of his neck to circle him back...not just his back.  The instructor kept reminding me it won't work unless I do that.

shihonage from a two handed grab: I need to remember to end well and pin strongly at the end.  Not get sloppy and do it halfway between a throw and a pin.  

new move: tenkan from a two handed grab and then circle the hand down and use alternate shoulder to throw uke into a front roll.  Interesting move.

]]></body>
	<date>05-07-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1787">
	<title><![CDATA[shodan surprises and soto variations]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Well guess what, I discovered in Wednesday's class the guy wearing a white belt I was practising with is at least shodan level :0...no wonder he was so much better than me!  I had initially thought he was 2nd or 1st kyu cos when I searched my memory banks that's what I remember of him.  Just shows how blind I am in class sometimes.

Wednesday's classes were good particularly the second one.  First one I practised with a blue belt girl and it was easier this time around.  The last few times I worked with her I just my irimi nage just wasn't working on her as she tended to tip forward rather than back and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, but this time it was fine.  My ikkyo needs work though cos I notice I still sometimes tend not to move in fast enough.  

The second class I partnered a brown belt lady whom I think has improved in leaps and bounds and I'm quite inspired by her.  She really has come so far and it's good to practice with her as I notice she picks up faster than I do and her movements are more precise.  We learnt a variation move on a soto move from a wrist grab where instead of throwing the person forward at the point where the person overbalances, instead of moving the arm forward to throw nage moves the arm back to the side and back over the uke's head if nage is tall enough.   

I'm also grateful for her general gentleness as my ankle felt worse than last week.  It was somehow a bit more stiff and felt slightly swollen but I think it's partly cyclical and partly that I did kinda put too much strain on it on Fri and Sat.  

]]></body>
	<date>05-05-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1770">
	<title><![CDATA[One handed techniques]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Training on Friday was interesting.  I arrived late and feeling extremely frustrated with the cab company so I missed the beginners class but was in time for the intermediate class.  I saw one friend whom I'd not seen for at least two months and it turns out he had a newborn son :) so of course congratulations were in order.  So that calmed me down a bit before class and fortunately since class went well, I finished feeling very happy.  

I practised with one of the guys who was wearing a white belt but after one move I realised he was definitely better than I was...after class I figured it out that he was actually black belt so no wonder :).  Anyway, he very obligingly taught me stuff in silence when I couldn't figure out the one handed sankyo from a wrist grab.  I still had to be shown that once I duck under the arm and turn around to face the uke, I should turn quite far in pushing the uke's arm towards him to achieve the lock before then bringing him down.  I realise that in a lot of my aikido moves I'm not really going far enough literally...failing to extend far enough in the movement.  I have to consciously remember that to give enough room and space for a wider movement until it becomes second nature.   

We did a whole series of one armed movements as the instructor figured if we can do it with one hand we can definitely do so with two.  I'm not entirely sure my ikkyo's worked that well as I felt I didn't have sufficient control over the uke particularly when trying to get them to go down after the initial tenkan and grab uke's wrist.   

I did have a lot of fun though with the shihonage as doing shihonage with just one arm means a lot more freedom in manouvreing the uke to where nage wants him to go.  I just got slightly worried at one point when my ankle gave a twinge as I was taking a fall as uke.  Not at all my nage's fault but I figure I need to be careful when I land.  Then I went more slowly after that as uke. 

I should find out the name of the guy I practised with and thank him again.  I so rarely practice with the guys in the class I invariably learn a lot from them when I do...they keep my practice very honest particularly for the techniques from a grab as then strength comes into play and I'm forced to improve my technique to take them and of course all the holes in my technique are really glaring.  This guy was slowly ramping up the strength quotient so I could adjust. 

Anyway, the one thing I will try to remember is to turn in more towards uke when doing sankyo and to remember to extend more in a tenkan generally and particularly in kotegashi.    




I]]></body>
	<date>05-01-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1755">
	<title><![CDATA[Extending]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I felt very clumsy being nage yesterday, not sure why.  I think partly I'm not extending enough sometimes so I fail to take uke's balance.  And I practiced with two ukes, blue belts, who were very honest in their uke so it meant I couldn't move them unless I was doing it right which at times I wasn't.  The "back" version of ikkyo, I didn't bring uke's hand down far enough when she reaches to grab my shoulder.  I brought it only down to the waist level when it should go further down as I tenkan before I turn back towards her.  And in the intermediate class, it's a kokyu ho movement in which I tenkan first and lead uke's attacking hand down then up over her head to overbalance her as she spins around, and I somehow wasn't leading it up over her head far enough so that she just kind of wiggled out from under it instead of toppling over.  I felt very silly doing that.  I also realised it's a hard move to do if you're not very tall like me although on this uke I should still have been able to execute it as she's not much taller than me.  

My ukemi though is getting more normal back to what it was before the ankle injury.  My ankle had been stressed over the weekend from swimming and lots of walking the previous week and felt sore but somehow during monday's practice it felt a whole lot better and by Wednesday it's very close to normal.  The odd thing was that I couldn't quite remember how to do backward rolls on the left side!  And I figure it's something if I don' think too much about I'll just do it but if I think then I won't be able to execute.  My front left rolls are still crooked to the right and I don't know why.  My right rolls are perfectly straight.  

]]></body>
	<date>04-28-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1711">
	<title><![CDATA[leading, cross hands and a reversal]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Friday's classes are getting interesting under this relatively new teacher.

kokyu: learnt it crosshanded this time where the hand that crosses can touch the face of the uke then both hands circle in opposite directions in large circles.  I'm so used to doing this with just one hand that it was hard to adjust.  Kept making only half circles with the otherhand.

ikkyo reversal: if there's a break in the nage's ikkyo and the uke tried to reverse into an ikkyo, we were supposed to then move their elbow downwards and move in the same direction the uke is moving but controlling and pinning their elbow so that they're still under control.  I found it difficult to tell if i was really pinning the uke or not.  Still think I haven't really figured out how to do this move properly but it was an interesting one.  

we also practised leading a lot more.  Moving the hand just ahead of uke so that they have to stretch and then of course overbalance and nage then takes their balance.  

partnered a very sweet tall young girl who's a white belt and fortunately very gentle.  My ankle still cannot take too much of a beating but is steadily getting better.  Now if I fall on the right side backwards it's less painful and can take a small amount of weight whereas before I wd just avoid letting it touch the ground first which make my back right falls very weird.  My seiza was very stiff at first then as the ankle warmed up it got a lot easier halfway through class.  Am still staying only for the beginners class but may try the advanced class for weapons work next session.  I'll see how I feel after the beginner's class.  

]]></body>
	<date>04-17-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1689">
	<title><![CDATA[front and backfalls]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[My ankle feels the same as it did on Monday at beginner's class.  We did ikkyo to gokyo and then 5 throws.  I had no problems with ukemi for the pins but had problems again with backfalling properly on my right ankle.  It's still slightly inflammed and cannot take the impact yet.  I also discovered that in a forward fall I have to roll in such a way I don't come up on the right ankle too hard.  The first time I went into the roll I did it as per normal then realised oops, I shouldn't have.  Fortunately the forward rolls I can adjust to avoid too much strain on the ankle.  

I partnered a 16 year old brown belt.  She turned out to be the daughter of the shodan guy practicing behind me whom I've always thought was very good...just as well I was being careful and gentle with her ;).  I think my sankyo and yonkyu still are bad though so she probably learned the wrong things from me!

I guess I'll stick to beginner's classes for now until I can take backfalls on the right without any pain or fear of injury.  The good thing is this morning then ankle feels fine and better than before so I figure the streching and use during practise helped rather than hindered.  Still hate sitting in seiza though especially at the start of class when the ligaments and muscles haven't warmed up sufficiently and I'm leaning to one side more than usual to take the weight off the ankle.]]></body>
	<date>04-13-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1678">
	<title><![CDATA[Returning to the Mat]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yesterday's beginner's class was my first lesson after my badly sprained ankle had time to heal.  It was great being back on the mat.  I've recovered enough to be able to do shikko and sit very slightly lopsided in seiza.  I hope no one noticed I was tipping slightly like the leaning tower of pisa to the left to take the weight a little off the injured ankle.  As the muscles and tissue around the area warmed up during class it got more flexible though so sitting more evenly on both ankles was easier. 

I wore an ankle guard and partnered a friend of mine who had taken two months off after an operation she had.  So the two of us went real slow and easy on the moves.  She couldn't stretch the stomach area much so I didn't bring her down to the mat for most of the moves and she went real slow whenever I had to fall on the right side.  Our Sensei kept coming around to make sure we weren't going to fast or anything and also told us to put our brown belts back on since we hadn't been gone that long.  She'd been gone 2 months and me a month.  Both of us had our white belts on under our hakamas.  

I think the only thing I really can't do yet is a backfall on the right side as that means the injured side of the ankle hits the mat first.  It's too much impact as the ankle is still slightly swollen.  

I've decided I'll stick to beginner's classes though until I can do the backfall properly.  It's also nice just seeing the usual folk there and catching up with people and Sensei again.  It's just nice being back.    ]]></body>
	<date>04-11-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1625">
	<title><![CDATA[Rehabilitation]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I'm on my feet again!  It makes a big change from being flat on my back with my foot up or hopping around on crutches.  I've been duly doing flexibility and strength exercises and noticed my calf muscles on the right side are now more flabby than the left side which has had loads of exercise these days to compensate.  So my right side has lots of catching up to do.  

I'm concentrating on just being able to walk normally again.  I figure it'll take 1-2 weeks to build to that as I usually walk 25 mins from the train station to my office and in the evenings sometimes walk for half an hour to catch a bus.  And maybe go back to swimming for exercise after all I now have stronger arms from the hobbling around on crutches and hauling myself upstairs!  

I still can't squat or walk down a flight of stairs normally and have to concentrate to ensure my gait is reasonably near normal.  But yep, am getting back to normal life bit by bit and it feels good.  I go back to work tomorrow and fortunately it's desk bound so it shouldn't be too tiring.  
]]></body>
	<date>03-28-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1601">
	<title><![CDATA[ankle II]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[No bones broken as far as the x ray shows, according to my doctor.  She sent them to a radiologist for a second opinion but as long as I don't get a call back it means things are fine.

However the ankle is hurting more these few days than the few days immediately after the sprain.  The doctor tells me it's because I was trying to put weight on it and hobble around the house.  So now I have strict orders to not put *any* weight on it for a week.  The side is tender to the touch so well, ouch and so much for early mobilisation.  Looks like I'm really going to be off the mat for a considerable period.

Terry: thank you for your suggestion.  I sent a PM to thank you but am not sure it got through so this is in case you didn't see that.]]></body>
	<date>03-21-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1581">
	<title><![CDATA[ankle]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I attended two classes of aikido last night and had a great time.  Then while leaving the dojo, I tripped over stairs and sprained or fractured my ankle or pulled my ligament.  I can't tell which.  I am so annoyed with myself.  It's going to be at least several weeks and possibly months if it's more serious so I'm just thinking of all the classes I'm going to have to miss.  

will go to get a second doctor's opinion later today.  and if that doctor orders an x ray then I'll do one to see if it's a chip fracture or not.  I really hope it's not as I'm the sort who hates not having any physical activity.  

]]></body>
	<date>03-14-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1569">
	<title><![CDATA[simple throws]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I was doing a technique which i think is often used in jiyuwaza yesterday although I can't remember the precise name of the technique (need to go look it up) and while I could do it fluidly and easily before, I found I couldn't do it anymore.  Only after class while thinking about it I realised my mistake was that I was trying to be circular when it was a simple linear movement where I just shift offline to get out of the way and only the front leg actually leaves the ground to move back and the other foot is the pivot and stays put.  

There was a new move also in the beginners class he taught which was very neat, simple and effective for bringing someone down and involved simply stepping back and only slightly to the side and so that the uke falls flat on their face as nage puts their hand on uke's attacking forearm.  Still don't know how to do it though despite a very patient dan grade person trying to teach me during class.    
]]></body>
	<date>03-07-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1554">
	<title><![CDATA[Yudansha!]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[11 people graded for shodan recently so I looked around the dojo during the intermediate class and half the class was shodan and above. As for me on the kyu side of things, it's just inspiring to be in a class where I'm overwhelmed with the number of seniors.]]></body>
	<date>03-03-2005</date>
</blogEntry>


</blogEntries>