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...right in the jaw. I'm feeling okay today after the Ibuprofen and ice treatment last night, and some rest. It happened when I was practing munetsuki sokomen irimi nage with Micah. This particular technique involves a strong movement turning uke's head away. My problem was that I tilted my head instead of turning it thereby leaving my jaw in basically the same place. I got hit on the left side of the jaw, and that stretched or strained the right side. I must point out that Micah is one of the most gentle people I know, even with technique, and he felt bad about hitting me so hard. This was a training accident of the kind that happens when people train with energy, not the result of Micah trying to "teach me a lesson.". The rest of practice went well, but the mild jaw injury took a lot out of me afterwards.
I'm finding more often lately that I need to make many minute adjustments to my technique and ukemi. Things like turning my head instead of tilting it. I've also been working on where I put my weight during tenkan movements and how I turn my legs, with special attention on avoiding injuring my ankles (again) or knees. I also noticed while looking at photos from my recent test that my back foot was coming up quite a bit. So, I'm also focusing on bending my front knee more and sinking from the hips at the end of technique and when I'm striking.
This is a good development, and one that I've been through a couple of times before. It seems that just as I achieve some level of competence with aikido, I'm introduced to another level right away. I certainly know more than I did when I started almost four years ago, but I know less than I need to do techniques the way I'm being taught to do them.
I'll probably be posting some ideas on competition and aikido soon. It's a topic that's come up recently on the discussion boards.
08-01-2003 11:24 AM 