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Whenever I go out of town or am sick, like I am right now, I hate missing classes at the dojo. I feel like when I go back I have to relearn a lot of the stuff. Anyways, I have missed two classes this week already, so hopefully I will be better by tomorrow so that I can go.
Attended the New Years Day Seminar at school today. I was very impressed with how many people showed up. We practiced many different techniques that I have never even seen before. For example, today was the first time that I have ever seen a nikkyo technique beginning with a catch and then a tenkan. There was very little room on the mat and I was surprised that not one group or person collided with another. The mat was so crowded that while practicing a technique we had to end it before the throw because there was no room to throw anyone. I think that I got some good pictures with my camera, and quite a few guests showed up to watch the class. I wish the warm-ups had not been cut short because I felt as though I was not totally stretched out.
Overall my first real seminar that I participated in was a lot of fun.
Well another year has past now. I will have been studying Aikido for a year when January hits. I cannot believe that my New Years Resolution from the beginning of 2004 was to study Aikido, because its the only resolution for the new year that I have ever kept for the entire year!!! haha. I guess I must really enjoy it. In fact, I woke up today, and headed down to the dojo, knowing that it is a holiday, anxious to train. Upon arriving I saw all the lights off and nobody parked out front. I read the sign that I have read about 30 times already that states, "Closed December 31." I was looking forward to training so much that I completely forgot.
Class last night was probably the most intesnse class that I have participated in since starting my training almost a year ago. For the majority of the class all we did was break falling and rolling techniques. I have never done break falls so much, but it payed off because I am getting more comfortable with doing them. We did alot of riotitori (spelling?) throws into rolls and break falls.
I wish I would have gone to class this morning, but I would have only gotten 4 hours of sleep.
I HOPE THAT THE ENTIRE WORLD OF AIKIDO HAD A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAS A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Finally! Today, during the warm up I was able to break fall on both my right and left side without any hands. And then I tried it over another student's back, and it, for the most part, worked. It still needs to have a little more work. It seemed that I had unlimited energy in class today. We did mostly Iriminage techniqe, in two different variations. All of the variations were somewhat difficult for me to grasp, but I think that I have the basic jist of them.
I cant wait to try more knife work with some techniques, and I was looking forward to doing this tomorrow, but I keep forgetting that it is already the 23rd, and the school will be closed tomorrow and on Friday. I will just study on my own I guess at home. Thats the great thing about Aikido is that you can practice a lot of it at home on your own if you have to.
I was looking forward to getting to use a little knife work with a technique! Finally, today I got to do it. My interest in knife work had been on a steady rise, and now I realize that it is something else that I will most likely end up studying. We knife work in a sankyo technique in class today. Its funny how using a knife in a technique makes you more aware of what you are doing with the entire technique in itself. Now, whenever there is no knife involved I still imagine one, which helps me apply the technique in a better and quicker way. Lynn if your reading this, THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP IN CLASS TODAY!
Sensei's birthday is coming up, and I am really looking forward to our New Years Day seminar and the Aiki Demo 2005, seeing as that will be close. Cal State Dominquez Hills here we come! I wonder if Andy can hook me up with a parking pass at the school, or let me borrow his. lol!
Did alot of yankyo technique in class yesterday. Never really did any of that but its cool. Wow, this is like the shortest entry I will probably ever have in here. Well, off to work.
We did a ton of more nikkyo techniques in class tonight. Unfortunately Senei was feeling under the weather, so one of the black belts led the class. Hopefully he will not be out for to long.
I think I finally grasped break falls without rolling, or using hands in any way....but only falling on the left side. hahaha. I will still have to work a little more on the right. The problem was that I was trying to flip vertically with the floor, instead of turning my head to like a 45 degree angle in the direction I land.
I am really looking forward to the New Years celebration at the dojo. Hopefully I can get some people from work to start training, if they would only come watch a damn class!! Looking forward to Sensei's birth day celebration to, and the anniversary of the dojo.
I am going to make writing in this journal an everyday thing now. lol. Class this morning was great, did about 5 different techniques, which is a lot, so I guess that we were all performing them fairly well. We went from syundo(spelling?haha), to nikkyo, to different kokyo-nage, all mixed with irimi and such. Very cool stuff. Its pretty amazing how, when applying a nikkyo technique, the smallest difference in how you 'katame' your attacker can make the technique. For example, the placement of the opponent's attacking hand on your shoulder. EVEN MORE SWEET! SENSEI DEMONSTRATED HOW TO COUNTER A NIKKYO TECHNIQUE USING THE SAME EXACT NIKKYO TECHNIQUE!! At first everyone on the mat was really tripped out by it. It was so cool! Unfortunately Sensei was simply showing us that it could be done, but not teaching it to us.
Went to class tonight and am totally nikyo-ed out! I usually dread practicing nikyo because I tend to be less effective when applying the technique with my left hand. Right hand is perfect, but left hand bad.
Learned a new technique to apply nikyo though, which is pretty cool. Instead of the first technique I learned, which is the basic same hand/opposite hand application, there is the application of nikyo at sort of a 45 degree angle towards the attacker. It sort of is more like a push, because when applied correctly, the attacker will react by stepping backwards, and all you have to do is push them down.
Well, I wish that I would have signed up for this website back when I started training in Aikido.