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Spring is springing up in my yard and it feels good! The last little while has had a number of beautiful starry nights to practice suburi. The wee lads are growing like weeds and we've started making it a point to "wrassle." It's fun connection play for me and it gets them used to tumbling a little. I haven't really started formally teaching them anything yet, but my oldest (almost 6) and I did an exercise in seiza from a blade on blade position where I try to enter either with my elbow or my hand around the contact point and his job was to stop the entry. He did pretty well in my opinion!
I rototilled the back yard and practiced my connection and posture while doing it. The previous day I was yanking blackberry bushes out of the ground and strained my wrist pretty bad so I was worried if I would be able to handle it, but it was no problem...apart from making me pleasantly exhausted (too tired to keep working, being the only problem).
We have blackberries thanks to the neighbors who don't cull the ones growing behind their garage and I do battle with them every year. Last year I gave up and called it a plan for cultivating them like we do our raspberries, but this year we cut them all the way back. We had dozens of gnarly root systems all over and they were a bear to yank up, but part of me likes it for the training I see in it. Grabbing brambles with your hands teaches you a soft touch and to apply lateral pressure to keep from getting stuck by them. It's similar to when I worked in color glass, where I would have to mind the edges. We would keep bars of the stuff in cubby holes that were above my head and reaching in to grab the jagged-edged things would cut you fast without proper sensitivity.
I've agreed to open my garage up to a friend who teaches wing chun and we've been slowly cleaning it out to make room. He will be teaching once a week starting at the end of this month. It seems fitting that his "Spring Time Wing Chun" class will be re-opening up around the equinox. I'm not very familiar with his training, having only experienced a single day of it a couple years ago, but I like his focus, which is on being healthful and not on being "tough." I'm hoping it will help me round out my fitness a bit more while keeping me more in a training mindset. I'm thinking of starting a weekly aikido training group now as well. Part of my rationale with Spring Time Wing Chun is that if I can't make it to training as much, if it will come to me then that will help at least a little. It only seems to make sense that I do the same thing with aikido, which will likely always be the heart of my personal training.
I've been up to the dojo a few times and will continue to make the effort to do it more so. The training is always such a blast and it is amazing the difference I feel afterward. I grew up playing sports and nothing has ever come close except running. The people are great and the lessons feel useful on multiple levels. The dedication and passion for training is always inspiring. Good stuff.
Happy Spring, everyone. May your training grow ever more excellent.
...And now to go back out into the yard for more cultivation.
03-13-2015 02:03 PM 