Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A Beginner's Point of View 301-302

Day 301:

Today was a holiday but the dojo was open. We gathered for Iaido a little bit late, so we only had twenty real minutes of practice. Still, I did my routine and tried to concentrate on flexing my wrist to increase the range of motion for the chiburi.

In Kendo, we had a merged beginner and advanced class. We had four new students start today. We did warm-ups and footwork practice. We had some basic suri-ashi and some basic men drills.

We broke up into motodachi and received strikes from everyone. The beginner students were awkward, but no more so than I was at the beginning. After more kihon drills, the beginning students stepped aside as the rest of us performed ji-geiko.

Day 302:

Today I spent most of the day at a new job interview, so I have not had much to eat or drink. It was also extremely humid. I was sweating profusely just cleaning the floor.

In Iaido, Sensei came back to class. He was stiff from his time with the doctor healing his joints, but he looked ready to take up the sword again.

We did our kata routine as usual, trying to pay attention to details. It’s difficult to keep your focus on the opponent in the third kata after you cut. I keep drifting my gaze back towards the shomen.

In Kendo, we separated the class after halfway through suburi. I was in the advanced section where we finished suburi and then did footwork drills over short distances. We went forwards solo and sideways with a partner. Then we put on men and were motodachi for the students. The beginners were trying just to do regular oh-men waza without passing through. Some of them were hitting too hard, some were tensing their shoulders, some were not stepping their feet properly. I tried to give good tips to help their strikes. They were grateful for anything I had to offer.

At the end of beginner class, I had to leave. I was not feeling up to advanced class. I was tired, dehydrated, and lacking energy. I decided to just go home and rest up.

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