A Beginner's Point of View 726-727

Day 726:

Today was a terrible day all day. At least spending time at the dojo ends the day.

In Iaido, I completed 2.5 sets of kata. My toe seems to have healed up completely.

In Kendo, we had a Guest Sensei arrive to practice with Sensei. He was really good at Kendo. Always a really good attack. We did suburi and kihon.

My body feels really bad. It’s tired, sore, totally lacking in energy. Still, I kept trying. My chest felt sore and I had to step out. I felt totally lacking in spirit. After a while, I stepped back in for suburi. My men-himo were slipping out of the knot. Against the Guest Sensei, my Kendo seemed slow. He leapt all around after the strikes. Still, I got a good kote in there.

After class, he gave me advice for shoving my left shoulder forward during a strike to correct my drift. There was a session of kata after class with Sensei and Guest Sensei but my body was crashing, so I went home.

Day 727:

Today was a much better day. I did 2.5 sets of kata. It seems like my speed slows down when reminding to cut with only the left arm. Sensei gave advice to the class that when sliding forward in kneeling kata, do not slide the knee into the foot. You need to slide it completely forward.

In Kendo, we did suburi, okuri-ashi, kihon, kote-men-ouchi, and the familiar step-back-step-men-ouchi. We finished with ji-geiko. Sensei asked us when we do ji-geiko, we do it like we’re testing. I tried to bring the thunder. Prying for center, moving for angle, and striking fully. After class, his advice for both of us nidans was to only strike when we feel as if we will strike instead of flailing.