It’s been a bit of a disjointed week… since my post about Monday, I’ve helped in the little kids class on Tuesday, and participated in two classes Tuesday evening. In the second class on Tuesday, I got to make a request, so I requested that we work on timing and entries, from munetsuki and shomen-uchi. We worked on kokyu-ho, kokyu nage, and kote-gaeshi. That was really useful, and I feel a lot more comfortable with those, although I still feel like I’m only doing them in slow motion. I’d love to be able to spend some time really drilling on these techniques. I feel like a few hundred repetitions would be a good start.
Wednesday was a relatively pleasant but unproductive day. I woke up late, making up for a few nights of sleep deprivation, and then had a massage, took a hot bath, and saw the chiropractor, all in hopes of continuing the improvement in the nerve in my neck and arm. It’s been doing a tiny bit better each day for a few weeks now. That sounds like a lovely, relaxed day, but I had things I needed to get done, and didn’t make any progress on them at all. So in spite of appearances it was actually pretty frustrating and stressful. I helped in the older kids class, but skipped the evening training on Wednesday to go out for early Valentine’s Day dinner with my husband, Michael. Wednesdays are test prep nights, and people stay late to train together, so I hated to miss it this close to an exam. But the alternative would have been to miss the weapons class and the advanced class on Thursday, not to mention going out on Valentine’s Day, which is bound to be a busy time at restaurants. So we went out, and had a nice time together, with no crowds.
Thursday was back to business, writing all day, and taking care of a few chores before heading to the dojo. I sat for meditation and for the first time in months I was able to do so without my shoulder and arm hurting, and having to constantly reposition my neck and arms to keep my hand from going numb. Definitely heading in the right direction, thank goodness. In the first class we did some techniques, including katate-dori nikkyo, and a gyakute-dori irimi nage, with tanto in hand, using it to study alignment and the direction of energy. In the second class we did some slow jiyuwaza exercises, which were great for bringing a relaxed soft energy to the practice.
Friday morning and afternoon will include as much writing as I can cram in. On Friday evening, Sensei will be teaching a class in Tijuana. A friend and I will be meeting him at the border and participating in the class, which should be great fun. We know most of the students at that dojo from having trained with them before, both at their dojo, and when they’ve visited ours. It will probably be a late evening out, and we have classes on Saturday morning, with some exam prep to follow. There’s another open mat session on Sunday as well. So lots of good stuff coming up.
