handslive | (no subject)

Aikido was interesting tonight.

A couple of nights ago, I was fiddling around with some old karate kata I haven't practiced in ages and had to physically remind myself to tighten the abs so that whole trunk of the body would move as a unit when striking and blocking. I thought at the time that the initial feeling of doing this was very particular. I felt like my balance and coordination were slightly better (usually I just feel like my abs are tight :-).

I tried that a bit tonight during practice whenever it would occur to me and I did feel like I tended not to bend over so much and I felt more centered.

On top of this, I had a small revelation about the hands that I will definitely have to explore for the next while. I usually have trouble remembering to keep the hands open (my tagline here is by way of being a reminder in fact). I noticed while doing sumiotoshi that I was pointing with my index fingers and the rest of the hand was closed. Well, this is rather classic in appearance, but I've been specifically told to keep the damn things open. So I try to focus on projecting through my pinkies instead.

Hot Damn! That works pretty well. It's hard to feel like you're tense or pushing through your pinkies (meaning I use less upperbody strength this way) and it feels like it really emphasizes the blade of the hand, too.

I may have to sign back on to aikido-l just to discuss that with folks.

Overall the class itself was pretty good. My neck's still a little stiff, but it's loosening up a bit. My right wrist seems to be holding out pretty well. Bill called me up for nikyo and that actually went okay. Of course, kotegaeshi is the real killer there, but even being able to take a bit of Bill's nikyo without any, hmmm, stiffness in the joint afterwards is a good sign.

There's a kid, Don?, who comes out Friday nights (and maybe other classes, too, but how would I know I'm so slack) and sometimes he really seems to click, but his ukemi still sucks badly. He seems to do okay during warmups (not great, but then he's probably oh 13 or something and he's only been coming like 4 or 5 months. Not more than a year anyway.

I wish I knew what to do to help him out with that. I get the impression he's somewhere between mortified at any extra attention and bored with the repetition of it. Welcome to the dojo, man. :-\

It'd be nice to have a regular schedule again so I could plan on being at two classes a week or even three (hey, I can dream, right?). But I can sure call them. I told them at the last election there was no way I'd be pres again, I didn't have the time. Ding. Got it in one. The AGM's coming up and would not noway nohow have been ready for it.