Firstly, congratulations to all you students for passing your gradings on Sunday, Richard San said you all ‘kicked ass!’ A great effort and spirit shown by Dohighs Chris and Jon, and Kohigh Jose, but I’m most excited by Dohigh Lucy for passing her advanced weapons and moving up the grades, this means soon there will be more Black belt ladies in the dojo, just to balance things out a little!!! Your dedication and enthusiasm for this art speaks for itself on those memorable days like gradings, its an amazing journey one that i started over 10 years ago, and am still getting so much out of. So once the feeling has come back in to your legs then get back in the Dojo for more….blackbelt beckons!
My training this week started with another inspiring Tuesday night that started with Tim San teaching the Aikido attack forms, but taking away the tension of someone coming at you, by simplifying it into lines and circles and dealing with it logically. The simplicity of this logic helped a great deal to me, to just follow the line or circle of the attack, not battle against, it was a great lesson in trusting yourself and your ability! A lot of practice was put into this, along with patient training partners and willingness to help each other learn, and by the end of the session it almost felt effortless, though still lots to learn! But strangely despite a partner moving into strike you, the training brought a sense of peace into the dojo, as students became more confident in their movement. The beauty to me of this more ‘Holistic’ feel to a Tuesday night is that you are exercising something else, not just your mind and body, this is why its always my favourite session of the week!
The second half of the night was nicely balanced by Richard San, who taught some intricate and technical re-sheathing of the sword, each sequence cleverly designed to be ever more challenging, he told us that if we could master these movments then anything afterwards would be easy! True to his word it really was difficult and awkward, but amazingly we all started to master these forms, it worked! The technical challenge was a great way to end, and a lovely balance to the simplicity of Tim San’s lesson, just a normal Tuesday night!!!
This week i was also lucky enough to be invited along to a Wednesday night to help out, it was exciting to see the ‘Combat Aikido’ in action with Dohigh Wills, Dohigh Kevin and Sempai’s Kash and Ben showing their knowledge in dealing with attacks from all angles, it really brought out their ability and showed they were truly in the moment and switched on…..very inspiring to watch! Very different Aikido to a Tuesday nights, but still performed with great control and respect as always in this dojo.
There was as always so many fast paced lessons taking place that night, that i didn’t see all of them, but i managed to take part in Tim San’s super fast reflex training, If he runs it again then I would highly recommend it! Very thought provoking and a great insight for the versatile mind of a Martial Artist. On the other side of the dojo it looked like a high impact knife defence lesson was being taken by Richard San, which added to the excitement in the room some what! James San ‘fresh’ from a 10 hour flight still managed to show great spirit while battling the ever powerful Graeame San! They both demonstrated great skill, and as always good humor, despite the life and death nature of the lesson!
It is always with this respect and friendship that we are able to explore all levels of martial arts here, and even the hidden levels of our own self in this amazingly warm and friendly environment, as a young student thats what i remember the most when i first started training all those years ago, and has safely gotten me too this grade!
See you next week!
Hayley San
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