Flow drills and another individual training
On Friday evening, after 30 minutes of flow drills (close range exercises), which always take an incredible amount of concentration, I was grateful for several minutes of “uncomplicated” rolling. As rolls from a standing position don’t frighten me anymore – although they’re still far from being nice and round – we took a partner exercise we had only been doing from a kneeling position before and tried it from higher up. It was a little rough, mainly because of the unfamiliar movement, but apart from that it worked well.
Afterwards I was to pick a technique I wanted to repeat and deepen, and this way I received dozens of improvements for katate tori tenkan kokyunage (one hand grabs the same-side arm of nage, the defender), monotsuki koteoroshi (punch to the stomach, joint lock) and yokomenuchi shihonage (diagonal slash with the side of the hand, joint lock).
Between those techniques, we went through three suzuki waza for which I was Uke, the attacker – however, this time we did it complete with front rolls! =) And once even with “flying”… unfortunately, I don’t know how the technique is called – uke runs at nage, who drops to his knees and thus uke has to jump/fly/roll over him. I suppose I miscalculated my speed or the distance. Anyway, I went into the roll with too much speed and came to my feet stumbling and a little disorientated. Well, I’m not happy that I had no control whatsoever – but I am happy I didn’t get hurt at all, on the contrary, it was quite fun. 
Individual training on Thursday
Seemingly everybody else was so exhausted by the grading that yesterday I was the only one present for Thursday’s training for the first time ever. We started with an hour of Kenkodo breathing and stretching exercises, this time with the complete (and still a little complicated ^^) routine.
Aikido started as usual with ki breathing and gymnastics, but still a little different as we were only two and we counted everything in Japanese. =) Then we did some rolls, fewer than usual, and started a long round of shikko (knee walking).
After that, I received a certificate for the successful grading (it looks really impressive ^^) and lots of advice on how to improve my bows and the ki breathing in seiza (sitting on your knees). Alltogether we sat for 30 minutes in seiza, so my thighs are aching a lot today… =)
For the rest of the training I was allowed to choose, and as I’m quite curious, I asked for the new technique we had only practiced once before. Unfortunately I don’t know what it’s called yet, but it starts with uke (the attacker) grabbing the collar of nage (the defender) and ends with an irimi ikkyo movement. I’ll ask for the name tonight… Anyway, thanks to a lot of useful advice and imaginations it definitely getting better, at least a little, so I can perform it with more confidence. =)
After our first grading
My very first grading in Aikido … I passed! =)
The Ki tests that had me horrified only a few weeks ago were no problem at all, thanks to our frequent practice sessions. Although the grading itself was over almost before I realized it had started, I was able to enjoy the feeling. Especially during the final Ki breathing exercise, I was really quite relaxed. =) Despite having had one of the worst days in the office for several months… Well, I just told myself: if I am able to relax enough to stand and pass the tests today, then I’ll always be able to do so. =)
The other three grading candidates passed as well. Afterwards, we were to explain what Aikido has changed for us within the last months. The others’ statements are too personal to be relayed here, but here is a short summary of my own version:
First of all, my back pain (stemming from at least 8 hours in front of a computer each day) has disappeared. I’m able to produce passable rolls, forward as well as backward, without hurting myself, although in the beginning I did not think I would ever manage. I got to know some very nice people and had lots of fun while training. I start to feel my body again, to some extent at least, when it tries to tell me that I’m slouching or that my shoulders are just starting to tense up. In difficult situations I can consciously stay more calm and relaxed. And I noticed I am moving differently somehow (can’t pinpoint this one yet).
Later we sat together for some hours, just talking and eating – pizza rolls, cake, mousse au chocolat and so on… yummy! ^^ There was a feeling of togetherness and belonging that was really nice.
And somehow, even though it may sound strange, I’m feeling a bit different by having passed this grading – as if it’s proven now that this way is the right one for me.
Sword training and preparations for grading
On Tuesday last week we once again repeated our Ki tests and received some instructions on the etiquette necessary for the grading. Then came a surprise: we picked up our swords and repeated some basic exercises in order to get a feeling for the correct distance and presence and afterwards cut several dozen shomenuchi. Compared to our first sword training, my posture and movements seem to have improved, as my arm muscles were not aching at all. =)
Thursday training started with an hour of Kenkodo breathing exercises. The aikido training itself continued with sword exercises after an extended round of rolling.
As a consequence I was grateful to be able to repeat all our techniques so far on Friday in our free training. I noticed, however, that I have managed to forget all details of the irimi ikkyo technique. The basic movements are not the problem, but all the small details I had tried to get right are gone. *sigh* Note to self: repeat this on my own so they come back again…
Well, and apart from that, tomorrow we’ll be grading…
Weekend in Vienna, part 1: Friday
A friend of ours is studying in Vienna, and as his birthday was this past weekend, we took advantage of that to invade … er… visit him and spend three days in Vienna. “We” in this case is no majestic plural but includes three friends and two siblings all in all. =)
Friday morning the others met me on time at 8:45 a.m., after I had already spent several hours with packing, withdrawing money, parking my car somewhere it’s allowed to stand the whole day and not just the night etc. Thanks to two PNAs (better to be prepared… ^^) we arrived in Vienna’s 16th district 5 hours later without any detours. We hurried to unload the car, got a short tour of the apartment, said hello to our friend’s roommates and chanced our luck with the (somehow ungrounded) electrical stove, or at least the more courageous of us did. Then we already had to set out again as we wanted to visit the university, which closed its doors not much later.
So we rode the tram to the university main building. Some descriptions going through my mind when we entered the entrance hall: bombastic and awe-inspiring; as were most of Vienna’s sights, by the way. In the arcade hallways surrounding the garden in the inner courtyard we marveled at the amazing number of busts, reliefs and stucco ceilings as well as at the students enjoying the sun in deck chairs while working on their laptops. After a short detour to the central library, we took our first group picture in an impressive staircase, took a peek into a lecture hall where some was preparing a presentation (heading on the screen: “7 topics of SF”) and the main registration office, the modern computer terminals in there forming a sharp contrast to the historical arcades we had seen before.
After leaving the university, we strolled towards Vienna’s “Rathaus”, the main city hall. In front of it a gigantic canvas screen had been set up, complete with seats and stands, almost as impressive as the neo-Gothic facade of the city hall behind it. To support the film festival, there were numerous food offers from Japanese to Indian to Käsekrainer sausages and Palatschinken (Austrian pancakes). Yummy! Eating Palatschinken with the Burg-Theater on the right hand side and the city hall on the left hand side was really worth a stop. =)
Now we took the short walk to the Ronacher Theater (more later) and then strolled to the Stephansplatz for a short glimpse of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. We walked past the noble-looking H&M, the Peterskirche (St. Peter’s Church) and several fountains before we finally reached a store of “Julius Meinl”, the biggest delicatessen store I have ever seen. From Swiss, Belgian, Austrian, German etc. chocolate in all ist forms, colours and tastes to a huge shelf of olive oil to wine bottles costing more than 1,000 € apiece, the range of products was immense. Of course, I hardly noticed anything but the chocolate. The pizzas we had for dinner afterwards seemed quite a sharp contrast but was tasty nevertheless.
On we went to the next stop of the evening: to the Ronacher Theater, where we had bought 5 €-tickets for standing places for the musical The Producers. 5 € for a musical ticket – the German companies should follow this example! The Producers… well… I probably should right a new post just for this. I had seen it before, in London in 2007. Because of the subject matter, I had thought it would never run in a German speaking country. I guess it really was quite a risk, anyway. Interestingly enough, the audience in Vienna laughed just as much as the one in London. =) The show was just great – absolutely on a par with London, only in German language. The dancing old ladies (“Hold-me-Touch-me”), Uuulla (“At 11!!!”), the blue blanket (“I am hurt… I am wet! … and I still am hysterical!!!”), the veeeery slow-motion exit of the director’s assistant, the auditions (“Pirouette, pirouette, goose step, goose step!”), the hilarious summary in act two (“Intermission.”) and so on and so on… Absolutely brilliant, I loved it.
Finally we left for the bar Alcazar (it’s name meaning “castle” and not referring to a certain prison island as we all know now ^^), where we studied the seemingly endless drink menue and at midnight drank to our friend’s birthday with some cocktails (strawberry colada, yummy!) and sang our first “Happy Birthday” of the weekend. Some time between 1 and 2 a.m. we decided to call it a day and walked to the night bus stop, past the Votivkirche (I noticed I like neo-Gothic buildings ^^) and a monument for the EU in the form of King Arthur’s round table. It had cooled down quite a bit for the night, so we spent our time huddling together or dancing a hot birthday dance (as in: step to the left – clap – step to the right – clap – and repeat… ^^). Back in the apartment the nice room mates waited with a birthday cake, and after eating a bite or two we folded out the sofa beds and collapsed into them.
To be continued… =)
Little kittens + Aikido = a great day
At the moment, I’m more than busy at work, but I look all the more forward to the the aikido trainings in the evenings. Not only is this a wonderful method to unwind and relax after a hectic day, but also a good motivation to get through the day at all: “Ok, so right now everything is hectic and bothersome, but tonight I’m going to aikido training, yay!” =)
Training on Tuesday was perfect in that way. Once more we did many Ki tests and after that continued to work on the irimi ikkyo technique. For every step and turn of the hand or hip I begin to understand there seem to pop up several new issues not working at all. I have a feeling this will be a technique I’ll have to work on for years and years before I’ll feel like I can do it, even more so than with all the other techniques we did before.
After that I drove to my Musical dance training, where we met in the restaurant adjoing to our sports club as usual. There we learned that the cat of the house had had kittens a few weeks ago, which triggered a round of “Oohs” and “Aahs” before we seized the 5-week-old kittens. Well, no, of course we didn’t do it that way, we were very quiet and gentle and careful with those cuuuute little kitties. One was black, one white with orange spots and one a tabby, and all three of them still had these baby voices more squeaking than meowing, and all sooo soft and cuddly and cute. My black kitty even fell asleep on my lap… I could have sat there forever. =)
This is my perfect day: first aikido, then little kittens… =)))
Tonight two of my friends will joins us for a trial lesson of aikido. I’m kind of excited…
Meditation and Training
My aching neck from my headbanging session on Sunday kindly did not prevent me from going to Tuesday’s training. To the contrary, the aching muscles got much better. We did only Ki tests during this training to prepare for the grading in three weeks. Very relaxing indeed. =)
Yesterday, instead of an hour of stretching we had our first hour of meditation (planned for every first Thursday of each month from now on). Beforehand, I had mixed feelings – like probably almost everybody else I had tried to “meditate” at home on my own several times before, had grown bored pretty fast and given up after a few minutes. So I almost expected an hour of boredom.
After a short introduction to the Why and the How we started, first with Ki breathing and several other positions until finally quietly sitting cross-legged. Although I did not experience an instant revelation (no, I had NOT expected something like that), I definitely felt something. I can’t describe in words – not even for myself – what had changed. During the meditation itself, I did not feel any different. But when the bell rang to indicate the end of the session I felt completely overwhelmed – not in a negative sense but just because this one sound was so huge somehow.
Afterwards I continued to feel different: more quiet, distanced but also kind of open. After 10 minutes, the feeling started to disappear again.
All in all, it was a great experience; and I’m looking forward to the next time!
In our “normal” training we worked on our Ki tests and then on the irimi ikkyo technique again. Step by step and very slowly, my problems with this technique seem to get solved. My body has understood most of the movement itself by now, so now the psychological details are next… =)
Repetition Training
In our free training on Friday I repeated all the techniques we learned so far (not that many after all) with another student, only for the Ikkyo joint lock we needed some help. We also did a lot of rolls, and I noticed not just one but two improvements: I not only managed my first soft roll on the left-hand side, but somehow I’m feeling confident enough on the right-hand side to start experimenting a little. I tried to enlarge the distance before I meet the ground with my arm (not really a jump yet, just leaning forward a little farther) and it worked surprisingly well. I’m getting there, yay! =)
Afterwards we tested each other’s posture, and I have a good feeling for most of the Ki tests by now. Placing my hands correctly on my thighs and leaving them there is still giving me some troubles, and holding my arm stable in front of me with the palm facing downwards also doesn’t really work yet. But I am definitely making some progress…
