Feel the Burn!

Made it to Katie's class yesterday, a nice informal class with just me
and John in attendance. One question that came up was: how do I react
to techniques such as yonkyo, where there is (potential) pain involved
in the application of the technique? Apparently I don't go with the
flow as much as perhaps I should. Why do I wait until I feel some
pain? Well, for some techniques in particular, like yonkyo, direct
pressure is applied to nerves in the wrist. I have had a lot of trouble
in the past with making sure I "get it", being sure that my technique is
effective, or conversely, that my partner's technique is effective.
With partners whose forearms are as thick as Popeye's, yonkyo is pretty
much impossible, for me at least. So, this is the history that presents
itself when I am receiving yonkyo.

The same could be said about some of my other ukemi. My reactions are
sometimes not as expected and sometimes just plain not quite right.
Another persistent habit--I tend to take an extra step forward when I am
uke for ikkyo and similar techniques. This too has some history behind
it. One convention in Korean styles is to have the same foot forward as
the hand that is extended (in a strike or block).