Treat!

Today I made it to 7AM class after last night's high fall practice
class, so I'm "on a roll" you could say (pun intended, ha ha).

Last night Andy went over high fall practice with us, something I really
need work on, and really something most of us need work on. First we
practiced with the cushy mat and then worked up the the tatami
("normal") mat. Next week, concrete! Not really, but you *know* there
must be some nutcases out there who practice falling on concrete,
because they can. The idea behind the high fall, or aerial fall, is
that you kind of do a cartwheel in midair. If you are cool, you somehow
make a cushioned contact with the mat, but if you are like me, you go
"splat"! So we practice going from splat to the sound of a pillow
falling on the floor--poof.

This morning was a real treat. We had the opportunity to practice with
shinai, a bamboo sword covered in leather. We went over the 8 suburi,
or individual practice techniques (kata pretty much), as taught by Chiba
Sensei. I was like a kid in a candy store. I do pretty well following
along, but don't ask me to remember what I just did.