OS @ CH TKD

Last Friday's AM class is now meeting at Chapel Hill Tae Kwon Do. It was sensei, Jim, Andy, Charlie, and me. CH TKD is a pretty large place, so we created a "mini-dojo" in a corner of the room. Sensei discussed how this was meant to contain our energy, since large spaces can act to dissipate the energy created by people working together. I am a little bit tempted just by being there to revert to "old school", maybe just one kick to a heavy bag or something. However, my "charter" so to speak, is to focus my practice on Aikido, and that means giving up the old stuff for now.

We reviewed some of the techniques the yudansha (black belt) guys practiced at a weekend seminar in Charlotte. One of the techniques was an arm bar adapted from jujitsu--we did it as a stretch, which is nice for early in the AM.

The only bad part about CH TKD is that the mat material is a bit sticky, so you risk twisting and ankle or knee. It's not as bad as the wrestling mat I used to have to train on in Chicago, to which I owe a permanent ankle injury--it still pops to this day, though fortunately not painfully.