Post-Turkey Blues

After a weekend of holiday travel and recovery I went to class Monday AM. I was not in the mood, but there I was. After about 45 minutes I was already thinking about breakfast and coffee. Distracted. The class itself was fine, but the attitude! On days like this you just have to declare victory for showing up. In Aikido, we need to move energy. There is physical energy, but also mental or psychic energy that gets processed, burning off "stuff".

Seminar this Saturday! I may go to class this evening if the taxi dad schedule permits.

Allegedly Still Practicing

So the busy season begins! We drive up to MD Thursday and then back to NC the next day along with the millions of other lemmings. I have been in training this week, stretching my stomach for maximum expansion on Thanksgiving. This reminds me of an exchange I had with Sensei a few years ago that went something like:



Me: "Hmm, I drove past McDonalds and weighed the possibilities.. Aikido or a Big Mac? Eating a Big Mac would lower my center!"
Sensei: "It would broaden your center."
Me: "Oh.. there's that."



Anyway, still working out, shifting my schedule around to take better advantage of the classes nearby. Carrboro is 10 minutes from my house, so I have no excuse to ever miss those 7AM classes (now Monday and Friday) except for my laziness. Sometimes there is a huge mental battle being waged! ".. me want sleep.." "No, I need to work out!" .. and so on.



Saturday was the first time I had seen Jory in a while. He is our ranking student (3rd dan) and I can always count on learning something when I work with him. He said I have been practicing (judging from my technique). I guess it's true that I have made some improvement in the last few months. It's difficult to see incremental changes though. I really don't focus on the need to advance though, like some people are driven to achieve whatever milestone by such and such a date. Really, it's just a joy to be able to work out at all. However, one milestone: I can dress myself! After a few months wearing hakama I can tie it reasonably well (read: it stays on).

Some Days You Just Feel Like Crap

I had a nice enough workout this AM, but afterward my body quickly rebelled. "What do you think you're doing to me?!?" Mostly I feel like I need to sleep all day. I am sore and cranky. Unfortunately, today is a work day.



I told Sensei I might show up tomorrow AM as well, and he told me he'd save me a seat! Expectation is not such a good thing, sometimes.



I did think of one useful thing today. I told one of my partners that these days I try to think of my arms and elbows as being "rounded", not pointy and angular.