Letting Go and Giving In-Sunday July 5th, 2008

Last Sunday was really humid at the dojo. Sweat like pigs. Oh well. We spent almost an hour on this iriminage technique that really stumped me. We enter the partner's space and go behind him. Using no shoulder strength, we drop our hands on the aite's neck and bring them down.



Here, the sensei is teaching me how to place or rather drop my hand on the opponent's shoulder.





The two show us finishing the waza with a tenkan spin. Yeah, that's sensei choreographing my awkward movements.



This last pic is me dropping the aite. After all of sensei's help, I still couldn't do the technique properly. Once I finally did it right, I saw how simple it was. Honestly, I felt so stupid for letting this little bit get in the way. Losing my upper body strength and simply dropping my arm should be as easy as throwing away a soda can. Yet, I always get flustered with this step. For some personal reason, I can't just let go and let things happen naturally.

The Zen irony of this problem is that thinking about it only makes it worse. I have to do it without thinking, without trying. No thought or power, just give in and the let the crumbs fall where they may. I'm getting really Yoda-esque again, so I will wrap this up. Until next time, may the Force be with you.

Nagoya Practice-Sunday June 30th, 2008

Last Sunday, we went up to Rainbow Hall in Nagoya to practice witha Tokyo master. The hour and a half session focused on ikkyo, shihonage among others. I will let the pictures tell the story.

Here is the crowd working on zagi ikkyo ura.



Here we are practicing tenkan. The sensei told us to focus on our arm movements without a partner to get the form right before practcing with a partner.



This is ikkyo ura in the standing form.



Here, a woman completes ikkyo ura with a takedown armlock manuever.



Last picture. Here, the sensei is demonstrating a new technique with a student. Iriminage, it seems.



After that, we stood in line carwash-style to take showers. It was quite hot humid that day. Then our group went for dinner and drinks. The rest of the evening is a bit of blur, to be honest.