2012-01-21 22:04:00
I don't know why, but today's class was a rather small group! Ton-sensei and Kris-fukushou led the training. Hugo and two newbies were doing basics and there were six of us in full armor: Tiamat, Aaron, Sander, Houdaifa, Charl and me. I guess we owe it to the smaller group that our rhythm.
0900-0930 was filled with kata as usual. Warming up included the stretching and the usual suburi, but then we switched to pairs to do contact haya-suburi. No running or footwork this time, we immediately got into armor. We practice kirikaeshi, men-uchi and kote-men as a group and then split up. Don't know what the armor-less folks were doing, but Kris took us through many interesting techniques, including suriage waza (parry on kote, then hit men) and maki waza (spiral the opponent's shinai to open a strike).
For fun and learning, the kendoka in bogu then all lined up for shiai with Charl (our only 1-dan student) who beat every single one of them. Class was then closed with uchikomi geiko, where all students had passes at Ton-sensei, Kris and Charl. During our debriefing Kris did impress upon us that he wasn't very pleased with the progress we're making... or actually, the lack thereof. All of us really need to step up to the challenge and push ourselves harder if we want to reach the next level as a group!
Notable flaws in my work today:
In closing, let me just say that I enjoy the hell out of participating in full! I'm so glad that I finally get to do real fights! I'm so grateful to Martijn, for lending me his helmet! _/-o_
kilala.nl tags: kendo, sports,
View or add comments (curr. 3)
Posted by Thomas
> I know what you're thinking now:
No you don't, because I know you're right :p
The rest of what you're describing nicely fits into that book you gave me for my birthday, the awareness book :)
Thanks buddy!
Posted by Menno
Ah right! I forgot about that! :). Being in the moment and all ;)
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2012-01-22 09:10:00
Posted by Menno
A tip for the talking too much:
focus on what you're doing in every moment with great attention. When you're making a strike, focus on that and nothing else. So not how you SHOULD be doing it, or what you're not doing, or, or... Make your attention like a laserbeam. Nothing else matters than what is happening in THIS very moment. When you move a foot forward preparing for a strike, your only goal in life should be the moving of the foot. Not what happened seconds befor and not what will happen seconds after. Conducting yourself in this manner will shut of thinking (and therefore talking).
I know what you're thinking now: yes, BUT, the kendo moves are really intricate and new too me and I have too keep things under control or I'll fuck up. Funny thing is, you don't. When you're in the moment, all you have to cope with is that moment. And each moment you'll know what you need to do. And even if you "fuck up" you'll learn something from a place of being instead of control and those lessons will stick much better.
As a practice you can do this with the most mundane things. Next time you drink you coffee, don't make it a means to an end. Take a deep breath and exhale. Look at your coffee, feel the warmth of the cup in your hand, the light shimmering and mirroring of it's black surface. Smell the coffee and feel the vapor touching your face as you drink.
Really taste your coffee, use all your senses and focus intently on the whole experience. Don't control it, or make it means too and end, let it happen.