I know that my practice would improve more quickly if I started recording my classes and what I learn in them again. The techniques are just as important as the life lessons (the techniques are the life lessons). I might as well bring my talent for book learning to bear since it's the only thing I have going for me in this practice that privileges everything but.
And, of course, I have gotten to a point where I have plenty of things to work on, even when I can't get to class. For example, I have been too sick this week to train, but I have still been focusing on tightening my center whenever I can remember to do so. This serves two purposes: 1.) it improves my posture and 2.) it takes a load off my shoulders, which allows me to relax. I expend a lot of energy now to make this a habit, but as my core muscles strengthen, I can tell that the sum total of energy expended is less. I waste a lot of energy by slouching and by being tense. It's just hard at first to believe the truth of those facts.
Also, I have been thinking a lot about an exchange I had with Jamie the Saturday before last:
J: You need to tighten your center as soon as you step on the mat.
K: I try to remember, but then I get excited and forget. I have been practicing doing it when I run-
J: That's great, but I need you to practice doing that when you do aikido.
I shut up right then. I had been getting to a point about how I have been training myself, but really, no matter what I had to say, Jamie was more right than I was. I needed to do this when I practiced aikido. And if I know this, and yet I'm not doing it, what the fuck? Period. So I know something I need to work on the second I bow in when I go to class on Friday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment