September 5, 2007

Whole New Aura

I went to my massage therapist appointment today. As my therapist came out to get me, she smiled and said, "You’re back at it. I can tell. You have a completely different aura about you." She’s right. I do. I am a very grumpy person when I don’t get to go to karate classes. Being back feels so wonderful.

During my massage, she said the muscle tension that was in my neck and back is just gone. It’s amazing what a build up of stress can do to your body. I am very glad to be rid of it.

Speaking of stress relief, I had another great class at the new dojo last night. We did some moving drills individually and then moved on to some two-man moving drills. I partnered up with my buddy from camp last winter, the one I suffered through those brutal two-man leg stretches with and it was great. "Like old times" he said. It’s so nice to already know many of the people there. They all seem happy to have us there.

Of course, last night I went solo since Big I came home from school with a 102.5 temperature and body aches (Yes, already. Can you believe it???). She spent the day at home, and seems to be better. I’m glad it was just a 24 hour thing since I’m sure it will make its way through the entire family before Big I brings some other germ home.

Last night was also a chance to meet one of the other instructors at the dojo. He ran a great class, and made it a lot of fun too. We did a ton of work with weapons (bo, sai, nunchaku). Boy, do I need to work on my nunchaku. That kata always gets dusty if I leave it alone too long, so I definitely need to practice it more often.

Over the weekend, I spent some time outside working on my bo kata’s (when I wasn’t exposing myself to Hershey Park). I spent a good 15 minutes just working on hand changes, and then I spent some time incorporating them into some basics, before drilling them into the three bo kata’s I’ll need to know for Shodan.

I feel pretty good about the state of my bo kata’s. They are all sticking in the brain pretty well; and I even feel comfortable with bunkai for the first two thanks to a fabulous bunkai partner who doesn’t seem to mind how long it takes for things to stick in this brain of mine. "Patience" must be his middle name.

So, the aura is good. My stress level is down and my neck seems to be holding up just fine. Now if I can just get Big I to hold up for the rest of the week. . .