Friday, December 30, 2005

Pain...

Hm...Judging by the extreme pain during that roll, I think it's safe to say that my left shoulder is broken... - Me, muttering under my breath during Aikido Lesson

I'm absolutely aching today...My right leg, neck and left shoulder are throbbing like hell...

Aikido yesterday was much more fun than I had expected. Shifting from the childrens' to Adults' class had me really worried as I still wasn't good with the basics. However, my nervousness ( shared by Jo-ann) was alleviated when she, two new students and I were split off into a small group together.

We went through the basics again, meant for the benefit of the two new students, but I know I learnt a lot from it.

Firstly, we had to practise the kneeling forward roll. Trust me, it might look easy, but it's not simple. Michelle ( the teacher of our group) pointed out various flaws in my rolling. I kept (and still do) forget to tuck my head in while rolling, resulting on an awkward flip. After about 5 minutes of practise, we moved on to the standing forward roll.

That's where the pain started.

The principles of the standing forward roll were the same as the kneeling forward roll. However, I was rather nervous and right as I was about to roll, I hesistated, breaking my momentum and sending me into a flip-sprawl thing. Getting up, I noticed a pain in my left shoulder but ignored it. After a few more times, I got slightly better but the pain was growing. Ouchies...

We practised the falling exercise several times before moving on to the backward roll. Lots of problems initially. Forgetting to tuck head in, not rolling in a criss-cross fashion, crashing into people >.<''' Unlike the Kneeling Foward Roll though, I could soon do the backward roll rather successfully although I still have problems maintaining a smooth roll. Usually, I roll, stay on my shoulders for about 1 second before finishing the roll....

Next, the stance catches. First off, the Ai Hanmi (Mutual Stance) and Gyaku Hanmi ( Opposing stance) catches. All 4 of us had no problem with it except for 1 time when I told Jo-ann to extend her hand so that I wouldn't have to take such a big step forward. I suppose Michelle thought that I was asking Jo-ann to grab my wrist...

After the catches, we moved on to the Shomenuchi ( Head strike ) and Yokomenuchi ( Neck/Side of head strike). On the first Shomenuchi, my hand moved too fast and bopped Jo-ann lightly on the head before I stopped it completely. A murderous glare from her followed. Grinning, I finished up the exercise. On her turn, I expected her to "accidentally" strike me, but she didn't during both the Shomenuchi and Yokomenuchi. During my turn to perform the Yokomenuchi, she flinched everytime I executed the chop...>.<'''

Taking a break, we sat in the Saiza position and were taught the 6 basic locks - Ikkyo, Nikkyo, Sankyo, Yonkyo, Gokyo and the Kotegaeshi. I still can't remember which is which...

Finally, we practised one of basic throws, the Ai Hanmi: Ikkyo Omote Waza. Long name for a basic technique huh? Partnering up with Jo-ann, we stood in the Ai Hanmi stance.

Jo-ann and I could both perform the technique smoothly. Hand lock, arm swing and force your partner down to one knee, then step forward and send him/her sprawling before applying a lock.

After some cooling-down exercises, we thanked the senseis, teachers and fellow practitioners before going home...

By far, that was the most fun and painful Aikido class I've ever had...