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Showing posts from August, 2011

summer of shiho nage

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It's still the summer of shiho nage. The day has dawned cool, with no humidity...the greens are emerald and yellowish...birdsong and squirrel chatter fills the air. Summer is still here in the Berkshires yet I can feel autumn sliding in with a bit of color here and a cool breeze there. All the seasons are welcome to me..and summer is now and precious because it is now. I felt sloppy in my shiho nage practice last night...it could be because I was sleepy but I think it was because I was not neat. I hurried...my shower and comfy bed were calling. Distracted from the now I missed the wonder of blended movement. I will be mindful on my morning practice so as not miss a moment of shigo nage in this short summer of my life.

August blues!/!

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Dora came to class tonight…we decided to practice tomorrow even if just the three of us showed up but for tonight we would rest. Ron always feels a little sad when we don’t have class…he thinks students are all going away. I look at it like the universe gives us space to rest sometimes because we need it. He and I did a little stick work and we will do our ki exercises again before bed. August is always a quiet month because so many people go on vacation. When I first started training Ron used to close the dojo in August…he forgets that now but I remember straining at the bit for the whole month just waiting for the next class. Now we stay open and have really small classes or none at all. People will be back in September…I open my arms and my heart to embrace a plethora of old and new students.

being centered no matter what

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Tonight at the end of class we did an interesting ki exercise. All nage was to do was to focus on their center no matter what way uke moved them. Uke moved nage in any direction in a manner not to overpower nage but to challenge nage in keeping their center. I noticed such a peaceful feeling as uke moved my shoulders and my hips in many directions. Uke could only move me so far until the energy ran down into the ground and just went away. My shoulders and arms got more relaxed. My posture adjusted naturally and calmness surrounded me.