Day 14, training day Ten

Dochu-no-sei

Dochu-no-sei means "calmness in action." Aikido training is a way to develop calmness in our daily lives. We must learn to maintain complete control over ourselves in all situations. Like the eye of a hurricane, we must be calm at the center to allow efficient action. If you go into the mountains to train yourself and learn calmness and unity with nature, you must maintain that state of mind upon returning to the city. Even if you reach the point where you think you can understand the birds, the animals, and everything else in the mountains, it is pointless if you lose your temper or poise when faced with the world's turmoil. Training yourself to be calm and collected in any situation so that you can decide and act correctly helps you control the first move. - Rob Kabayashi

Today is Monday and practice didn't start until 4:40pm with the kids class. On every Monday and Wednesday we start training with the kids class and then follow that with a general class normally taught by Ben Sempai and then followed by the advanced class typically taught by Bernice Sensei. It was not much different than the past Monday and Wednesday training sessions but I did notice Sensei was letting me work the kids more. Before she would have me sit out and just watch but today she was letting me train with them except for on some more advanced techniques. It was a good class with the kids as I enjoy working with them and look forward to learning from them. Each one has their own unique personalities and some look very promising to be black belt before their twenties should they keep up the consistent training. So in total today I trained for three hours and was involved in training for all three classes. I do not have any dives planned this week until Saturday and dont work at the resort until Thursday night. I am planning on making all training sessions this week and hopefully by the end of the month I will test for my 5th kyu. This week we are practicing with the sword rather than the jo as last week. Every week we alternate from one to the other. Today was some what of a special day as it was testing day for one of our uchideshis, Nick. He has been here now for over nine months and was testing for his 3rd kyu which requires at least 200 days of training. It was quite entertaining and awesome to watch him with his techniques and I was happy for him as he passed with flying colors. There was many techniques he did that I have never seen before but know it wont belong before I get there as long as I keep training. I am having a wonderful time in this new community and couldnt ask for a better crowd to be around. Theres an old saying that says you are who you hang with and this time thats not such a bad thing. I am once again typing this page in the blog while still wearing my gi and seem to not ever change until I finish. It seems maybe I have adopted writing this blog as the last part of my daily training. I will need to ice my knees tonight as they are becoming very sore and tender. I will take training session by session and try my best to stay at a good pace free from injury or pain. Tomorrow morning we will start early with the 7:30am class taught by Sensei. I look forward to then. Thank you.