A good day today. Some work, some rest time and a morning that started with an aikido class at the university.
I've really missed the ebb and flow, the centredness that comes from my training. Last week a political rally at the university scuppered my plans to train; next Saturday it'll be elections so I will have to find some other distraction. But I have promised the group that I would be there next Sunday.
The training posed several challenges - the language barrier and the heat not the least of them. Boy was the heat a factor! Within minutes, any movement caused rivulets of sweat to careen down my body. Mopping my brow just encouraged more drops to burst forth. Grasping anyone became a slick challenge.
However, focusing on just 3 techniques, we were able to explore ideas of posture, attitude and the relaxed strength that comes from deep within, kokyu rokyu. At the end of the class, the students, 6 of them, all wanted me to give them notes to the lesson! What a novel idea! So that they could study at home. It felt really good to have my instruction so appreciated. First thing though will be to give them some stretching homework!
The joy of aikido training (especially on a proper tatami, mats made of covered rice husks) is hard to put over in words. Unless you have stepped on the mat and have tasted the sensation of being in complete harmony with your partner, of the clarity of understanding what they are wanting to do, of accepting that and yet being open enough to want to show them a different way or outcome and not clash with them, it is hard to understand. Dancing probably comes closest to that sense of togetherness, as flowing and as beautiful. Feeling the rough edges, the resistances and working with and around them, until you are one for that split second.
Like an oyster producing a pearl from a single grain of sand...
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