The more I learn, the less I know
The advanced class at the Phoenix Aikido Club was a tough one last night. The training wasn’t especially physical, and the techniques where mostly things that I have done many times before. But one of the things I’m starting to realise as I advance through the grades is how much I have left to learn, and that I will never really master any of the techniques, however long I train.
This aspect of Aikido (and I would guess it applies to other martial arts too) is by turns the most frustrating and rewarding aspect of training. The technique that stood out last night was Katate Dori Shiho Nage. At the Phoenix Dojo, this technique is required for the second grading (yellow), so I have been studying it for years, but I was really struck by the infinite variation contained within that one move. I think I would have been happy if we had studied that move all night, and still have found new things each time.
The most important thing for me at the moment is to relax more. Even though I know that being relaxed makes Aikido more effective, I still find myself using too much strength, especially in moves like Shiho Nage, where my height gives me a huge physical advantage. With my brown belt grading only two months away, I need to put as much time in as possible on the mat, so that the moves become more natural and I can focus on relaxing and controlling my breathing.
And I still have at least two Katas to learn before the grading!