I arrived a bit later than usual at class and I didn’t bring a weapon to warm up with, but as soon as I walked into the Dojo I remembered that we have two Shinai. Soon I was sparing with the sensei. I have noticed before that fighting with a sword is a lot harder than one might think. In the movies it seems so natural and easy but that’s only the strikes, once your opponent starts swinging at you it becomes very hard to keep your focus and anticipate and block each strike. The sword truly is an intimidating weapon.
We started with the plank, push-ups and stretches. We did body conditioning and then focused a bit on deflecting and taking down the opponent. The break fall that we have been practicing came in very handy and the juniors were striking the concrete floor like professionals.
We broke up into our groups to do Silabus work. I got an evil glint in my eye that my partner must have missed for when I suggested we do key-ring he agreed without protest. He is a level below me so I had open season with him as my uke. I felt more comfortable with the key ring and with a little bit of creativity I sent my uke in all the right directions. Even the Senseis were pleased with my progress and I enjoyed the power it afforded me.
I decided to use the last fifteen minutes of the evening for knife sparring. My uke suddenly turned into a ferocious knife wielding assailant. We experimented with different knife positions and the short little exercise turned out to be very intuitive and I stated wondering if it wouldn’t be a good idea to have a knife sparing competition at the National grading.
I had to rush home after class to work again... It seems that lately I have a lot more energy and drive to live life to the fullest.
Embrace the shadows.
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