I haven’t had much to say about aikido lately. This is mainly because I got very busy and wasn’t going. So, after I noticed how much weight I’d gained back and that I didn’t have as much energry as usual, I finally dragged my self back to the dojo. (Note to self, keep Aikido high on priority list!)

Luckily I came back in time to be reminded of the seminar with Choate Sensei from Chicago Aikikai March 18th to 20th.

I got a few classes in before the seminar, which was good. For the most part all was okay, but it was nice to get back into the swing of things before diving into a seminar.

Choate Sensei is great. Great sense of humor, awesome aikido, patient and with a nice philosophical side. We mainly worked on blending and working the connection to take our opponent’s balance.

When we do stuff like this, it’s important to work with your partner to maintain the connection. In many cases this means you’re going to get into awkward and usually low positions – which means your legs and butt get a hell of a work out. (And Sensei was thoughtful enough to point out that we’d all have tighter butts if we kept this sort of practice up.)

Well, tighter or not, my legs and butt are definitely sore. It’s a good sore though, and I definitely learned a lot, despite being baffled at times as well. Add onto to all this that I dropped 8 pounds in a week and a half and I’m pretty damn pleased.

It’s good to be back.