Tuesday Sensei Steve

Okay, sorry for the delay, here we go.

1. Kata Garuma warm up.I really like this technique, mainly b/c it looks really cool and I bet is pretty destructive. When I was a kid my brother and I used to pick each other up like this. Sensei Stephen said that uke can help by keeping their legs straight when raised.

One thing that I learned from lifting weights is that by looking up, you prevent your back from bending, this is important to protect your lower vertebrae from any
unneccessary pressure. I do this just to prevent any irritation to my sciatic nerve. For most peole they are picking up close to their body weight, for those who are lifting me it's more like 195% of their body weight. I'm sure if a 450 lb. man walked in the dojo i'd have a hard time lifting him.

2. Whole lot of Shihonage goin' on
Shihonage from roundhouse, with a windmill, from a punch, etc etc. Breakfalling out ofshihonage is a new experience for me, other than getting over being intimidated, I thinkanother trick is to break fall straight over as opposed to rolling off the shoulder and taking it at an angle, my arm felt slightly spaghetti-ish like this.

Shihonage break down
a. Entry ( Hitch Step, Tai-sabaki, Tenkan )
b. Turn wrist away from you ( Yonkyo ) and create lever by placing elbow under tori's arm.
c. Raise lever, creating wrist, elbow and shoulder pain ( uke should rise to their tippy toes )
d. Slide head under arm, pivot so uke's elbow is in armpit, cut and drop.

3. Shihonage counter
While being put in a shihonage, as tori pivots to drop hips, grab lapel with opposite
hand, and fall perpendicular to their body to create vacuum for fall.

Pretty cool counter.

4. Kotegaesh
For the breakfall my left side seems to be really stupid. I need to focus on getting my breakfall correct on my left side.

5. A technique like shihonage, but a straight cut down.
I worked out with jenny on this, it's a sword technique she said, anyone know what I am talking about?

6. Tai-otoshi
Body drop, using tenkan entry, rotate uke, place lead hand on wrist, non-lead hand on forearm, block foot with corresponding foot, pivot and drop. Sempai Adi said to me that it is important for the knee to straight down, because at an angle the knee could break.

For some reason tonight my mind was all over the place. Everytime I tried to reign it in, it fluttered away.I guess that happens sometimes. I have been working a lot lately and making sure that everything fits is a bit overwhelming.

A few weeks ago, Sensei Coleman was talking about how in the end jujitsu is about you and your spirit to carry you along your journey. I have been learning some latin phrases and came across "soluse ipse,"I alone but that day as I was fondling for change, I remembered the mighty penny "e plurbus unum", out of many, one. I think as far as phrases go this really made me think about jujitsu, because though we are singular, we are plural. Or maybe i'm just crazy.