So after a precautionary time out after a bout with a fever last week, I jumped back into it again yesterday. Sometimes it takes a reset of the mind to return to normalcy in kendo. There's a build up of fears and anxieties over time that comes from an inability to do a certain thing, or frustrations at constant correction that can be wiped clean by taking one's mind momentarily off kendo and returning to practice with the same feeling of not thinking. Letting ones body do the acting without interference of the brain. I hope one day that I'll be able to pt myself in that state without having to dangle a carrot of distraction in front of my mind first.
In any case, practice went well tonight. It felt good all around (my back didn't even hurt which I counted as a huge success!) I focused more on correcting posture and forcing myself to move straight than on anything else, and my strikes felt cleaner for it. I didn't let myself get distracted by who I was fighting and their relative ability, and just did as I could. Such simple ideas that seem, at times, to be so far from reach.
I practiced more basic men and kote with Fukao Sensei again. He's willing to teach me and I'm more than willing to learn, so the opportunities to fight him are appreciated. He corrected me on bouncing my shinai too high up after strikes. It should remain at chest level for kote and head level for men. It's a bad habit I've picked up in the attempt to clear my opponents after a strike, and something I'll try to keep in mind in the future. It should save me some arm strain in my kendo, too. Also, from my previous observations of Fukao Sensei's kendo, his arms very rarely rise above his chest, and his strikes are always very crisp and clean for it.
We did five rounds of mawari-geiko, which was exhausting, but less exhausting than I felt it should have been. At the third round I thought we were finishing, so I gave it my all. The subsequent two rounds therefore were a bit more cautious on energy reserves, but it reminded me that the goal is to always fight with full energy, and that doing so doesn't necessarily mean that I'll be completely depleted for the next round.
The could rains have been hitting Kyoto recently, which makes it more difficult for me to navigate to practice on my bicycle. 40 minutes in the freezing rain is tempting fate, but I've stepped up my indoor training to compensate and have been working on muscle training, particularity in my arms, shoulders and legs to give myself a bit of a boost come spring.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Bucking Up
My recent struggle on the plateau and the stresses it breeds notwithstanding, slogging through practice is the only help for it and so finding a way to endure and become enthusiastic again becomes the only viable path. I've felt uncomfortably bored with my ability for the past few weeks, and I think it's largely due to a drop in confidence in my ability. I've been falling back on simple kihon techniques that are neither very effective against high ranked players nor very elegant, especially considering that I've been trying to focus on both guarding my right wrist and pushing off with my left leg more. The split concentration has caused a great deal of collapse in my usual ability.
In any case, it was necessary to convince my mind today that I both wanted to be at practice and was excited to be there. Sometimes, if you tell yourself something enough, you start to believe it. It worked today, thankfully and despite feeling uninspired upon arriving, by the end, I was feeling much better, though it could be largely because the other members all did their part to not make me feel like the complete disaster I've been feeling in myself recently.
I'm over extending my arms too much. I can feel it in my shoulders sometimes. It's a product, again, of trying to guard my right wrist by not bending my elbows. And for whatever reason, when I'm actually trying to close a distance with a lunge alone, I fall horribly short on it. Fortunately though, after a few warm up drills I was feeling a little more like myself.
Practice seemed to go by quite fast, actually. It didn't seem that we did many men and kote-men drills before we moved right onto mawari-geiko for three rounds of two minutes, and when that was finished, there was only 20 minutes left for ju-geiko.
I got to fight Fukao Sensei again, since he's been nice enough to give me the hard instruction I hate, but still need. Practicing with him always reminds me to keep myself straight, but he's so solid and together in normal practice that it's really difficult to get a hit on him, to the point that when he does open to give me a 'freebie' it really throws me off.
After our match was over, I spent some time watching how he fights and I observed that he really doesn't move his arms very much, His motions all come from the wrists. Of course he raises his arms to get the necessary height to hit men, but the height never seems to be higher than chest level. The way he can manipulate his shinai with very quick, pivots of his wrist has given me much to think about.
My final fight was with Koyama-san who gave me a much needed confidence booster. He let me tap him on the men a few times which was enough to get me relaxed enough to stop thinking how horrible everything has felt recently, and just do it. Somehow, he knows just what needs to be done.
In any case, it was necessary to convince my mind today that I both wanted to be at practice and was excited to be there. Sometimes, if you tell yourself something enough, you start to believe it. It worked today, thankfully and despite feeling uninspired upon arriving, by the end, I was feeling much better, though it could be largely because the other members all did their part to not make me feel like the complete disaster I've been feeling in myself recently.
I'm over extending my arms too much. I can feel it in my shoulders sometimes. It's a product, again, of trying to guard my right wrist by not bending my elbows. And for whatever reason, when I'm actually trying to close a distance with a lunge alone, I fall horribly short on it. Fortunately though, after a few warm up drills I was feeling a little more like myself.
Practice seemed to go by quite fast, actually. It didn't seem that we did many men and kote-men drills before we moved right onto mawari-geiko for three rounds of two minutes, and when that was finished, there was only 20 minutes left for ju-geiko.
I got to fight Fukao Sensei again, since he's been nice enough to give me the hard instruction I hate, but still need. Practicing with him always reminds me to keep myself straight, but he's so solid and together in normal practice that it's really difficult to get a hit on him, to the point that when he does open to give me a 'freebie' it really throws me off.
After our match was over, I spent some time watching how he fights and I observed that he really doesn't move his arms very much, His motions all come from the wrists. Of course he raises his arms to get the necessary height to hit men, but the height never seems to be higher than chest level. The way he can manipulate his shinai with very quick, pivots of his wrist has given me much to think about.
My final fight was with Koyama-san who gave me a much needed confidence booster. He let me tap him on the men a few times which was enough to get me relaxed enough to stop thinking how horrible everything has felt recently, and just do it. Somehow, he knows just what needs to be done.
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