Thank you
@graoumia @Mamatigerj @Syrius 
My wrists have healed up, and my knees are getting there. (The skin is healed, and they feel fine, but still look a little banged up.) I'm still wearing the knee gaskets for Aikido and don't see any reason to stop.
In Monday night's class this week we worked a lot on 2nd control. This involves twisting Uke's wrist in an unhappy way and applying pressure. And they hurt! My training partners weren't going too hard on me, or doing anything else wrong. But if they get the wrist control correct, it is immediately painful. Both of my wrists were quite unhappy by the end of the class.
Normally Aikido techniques (at least the ones practiced at my level) end when Shite has Uke pinned. At this point Uke "taps" (usually a palm slap on the mat, although, if the mat is not in reach, one can also tap on Shite's leg or, if all else fails, slap one's own leg--loudly enough for Shite to hear). Tapping means: "
Yep. You got me. Please let go now." Shite then releases Uke, and both return to the ready position.
But in 2nd control, the wrist twisting--and associated pain--happens a long time before the technique is complete. Shite is meant to put Uke's wrist in the compromised position, and then use the wrist control to make Uke dance, eventually putting them on the ground.
I am a
very compliant Uke for these techniques. You want to put me on the ground by painfully twisting my wrist? Okay. I'm down! Boom! Not gonna fight that. Not gonna test to see if Shite really does have control. As soon as my wrist starts to feel bad, I'm moving! Even so, my wrists were really unhappy by the end of Monday's class. They're still not fully recovered now.
I'm not sure what to do about this going forward other than sit out and watch when the class does 2nd control. I don't need to be able to demonstrate 2nd control until the green belt level. And I'd be fine with just never getting my green belt. (I don't actually care about the belts. I'm just there to do something non-sedentary with people who are not arseholes.)
Before class started on Monday, one of the black belts was telling stories about people who had been black belts back when he was new, who have since left the club. "They were real black belts, you know?" he said. "Walked with a limp 'cause of their messed up knees, stooped over with messed up backs..."
"You are not doing a good job of selling this sport!" I told him.
Anyhow... I skipped tonight's class because I want to give my wrists a longer break. (And I made good use of the time to get other things done.)
I completed the 30 x 30 Challenge last month. Didn't take photographs every day. (And I need to purge a bunch of photos from my computer before taking any more, because my hard drive is, once again, full.) There were several days in the month when we stuck to shorter walks--usually at dawn and after dark--in the Village due to the heat, but only the one day when we weren't able to hang out outside at all. I will try to get some more of the photos posted over the next couple of weeks.
I've been sticking with 3 meals a day most days, although not every day. And I think this is about right for me. I was snacking too much before, and eating too late at night, and I needed to get those things back under control. But the strict 3 meals/day schedule doesn't always work well for me, particularly when I do Aikido class or a long hike. So I'm going to switch this goal to simply being mindful of and sensible about when I'm eating.
I've fallen off the wagon with my DMW and need to get back on track here. I really need to keep up with the wrist strengthening exercises (as evidenced by how sore I am after Monday's Aikido class) and I want to keep up with the feet & ankle work too. (I'd been having issues with achilles tendinopathy since the spring which is finally just about healed up now. I want to keep up with the strengthening work now to hopefully ensure no further issues going forward.) For the rest, I just want to get back in the habit of doing
something. This should be a lot easier now with the weather turning cooler. With the autumn weather, and my ankle finally in good shape again, it's the perfect time for me to get back into running. More yoga would be good too. I don't have a regimented plan at this point. Just: do more. Watch this space.
I want to make use of the cooler weather to get back to a more regular sleep schedule too. I've already messed this up for today. (It's 1:30 AM here as I type this.) So I'm going to sign off now in the interest of not messing this up even further tonight. More to come soon!
In the meantime, I leave you with a song:
- D2
from
from
I know popular folk wisdom has the full moon as a force for craziness. But I find it comforting. The moon is a reminder to me of the interconnectedness of all life on Earth, how we all rely on our planet's wild and wonderful ecosystem to survive, and the moon--which plays such an impactful role in maintaining that ecosystem--is up there looking down on us all. The moon makes me smile too.
from
Pronouns: He/Him
