Aikido for 10/22/2010

Last night I covered Ken's Aikido fundamental class. Only one new student, Keith, showed up for class. He had practiced Aikido before with a 2nd kyu rank so instead of strictly beginner's class, we worked on the following:

• katatetori iriminage
• katatetori kotegashi (tenshin and irimi variations)
• katatetori ikkyo omote and ura
• Kumitachi number 2
• Kumitachi number 1

Tonight's Aikido class with Tip will likely be my last Aikido class of the year. 2010 has been a good year of Aikido but while I thought I would be testing for my shodon, that looks like it will hopefully be a 2011 event. Long ago I resigned myself to the situation in my Aikido practice that my own ranking is on a different time scale than most people. It takes me about three-four years for every year that most people progress in their Aikido rank. With that realization, my own growth in Aikido is not not necessarily stalled but the social and cultural legacy of the "black-belt" makes it feel that I the slow kid on the mat, that I am not good enough or some other reason why I can't seem to even get the chance to test. I realize that most of the reasons why I haven't tested yet are external to my Aikido, it is just getting old and I do have some frustration that it has taken me so long to test.