After 5 months of rehabilitating my hurt knee, and a month back at Aikido practice, I’m happy to report to my millions of readers that this weekend I passed my 5th kyu test. That is the first test you take in aikido. It doesn’t mean I’m good, but it means I demonstrated a basic knowledge of the required techniques. I’m assuming that since Sensei passed me, I’m not too much of a spazmo. Really, I have no idea if my technique looks halfway good or not. But the important thing is making this mile stone — something I’ve wanted to accomplish for many years.
I can say this. When I started Aikido, it was so alien. Now it is starting to make more sense to me. I can see why it takes years to get good, and lifetime to really start to understand. When I do good it really clicks — it is amazing. When working with Sensei or the advanced students, it is startling how much power and flow they can apply all the while seeming to exert little or no effort. Something to aim for.
Congrats! 🙂
Congratulations! Aikido exams are nerve-wracking.
It was a nice test for you, and you looked pretty confident. As I said before, Aikido testing is an interesting experience. It is a little less stressful now that we test at our own dojo, but you still want to do well in front of everybody.
Congratulations! I hope the test itself was fun. The stress of testing caused me to avoid it for years — what a loss!
Happy rolling!
e.