Training Day 2

So here I am sitting in my room in one of the most famous cities in the world (Tokyo) and I cannot get myself to move because I am in pain. I woke up early this morning so i could get to the dojo at 8:00 to train for a little bit. It was awesome. I was a little bit sore but wanted to take advantage of another training session that was at 4. Let's just say this second training session pretty much dissolved me of all my previous sins (as I have now served my punishment). This training session kicked my ass. The class was super efficient and my partner moved at lightning speed. He tired me out so much. He was throwing me up and down and around on the ground, in the air, everywhere. But he did all of this with a huge smile and much laughter. He was constantly playing with the technique. I have never had my ass kicked so hard and had so much fun having it happen. This guy had me slamming into the mat and laughing while it was happening. He was making all sorts of sounds with his movements. Then he encouraged me to make the sounds and this made me laugh but I also enjoyed it. While i was there I didn't realize how sore I would be because my adrenaline was rushing. But then I got back to my hostel and now I sit here with a mental desire to move and physical desire to do nothing.

Every sensei is unique and very different. Normally for the first 10 or 15 minutes of a class the Sensei will do a warm up. During the second class today all we did for a warm up was 5 minutes of different breathing exercises. As soon as i saw that I knew this class was going to be different. The sensei was probably in his late 70s or early 80s. When he did the techniques he had incredible strength yet he seemed to put no effort forth. Before he got on the mat he walked very slowly like he was old. But then when he stepped on the mat all that was erased. It was crazy. It felt like it was out of a movie.

Everyone I have trained with is very nice. I still have opted to not yell at one of the Yudansha (I think Dennis was wrong).

I love training because it goes beyone language. There are people in this dojo from all around the world and we are all there with the same purpose... To further develop our Aikido. I don't speak any japanese but while I'm training this does not matter. The movements are shown through physical movements not the mouth therefore the lack of language does not hinder our ability to communicate (well maybe it does a little... but not a lot)