Aikido, Yellow Belt
After about two months of training, I've earned my promotion to gokyu, or 5th grade. Sensei gave me my yellow belt last week and I'm really pleased. Granted, I still have a lot of work to do, and it's largely just recognition of my repeated attendance, but I can certainly see now where a lot of the long term appeal for the art comes from.
So let's see, what have I accomplished? I've learned the eight releases and can remember them shortly after screwing each one up. I've learned the walking exercises, but always manage to forget which feet starts the opposite hand and foot section. I've learned and can perform (very slowly) some of the seventeen techniques. I've even managed to learn how to fall in some new ways. Progress is slow, but I feel like things are becoming more natural with each day.
I've also had the pleasure to work with more of the students at the dojo. So far, I haven't found anyone who hasn't been a pleasure to work with. Sensei told me something when I came to my first class to watch. Not verbatim, it was, "Here, when we train, we're honest. We have to be, otherwise we'd get hurt. Outside there are lies. The world is fake. The real world is here, in the dojo." I'm starting to understand what he meant. This isn't to say that untruth is the norm in life, but the need for truth doesn't seem as strong.
