Careful training to ease pain

I am still uncertain what caused the shoulder pain from the nether regions of whatever hell there might be. But by switching to using the left hand almost exclusively, taking care to avoid putting stress on it, I managed to make it less hurty. That Wednesday I had to carry a lot, but I set my mind on iaido practice, and it worked fine enough. I had trouble with several movements - oo-chiburi was nigh on impossible, for example, and at times noto as well. I used only a bokuto, therefore, but, since I led the beginners' practice, it was quite all right and possibly better. I could focus on helping them instead of showing them. The shoulder felt less stiff and sore afterwards, though the pain was a bit worse. Thursday's kali practice went surprisingly well, and I had moments during the day when there was no pain at all, in fact. I kept my mind on relaxing and not unconsciously hunch up, during the day. We used the escrima sticks, single or double, which was a bit tricky until the shoulder seemed to limber up - once again, there was pain afterwards, and it didn't like carrying things, but it felt far less sore and stiff. I worked hard during practice, which was an absolute pleasure, and I had the chance both of going in-depth in how I did my stickwork (...what a word!) and going all-out with a padded stick together with another beginner. She and I are quite different in skill level and what we are good at, but she is always good fun to have as a partner! I like that about the kali, there is always so much variation. And the next day, I felt my shoulders had really worked the day before, which I take as a very good sign. It is a personal quest for me to strengthen them both! I must say it seems to me I have begun figuring out how to focus to learn new things. It's something like having a switch or gauge in my head/mind, that I have to carefully fine-tune, and focus on at all times (my mind is rather fond of wandering). It seems as if this is slowly helping me to become better to "learn by seeing" in a new way in iaido, too, and possibly "by doing" too, but I shall have to wait until I am able to try to learn a new kata before I can test that theory. It is good to feel that mind and body are coming to be more and more in harmony with eachother. Not that the mind necessarily feels all spiffy and good, or the body, but, they are far less separated. I have not experienced the "steering myself from above-behind myself" feeling for quite some time! I wish I had the time for a run today, the weather is gorgeous, but I shall have to content myself with a walk, and iaido practice tonight! The shoulder is still painful, but I keep being careful. I think I know where the pain is, but, there isn't much to do. Except try to convince medical authorities to give me a cortisone shot, I guess. Have you been injured or ill lately, and what did you do, or what do you most often do, when that happened/happens?

Update after a while of quietude

It's been quiet here for the past two weeks, hasn't it? It is due to the phenomenon known as "midterms", which had me swearing and whinging quite a lot. Summarize and discuss the Viking Age in no more than two pages? For an archaeologist with a specialty in the area? I made it, of course, but it was a hard task. I haven't been avoiding my practice, though! That weekend did admittedly see me mostly sit still and study, but I took a few walks. Monday saw iaido practice, mostly koryu, and Wednesday also, although, I was the one to lead the beginner's training then, and consequently did not exert myself quite as much as usual. Not that I didn't do anything and just walked around shouting instructions, but it is a natural consequence that one doesn't do as much as a teacher as when one is a student. Tuesday meant Kali Sikaran, with a lot of stick fighting (escrima, if that sounds more familiar to you). I had a bit of trouble, I don't know why, but I felt somewhat craptastic and unfocused, no matter how much I tried. We focused mostly on one or two different "kapkas", I think they are named, which are sequences of hitting that can be used with or without weapons. It was very rewarding, and also, I was amused to feel sore in my torso muscles - I seldom do, but clearly these movements woke up muscles I don't use as much. We finished by an all-on-one, which meant everyone moved around one person with one mitt, and feigned a cross hit attack, to which the "attacked" responded with a certain sequence of blocks and strikes. It was great fun and very rewarding, though my defensive nature kicked in and I think I may have been a bit too good at avoiding getting fenced in at all... which wasn't really what the exercise was about. Next time, I'll try and stay put and just defend myself. Thursday we had one of the most senior Kali Sikaran practitioners there is, as a guest trainer. It was quite different. His charisma and way of leading is quite different from our usual one's. He divided the group, though, with the two most accomplished in one corner, and us other three (and our trainer) in another. It was a good choice, I think, as it meant the other two could really get some extra challenging practice! And I enjoyed very, very, very much to get the chance to practice with out trainer. He is a very good partner, and I find him very skilled at gauging and adapting to the skill level of those he trains with, while never giving an inch and always challenging you. Also, his way of explaining really works for me. The Katalong Guro showed us several long chains of attacks, defenses and so on, and we took them in quite large chunks before putting them together, or using a variaion. Very rewarding, but oh, I felt quite frustrated at my own ineptitude sometimes! Which, I must point out - was a good thing! Because, it reminded me of how one should deal with such setbacks and emotions. Not give in to them, but accept them, and transcend them in a way. Accept, and then grit your teeth and fight. Do, do again, and do it until you can do it correctly. Never sag and give up. Accept your ineptitude, listen to the trainer, try it this way and that, do it slowly and deliberately, until your body begins to understand what you want it to do. So I am very grateful for my ineptitude and frustration! It lead to something good. In the end, we were all quite cheerfully (though, of course, in a focused manner) blocking, attacking, kneeing and tumbling to the floor. It was very interesting, very challenging and I am happy I had the opportunity to train with a different trainer! And of course, the day after I felt a little sore in my muscles, as it should be! That, I expect, will also be the case tomorrow - it seems to take me about two days, or one and a half, to get the after-effects of a hard time's practice. And yesterday, I was the one to lead the iaido practice, and I wasn't a nice trainer yesterday. I started out a little tetchy, but with some good reason - standing around talking to the previous users of the hall in the dressing room is NOT what you should do five minutes into the practice time has begun. So I drove them, and myself, hard. Lots of things that had our legs beg for mercy, and then some more. And I had that as a bit of an underlying theme - use your thighs, and use them well, and use them all the time (I also had a bit of a focus on weight, as I consider 55% on the front leg, and 45% on the back leg, as being the very least of a proper weight distribution you can use in iaido. You want to be pressing forward, prepared to spring and never once let your weight fall onto your back foot). You need to use them to do proper iai, and when we finally went from excruciating (well, more so for them than for me, but I've got a head start) bokuto exercises to ordinary kata practice, I kept nagging them about this. And, I think it worked quite well, everyone did the five first Musou Shinden Ryu kata quite well in the end. But they looked a bit stiff-legged afterwards. It is so very important to use the thighs, and not just shuffle around on the floor. You have to really use those muscles, never once letting your body take the easy way out. In the end, I think the best thing we managed was to straighten a certain issue of balance and weight distribution out, in Inyoshintai. So, I am happy. I have practiced evil-sensei-happy-smile, so I think I'm getting quite good at being one. This weekend saw me travelling, and thus not much in the way of conventional practicing was done, but certainly a good amount of carrying and walking up stairs. No running to trains this time, though, but that is one spontaneous bit of exercise I can really, really do without, for the sake of my mental health. Tonight, it will be Kali again, yay! I hope we're not going to do too much Sikaran, though... my legs do feel what I did to them yesterday. Heheh. ...now that I think about it, my shoulder hasn't been giving me much trouble since yesterday. I must have done something right when focusing for cutting. And though my toe is certainly behind, it often bends and doesn't quite follow instructions, it no longer hurts constantly. I take this all for being a good set of things. What have you been doing these past weeks? Have you ever had periods of practice where you focus on one particular group of muscles?

Film accompaniment

I was in half a mind to run today, but at the last moment decided against it. I've been sitting still for most of the day; such is the life of studying. I'd forgotten.

Regardless, I put on "The Chronicles of Riddick" and let that rather well-muscled main character inspire me. Why not, after all?
I had the timer on 20 minutes, but I think I will change that to 30 the next time. I kept going until I got lazy after 35 minutes. I focused mainly on my arms, my stomach and my back, but threw in a few exercises for the legs too. I think I will start again with the old habit of doing easy ups and downs while I am brushing my teeth. It's such an annoyance to be able to do only one thing at such times, anyway.

I felt a bit of after-exercise muscle pains after yesterday's session, though nothing in the legs. That felt good, so for my back exercises I did every exercise with more than twenty repetitions, and for crunches, 15+15 three times. I also carefully cut two times ten cuts with a bokuto (wooden sword), and while my grip is good, I believe I shall have to do that a lot more. I feel I really need to change the way I cut - I want my shoulder to heal one day, and for that, I need to be able to cut without it "falling" forward while I do so. It's an easy mistake to make when you have a heavy sword, and if you're not careful it will be the natural way of cutting, which isn't very good at all (trust me and my injured right shoulder on that).

Eating today was a yoghurt bowl, the bulgur and sauce mix, pasta with crême fraiche, and fried mushrooms, squash (mmm, tasty!), pepper and bacon, some (unfried) salad, and after my little session I had a small bowl of yoghurt with just a few seeds and nuts in it. I also had quite a few pieces of dark chocolate, and drank the last of the unsweetened juice.
I seem to drink more water than I am used to, which is always good. Water cleanses the body!

I have not been sleeping well, but my herbal tea didn't make any change yesterday. I suppose it's got to do with external troubles then, for otherwise, I tend to sleep very well when I practice regularily.