I'm a blue belt!

[Widdiful Falling]

After many months, and nerves, and good times, and fun, I've recently been promoted to gokyu, or blue belt, in aikido. My senseis said I tested excellently, and I really have them to thank, for taking the time out to work with me.

I'm also really, really proud of myself, because before I started aikido, I could barely put my socks on without falling over! I worked really hard to get to this point, and I'm proud of myself for coming such a long way. My IC is rejoicing. All the times I let her out to have fun paid off!

In lieu of a family to celebrate this with, I want to share this moment with you. Without you, I doubt I could have made it this far. Domo arigatou gozaimasu to all of you!

 

[arpy1]

WOW!  congrats to you dear WF, really well done.



i think you should do something nice to celebrate!!        reward yourself for something that from where i am standing (sitting actually, overweight, not terribly fit and with general lack of balance and co ordination.... ) sounds very impressive!! 

can i ask, is aikido like judo? i have heard of it but no idea what it is?

[Dutch Uncle]

 

[KayFly]

That is great. Congratulations   

[Widdiful Falling]

can i ask, is aikido like judo? i have heard of it but no idea what it is?

It is like judo. Actually, judo and Japanese style jujitsu were the most influential in the creation of aikido. It's a lot of center of gravity manipulations, that don't require strength to perform. We do a lot of throws, and instead of striking to block attacks, we blend with them to throw our opponent off-balance. We also study jo and bokken kata, as the strikes used are similar to moves we make when throwing.

[Widdiful Falling]

Thank you to everyone for the congratulations!

[Butterfly]

many congrats!

[arpy1]

thanks for explaining, W/F, WOW! it sounds like alot of fun. and it made me laugh to think this may be the perfect self-defence art for cptsd survivors:  sort of, "oh, attacking me, are you? yep, looks like you really got me - oops, no, not this time, down you go....!"  yup, i love it!!