bokken sur la montagne

Todays morning class got off to a slightly late start. There was a seminar in Ottawa and apparently a lot of stuends were there. Claude was teaching at the seminar and another instructor was supposed to be there, but apparently there was some confusion and Claude arrived and taught the class before leaving for Ottawa. Perhaps this is why he was so energetic with us. Warmups included running, sideways running, crisscross running and burpees! Yes, burpees! Wow. I was already warn down after the warmups. (Admittedly, the lack of sleep wasn't helping.) The class started with bokken work and I was quickly corrected in not being committed enough. The yudansha was very admit that I strike with commitment such that if she didn't block I would make solid contact. Reminded me of my earlier weapons work, but we are a bit more form oriented in the class work at shin budo kai. The waza wasn't one I remembered, but it came to me reasonably easily. Then we went on to do kokyuho-nage derived techniques. I was pleased that I was able to bring one of the more complicated techniques back from my distant memory and help a yudansha who wasn't quite getting it. We ended again with jiyu-waza and a fully exhausted me.