It’s been awhile since I write about Aikido-related stuff. Since I don’t practice Aikido anymore, its been hard to write about stuff from a personal standpoint. It is also due to the fact that I have not been training at my Iaido class since May due to work and its been killing me. I do miss practicing Aikido terribly and I am looking for a new class to learn. I don’t mind at all if I have to start from the beginning. What kept my motivation going is really my desire to test my limits and I truly admire and respect practitioners who train till their old age. It never hurts to start again but it hurts to stop.
In late April this year just 2 days before my birthday, I signed up to attend an Aikido seminar in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was crazy! But it was the best present I gave myself. Leaving my Aikido dojo hasn’t been easy and was feeling rather down but I was determined to pick myself up again. Going all the way there to train was the best thing I could do for myself. For the first time I felt what it was like to train at an overseas Aikido seminar on my own and without wearing a badge of a dojo. Nobody asked me which dojo I trained at, which I felt was so liberating and it never mattered. All that matters was that I tried to carry myself well and be a considerate partner to everyone that I trained with. Apart from my good friend whom I reunited in Jakarta, I trained with as many different people as I could and interacted with several people who had such wonderful stories to share. In a hall full of strangers, nobody was a stranger to each other.
Friendship, camaraderie, warmth and respect. My takeaways from this experience.
