dojo

On Tuesday, my female owner did something which she had not done for ten months at least. She went for aikido lessons. This time round, things were different from previous times. Her beloved aikido sensei had resigned from the former school and started his own dojo. Many of his students left the former school to join this new dojo. Coincidentally, Tuesday was the first lesson for this dojo.

Ah, such a novel experience. Training under a void deck. Opening up new tatami mats (my female owner says it’s like fresh bread from the oven). Being in a class full of senior belts (strangely, they were mostly guys; my female owner was still one of the most senior females around, despite not training for so long).

Ten months of non-training showed. Her arms, once ultra-flexible at the joints, were stiff. Her techniques, runny like a wet nose. I won’t even touch on her stamina. It didn’t help that her brown-gold grading partner is now a black belt. The sense of being left behind!

While my female owner enjoyed the class, she felt something within her change. It could be the length of time apart or change in class dynamics, but my female owner didn’t feel as passionate and onz about aikido as previously. It was as if this season of her life is over.