No one in my house is going back to school.
The weather is pretty much the same as last week.
My work doesn’t change much from season to season.
So, the only sign that fall is starting is that Taekwondo started up again on Tuesday night.
I thought it would be interesting (to me at least) to write a little bit about how I felt before class and a little bit about how I felt after and see how they matched up.
Here’s what I had to say beforehand:
My dobok is ready.
And I’m ready…ish.
My brain is ready to go but even though I practiced a bit over the summer my body will probably be a bit rusty.
Luckily, after over 13 years of training, I know that the key to getting back into the swing of things is to just work through the rustiness until my muscles remember what to do.
Basically, they just need to be reminded of the things they already know.
Fortunately, being in my dobok and lined up with the other students in our training space will give my muscles the nudge they need to do what I have trained them to do.
And it’s such a great feeling when everything ‘clicks’ again.
*****
And here are my thoughts afterwards:
Oh, it’s so good to be back!
It was great to see everyone again and it feels strange to realize that two months have passed. (Sure, two months is not all that long but I’m used to seeing my TKD friends weekly.)
And it was wonderful to work our way slowly through the patterns, gently reminding our muscles that they know these movements, they know what comes next.
I felt competent and focused and purposeful, step by step, movement by movement, reminding myself of the skills I have built over all these years of training.
And while it has only been two months since I stood in that space practicing on that way, that’s enough time for your conscious mind to lose track of the details of those feelings.
It felt really good to revisit those details.
And moving slowly through those patterns on the first day felt like we were warming up for the year of training ahead. Slow deliberate movement, reinforcing skills, getting ourselves ready for what comes next.
And, like I predicted, it was a great feeling when things ‘clicked’ again.
Look how happy I looked after class!
