Sensei tied my belt, but jeez did he ever tie the knot tight! I can hardly budge it.

Finally. After a year on the sidelines, I’ve finally returned to aikido!

This morning, I decided to go to the afternoon 2 pm aikido session at Shodokan honbu, hoping for a small class size. Almost a year ago to the day, I broke a finger (the proximal phalanx of the left pinky, to be precise) during a routine warm-up exercise.  At doctor’s orders, I laid off any exercise that might aggravate the injury — and fingers take a long time to heal.  But then, weeks turned to months, and eventually months turned into just short of a year.

Now, roughly a year later, I feel as if I have forgotten all of the aikido I ever knew. I even forgot how to properly tie my belt! I’m pretty rusty on the warm-up routine, too, even though it’s perhaps the most standard part of each training session.

Restarting sport is always harder than keeping going: that part I remember.  Now, carrying quite some more weight than at this time last year, I feel as if I have the grace of a brick and the flexibility of a piece of rotted wood.  But, no matter; if I stick with it, it’ll get better. And the people are very much fun — that part I had somehow forgotten!

Art credit: chigu2nahito