@Matthew Bangtson I love those moments when things really click!

@Luis Bedoya from what I have seen students typically wear black hakama. Instructors will wear black but can also wear a white or grey hakama with stripes. I would suggest black or a darker colored hakama but run it past Randy Sensei if you want something other than a dark colored hakama to be sure. Also the sleeves of the gi seem large so you would probably need to tie them back to be able to train or consider gi with smaller sleeves.

@Wayne Nadler great post! My guess is when you relaxed you allowed proper structure and balance which allowed the magic to happen 😁 I do need to remind myself that failure is just a delay because I can allow myself to get frustrated. An example is a couple of weeks ago if you recall one of the movements we were working on involved turning the lead foot 180 degrees before moving the rear foot. I have struggled with this for what seems like forever! It seemed i just couldn't do it and I was getting frustrated. In my in person class Sunday I asked to review it. The other students were also struggling with it so the instructor really broke it down. We worked on it for over an hour and we all started having success! I could have given up but just kept trying and it paid off! I am glad you are having success in training! Also I really like the questions you ask. Shows you are thinking about the process. 🙂

@Luis Bedoya yes! That is also a saying in Nami Ryu.

@Luis Bedoya what a beautiful picture! I hope to see you online in the near future!

@Luis Bedoya that is great you had the opportunity to go to Japan. Hopefully you will get back there soon!