Unfortunately, the guy who usually assists me could not make it and I didn’t remember to start recording the class until we were about to close the class. Tech stuff. In future, if you’re taking the class, feel free to remind me to hit record.

Guro @Mark Mikita , a question about the decision to use which disarm. I was wondering about which disarm would be my disarm of choice when initiating with a number 1 attack and closing the line with a number 2. From what I understand, the main options we have are the Rolling Strip Disarm and the Vine Disarm (using the Puño as a fulcrum). I saw a video explanation of yours that you don't like the Thread in the Needle Disarm because it puts you in a vulnerable position to the opponent doing the same disarm with you. So, between the Rolling Strip Disarm and the Vine Disarm with the Puño, you can just use them interchangeably in any situation? Or is your decision to use one or the other based on the opponent's reaction or whether you can access his arm with your checking hand? Still on that, I saw a great counter-disarm of yours to the Rolling Strip Disarm in the "Disarming & Counter-Disarming Demo @ VISS 2020" YouTube video of yours at 3 minutes and 44 seconds. But in that case, both you and the person trying to disarm have your checking hands in a pronated, palm-down position. Is this a variation of the Rolling Strip Disarm? I am asking this because the vast majority of times I see you using the Rolling Strip Disarm, your checking hand is supinated, with the palm up.

Many thanks to Rich Endo, John Fawcus, Carlos Pamplona, Bill Evans, Ed Compton and Rodrigo Scattone for joining the online test session this evening. It revealed a lot of things and raised a few questions I'll be looking to get answered about the platform to make classes all the better. As I requested of everyone who joined, let me know what days and times really work best for everyone... talk to each other! I'm willing to set class times in the morning, afternoon or evening... whatever dasys and times will allow the most members to participate. So, speak up!

One of the community members who saw my Call to Action reached out to ask a perfectly reasonable question: What happens if we don't reach 40 paid members... what do the people who pay get then? It's funny because I can almost feel that same hesitancy coming from the entire community. We've had a few more join the free tier since yesterday but only one member upgraded to the $37 tier... one. I put this coming Wednesday out there as a sort of kick in the behind, hoping against hope that I could get people to make the leap. One did. So... if you want to see a weekly class happen and you want to be a part of it, I need you to speak up in here. There are almost 70 members. Talk to each other! I will post the number of upgrades here every day, if you think that will help to get people signing up. As to what I'll do if the 40 doesn't happen... it's simple: I'll assume there is not sufficient interest in training with me and I'll refund the payment to anyone who endeavored to make it happen. I'm at the fork in the road with this. I would love to get a class going and see it take off. But I'm also ready to abandon this whole community thing if the members don't actually unite as a community. If that turns out to be the case, I'll offer some one-on-one training to those who paid for a full year and I'll close the community and leave it open only as a portal for my online courses. If you'd like to see classes happen, speak up and say so, and get your fellow members to upgrade. We can start this Wednesday or next if they do. – M

I believe one of the main struggles we face when practicing Kamalayan is that we tend to acquiesce in critical moments, especially when our arm is being grabbed by our partner. By trying not to spike, which would make the exercise counterproductive, we end up not resisting enough. A very good video in which I understood a little bit better about how to react in situations like this is the "A Basic Explanation of Kamalayan" video of the "Mastering Disarming & Counter-Disarming" course. From what I understood, speeding up and twisting our hand to get out of the grip would not be considered spiking because it was a necessary action to avoid being put into a Checkmate situation. Am I reading this correctly Guru @Mark Mikita ? Should we always be trying to avoid being grabbed? Or are there situations in which allowing the partner to grab our arm would be beneficial to us, trying to gain an advantage in time? Any suggestions on how we can improve our awareness to break the habit of acquiescing so much?