Yesterday, I graduated to 6th kyu in Aikido.

For a few years, I kept thinking that I needed to do some kind of exercise/training, take care of my body. I was thinking about doing the same thing as some of my co-workers, you know, lifting weights and stuff. Or perhaps start jogging...

Booooring!

So I thought back to my teens when I did a little bit of Judo (not so much, I only got to the yellow belt), and remembered liking that quite a lot, but it still wasn't what I wanted, it was lacking... something.

Then I recalled having watched a TV documentary on Aikido, and how elegant yet powerful it seemed. It combines body, mind and spirit in a way that I like very much, almost like a dance (which I love).

I knew that a few of my friends were practicing, so I started asking around, and it quickly became apparent that a number of them practiced in the same dojo. Of course I went there to have a look.

Honestly speaking, it took me a while to shape my life to make space for training. I started in the middle of last autumn, and appeared irregularly for a while (sickness and a few other things came in the way). You could call it a slow start. I'm hooked now, though!