Forty-four

No reason why sweat can't as easily be combined with joy as with grim.

My partner and I come together in the middle of the mat, no designation of who is nage or uke, no expectations as to outcome. The exercise is designed to blur the lines of attack and defense such that we are both engaged in both simultaneously. We operate with grabs only since another aspect of this exercise is to learn to follow my partner's energy flow while he follows mine.

I grab his wrist and he ignores the grab so I let go and grab his shoulder. He attempts kata tori ikkyo and I fade away from the shoulder grab in favor of a grab somewhere else. During all this he has grabbed me at my elbow and evaded my own ikkyo, his other hand goes for my shoulder and I turn but he feels my intent and switches to another attack. We are constantly in motion and eventually one of us will over commit and end up getting thrown. The next pair will take our place and continue the exercise…

We usually do this with two pairs of people on the mat simultaneously, the rest standing around the edges waiting to enter the fray. There's no set order, as soon as a throw is executed two people jump in and begin.

The energy in the room becomes palpable as the exercise goes on, everyone intent on either participating or waiting to have a turn. The room is silent except for the noise generated by the moving bodies and the occasional slap as someone takes ukemi.

Sweat and smiles are always evident when we finish.