Not to say that it was bad - it was fantastic! David Helpner-Shihan handled the second hour. It was interesting, his contrast to Birdsong-Sensei's very rambunctious kind of teaching. The first technique, he showed once - then it was our turn.
He got more into the swing of things as time progressed - spent more time showing techniques (well, the first was a stretch, which accounts for it), and showed beginner versions of the techniques that otherwise involved slamming on the ground. We have a very soft mat (apparently) but I was definitely not ready for that.
Only real problem was that I messed up a fall in the first hour and whacked my head (then hit it again on the uber-hard arm of the dojo couch during the break). I spent the rest of the day with a headache...and then woke up this morning with a lighter, but equally pervasive, encore. I also did some koshi, which involved holding someone across the small of my back (I did not do the slamming bit). It's kind of hard to get right, and I think my already hurting spine suffered. In short, I'm hoping the chiropractor's open tomorrow.
It was still a lot of fun. A bit intimidating for an 8-A kyu-er to come in with so many black belts and other adults (the adult class is usually five to fifteen people, not thirty or so), but overall very helpful. If you've never tried Aikido, it might be a good idea to at least look into it.
