Keep training!

Cutting.
Up until last night in aikido class, I thought I had understood what cutting was. But sensei made me realize I was way off mark. I’ve been transferring what I thought was correct cutting movement of my tegatana (sword hands), imitating the suburi movements with bokken into actions when I practice taijutsu. But I had not realized the subtle difference in cutting with both hands simultaneously and the other type of cutting which is what sensei wants me to practice, where the first hand leads like the driver’s vision, and the other hand immediately following is the one that actually cuts. The subtlety is of course what I must learn to distinguish. I am simply doing this very diligently at first for yokomen uchi irimi nage. I enter into the entering LOL!
******
Protecting my organs.
My favorite senpai who is really the one who has patiently taught me how to improve my ukemi, has noted that I still tend to bump my bum while doing ushiro ukemi (not too much, but enough to cause slight impact), and that over time I may be harming my organs (kidneys, etc.) So apart from the thousands of details that I learn to learn, that I practice while smiling in class, I am also trying wholeheartedly to involve my abdomen more during all of my ukemi. I have noticed that if I am aware of that small but ever so important curl as I gather my abdomen inside, it will help me round my back more, thus avoiding the impact on my bum!!! So this is what remains. My smile. I am so lucky that I have a big enough bum to remind me how alive I am through the ouch and the pain and the bumps!! LOL
Keep training!