A hazy Bank Holiday Monday morning and I attended my first three hour 'bonus' session. It was tough. The hardest I ever trained and boy did I feel it the next day. But the aches and pains are good. There's a real sense of purging the body's ills through the ritual of training. It's strange, but my mind felt clearer too. You can just seem to cut through the fog that I dare say clouds us all from time to time - all that's left when you're in that room, after Misogi, is Aikido.

Kihon Dosa was top of the agenda that day. It was intense, I mean really intense. I thought I knew it before, but I was dead wrong. The fine tuning Sensei provided that day was pretty mind-blowing, but my basic movements were improved vastly. I felt so much more confident with the knowledge I had gained.

A tough schedule had, however, left me very tired, the most exhausted I'd been since starting Aikido (yes, even more exhausting than my first lesson). I contemplated missing the next class I was that beat, but I plucked up the reserves anyway and struggled over to the Dojo.

Did I still feel weak after I got my gear on? - Yes. When I entered the Dojo, after bowing, did I think I should have missed the class? - Truthfully, yes. But something made me stay, I hope it was spirit. I was rewarded for this decision. After the warm-up I was ready, my body and my mind.

It was the single best lesson I have had. My confidence was overflowing, the techniques came easier.

I was powerful, strong, ready for anything - not bad for the dishevelled wreck I thought I was a couple of hours earlier.

It just goes to show you that Aikido really is about spirit. Having the drive and determination to step up when you think you're at your lowest ebb, combating fear and mastering it. It was a feeling that lasted.

The scariest thing wasn't dragging myself to lesson and having it about me to step up onto the mat. The scariest thing was thinking, what if I hadn't gone at all?

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