I had a catastrophic car accident in 2014 and after 18 months of rehab in the gym I was no longer seeing any progress. Looking for other options, I contacted an aikido school and a sabre school (I’d trained both previously) and asked how they felt about taking on someone recovering from serious injury, who did not have full control… Read more →
Why Aikido? It’s hard to describe why I practice Aikido, although I do know what I like about it and no doubt these are the things that keep me coming back. Aikido is Skills! Not tedious, boring skills — exciting, satisfying, some might say life-essential skills. But wait, there’s more… Aikido is Strength. It’s true I notice some physical strength… Read more →
I went to an interesting musculoskeletal research retreat recently (I had to give an invited talk, though – no such thing as a free lunch). As an added bonus it also informed my IS practise. So bear with me as I make a short story long. The insights came during a talk on investigating tendon strain, which in the achilles… Read more →
I was down in Sydney for the long weekend visiting family and friends. It was very nice time to catchup with a few sisters and the obligatory lounge room tanninzygake err… Rumble with nieces and nephews too. Whilst out for a stroll I spied a beautiful dojo set in the rural environs of Terry Hills. Imagine my surprise to find… Read more →
I was down in Sydney for the long weekend visiting family and friends. It was very nice time to catchup with a few sisters and the obligatory lounge room tanninzygake err… Rumble with nieces and nephews too. Whilst out for a stroll I spied a beautiful dojo set in the rural environs of Terry Hills. Imagine my surprise to find… Read more →
Ground path (Jin) enables us to draw on the infinite power of the earth. Only through good structure (aikibody) can be do this as well as to augment it through the tempory storage and release of it. Effective use of ground power to topple (throw or pin) is the goal. This has been looked at where ule is considered as… Read more →
Ars longa, vita brevis The art is long, and life is short. Andrew Sunter Sensei’s guidelines for training (Abridged and reproduced with permission) We look forward to Sunter San’s visit to our annual Winter retreat for a special session on the nature of Budo. 1.Aikido is a principle-based art, not a technique-based art. 2. Everything has advantages and disadvantages Everything… Read more →
Aikido, like many an art form has been subjected to much scrutiny through combat effectiveness, ancient writings, opinion and more recently the sciences. Using the prism of western sciences it has been both praised or reviled. Many an attempt has been made by the Aiki/scientific community to successfully explain Aiki in this manner. There are the tawdry explanations of the… Read more →
I admit it. I have been mystified by the IS practice methodologies for quite a while now. However, much as I did with my Ki training in Shin Shin Toitsu in the ’90s, I’ve put that aside to follow the pedagogy in the hope of finding out more through doing. It proved helpful in the Ki Society, where eventually I… Read more →
Hi Everyone , We have had a busy few months reviewing the seminar in Hawaii, some insights from Andrew Sunter and more recently from Steve Seymour in a Sunday seminar This Sunday will focus on looking for IS in our current aikido kata and practice. Look forward to seeing you there best Danny Read more →
A big thankyou to Steve Seymour Sensei from Aikido Kenkyukai and Balmain dojo for his visit on the weekend. We were treated to a tour de force of Internal Strength as sensei shared from his current practice and further research into Internal Strength. Its almost a year since we visited Seymour Sensei in Sydney to find out a bit more… Read more →
Continuing the Aikitaikai dialogue of late with Sunter Sensei, Schnell Sensei and other colleagues on the path, we are delighted to have Andrew Sunter as a guest for a special session on Saturday 22nd Feb from 3pm, ahead of the Sunday dan grading. Ever since visiting Okajima Sensei in 2005 (See Budo bums in japan) , we have pursued an… Read more →
In the martial arts the direct transmission from teacher to student is high valued, so too in the west we find this as well. The video below shows the transmission of a western ‘battle field’ practice to a direct student. Note the challenges of cross cultural communication are at work here. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=txfHVG3ioAs] Some other opinions on teaching, learning etc… here… Read more →
Its about a decade ago since Andrew Sunter and I dropped by the Aikido Yuishinkai headquarters for Kansai (See Budo Bums in Japan). While we were there Okajima Sensei showed us some ‘other budo’ that in time was revealed to us through Aikido Yuishinkai. Dial forward a few years and the material was presented in Australia, fortunately Catherine Schnell captured… Read more →
by Michael Nash When you first set eyes on Hawaii you feel a sense of welcome, the embrace is in the land and the people. Time slows; the spirit of Aloha overtakes you, better to let it take hold. If you have a need for rapid response times and carefully planned agenda’s you will be endlessly frustrated in Hawaii. Drinking… Read more →