Engaging your core muscles is essential for aikido and aiki body training. Below is a description that I found really helpful. Core muscles work optimally when engaged no more than 25–30%. This is really important. If you do more than this you recruit additional muscles and will no longer be doing this exercise. It should feel like no more than a gentle squeeze. The following… Read more →
Tying your belt
This is the best method of tying a belt I’ve found. It was taught to me nearly twenty years ago by Mike Allen. Click the images to see them full size. Place one end of the belt on your left hip and wrap it twice round your body. You can grip the three layers together at the front with your… Read more →
Keep looking under the basin
In mid-2012 I spent two months in the UK. While I was away my landlady renovated the bathroom. I wasn’t consulted on anything other than the timing. I returned to a new bathroom with every fitting replaced. There was just one niggly-naggly little problem: the new basin had a mixer tap and I couldn’t get more than a trickle of… Read more →
Kids and Teens sign-up for 2nd Term 2015
We are having a sign-up day for Term 2 for Kids and Teens from 5.30 to 6.30 pm on Monday 20 April 2015 at our Camperdown dojo. Aikido in Sydney is re-launching Aiki Kids classes from Thursday 23 April and our Aiki Teens class starts Monday 27 April. Read more →
Great Ocean Brisbane April 2015
On the Anzac Day weekend Bob and I are travelling to Brisbane for a couple of events. On Saturday we are attending a mini seminar and dan grading at Aikido Republic. Jim Nicholls Sensei, Alstonville Aikido and co-founder of Great Ocean Aikido Community, is also attending. On Sunday we’ll be training at a Shimamoto Shihan seminar hosted by Dave Kolb Sensei… Read more →
Chasing the IS Rabbit with Science…thoughts from a recent seminar
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 →
Bill Gleason rocks Sydney
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 →
Bill Gleason rocks Sydney
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 →
Jin-ning around with the segmental topple
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.
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 and the fundamental forces of the Universe
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 →
Another penny drops in IS training
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 →
Sunday IS Aiki
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 Union of Opposites with Seymour Sensei
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 →
Aikitaikai class with Sunter Sensei Sat 22nd Feb 3pm
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 →