A question of Style

by  on  in aikido sydney

There are today almost as many styles of aikido as there are other martial arts. And the variation between styles can seem quite large, so much so that many ask: what is the real aikido? It seems every dojo you visit claims to be doing the most authentic aikido. It all came about because the founder of aikido developed his art… Read more →

What’s the hurry?

by  on  in How to train

David Lynch Sensei has had a long and remarkable career in aikido—55 years and counting. He’s also an accomplished writer and he has given me permission to reprint some of his editorials from the magazine Hakama, which he published for the aikido community in New Zealand between 1995 and 2005. On reading them it struck me how little issues in training change… Read more →

Engaging the core: “zip up and hollow”

by  on  in aiki body

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 →

Best way to tie a belt

Tying your belt

by  on  in How to train

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

by  on  in How to train

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 →

Great Ocean Brisbane April 2015

by  on  in Events

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

by  on  in aikido brisbane, great ocean aikido, internal strength

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 →

Ars longa, vita brevis, The art is long, and life is short.

by  on  in aikido sydney, aikido yuishinkai, good reads, great ocean aikido

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

by  on  in aikido, aikido brisbane, aikido yuishinkai, good reads, internal strength, ki

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 →