Congratulations to all Aiki Kids and Aiki Teens who graded at the end of Term 1 2019. Scroll down for pictures! Those promoted are: 10-kyu: Oliver 9-kyu: Harriet, Neave, Amelia, Elsa and Hannah 8-kyu: Jay Other students made very positive progress towards their next grading. Students who joined us late in the term can look forward to their first grading… Read more →
We started a new year of training on Monday with a fresh look at the role of uke. We also worked on tenchinage, sankyō and yonkyō. We are still terrible at taking group photos but the good news is that everyone’s aiki continues to improve. Looking forward to the rest of the dojo coming back from exotic travel and various… Read more →
Last classes for 2018 and first classes back in 2019. Aiki Kids and Teens: classes concluded Mon 17 Dec. Classes recommence for Term 1 2019 on Mon 4 Feb. Aikido adults: last class Thu 20 Dec. Classes restart formally Mon 7 Jan. Get in touch if you are interested in additional informal training in the meantime. Atemi-jutsu: last class Sat… Read more →
Our next aikido grading for adult students is on Thursday 13 December. This is earlier than originally scheduled to accommodate students jetting off to exotic locations like Cuba and Perth Candidates, please work with your sempai over the coming weeks to polish your techniques for examination. Instead of our usual pizza after the grading we’ll be enjoying ‘sake on the… Read more →
Congratulations to everyone who graded at the end of Term 3! Aiki kids and teens classes resume for Term 4 on Monday 15 October. Well done to all our students who worked at improving performance at every repetition. All the hard work is paying off! Many thanks to Mel Lindenthal for her creative training exercises that engage the whole mind… Read more →
Well done to everyone that graded on Thursday 14 June!
All candidates demonstrated a high standard of kata and a good understanding of aiki basics.
Thanks to Mike for his feedback and assessment. Thanks to Mel for the pics.
Thanks also to everyone who came out for dinner afterwards, it was lots of fun.
Farewell Blake and best of luck in Christchurch!
The car park at the dojo will be inaccessible to both cars and pedestrians from Monday 18 to Monday 25 June while the car park is being resurfaced. Please enter the dojo through the pedestrian gate at the end of Pidcock Street, which runs parallel to Victory Lane. Cross the small park to access a second gate at the far… Read more →
Good news and less good news. We’ll be having a kyu grading on Thursday 14 June. This is a little overdue. We have a number of very strong candidates so it should be entertaining. The bad news is that Blake and Hayley are relocating to Aotearoa (ニュージーランド) in July. Better news is that you can farewell them with pizza after… Read more →
Thanks to Jon for his question on how to fold your gi top for easy transport and storage. We welcome any questions you have. If you’re wondering about something, there’s a good chance someone else is too Step 1 Lay the gi top out front-up on a flat surface. Straighten as you go.Stretch the base of the back out flat… Read more →
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 →
First class back is this Thursday 4 January. Looking forward to seeing everyone back on the mat to start the year off with a bang. Just a reminder that we will be launching Self Defence Sundays in the near future. image: Creative Commons; Kvasir Read more →
Details for the Christmas–New Year break below. Best wishes to all our students, instructors, family and friends for a happy, healthy and safe Christmas and New Year. Aikido Monday 18 December: last aikido class of 2017 No classes Thu 21 Dec thru Mon 1 Jan inclusive Thursday 4 January: first aikido class of 2018 Atemi-jutsu (TFT) Tuesday 19 December: last… Read more →
Congratulations to all students who graded last week! 2017 has been a great year of training with a new cohort of students coming through. Everyone has made fantastic progress by simply turning up regularly and doing their best to make small improvements to their performance at every repetition. It’s been a lot of fun and that’s of course a really… Read more →
This Thursday 7 December we’ll hold our end of year gradings and go out for pizza after. There was excellent preparation on Monday night and I think everyone is looking forward to showing what they can do. A highlight will be Bob Withers (3-dan) putting in an appearance to do a bit of teaching and inspire our cohort of new… 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 →