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 →
Category: great ocean aikido
Six pillars and three grounds
O-sensei spoke of the six pillars of aikido: osae waza, shihonage, iriminage, kokyunage, kaitennage and ushiro. But on what do these pillars rest? As we work to define Great Ocean Aikido, I’d like to propose three “grounds” — aiki body, aiki physics and atemi jutsu — as a way of describing our approach to aikido. Aiki body refers to building the engine that… Read more →
Oak tree or bonsai?
Would your aikido survive in the wilderness, or is it a beautiful abstraction that requires a controlled environment? In this possibly postmodern age of aikido, it is important to take time to unpack our practise and approach. Here is a reflection from Danny James Sensei. Many of us studying aikido and other asian martial arts are familiar with bonsai, in which… 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Internal Strength: How we got started
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 →
Hawaiki – Mike gets some hands on IP training!
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 →
The Aiki Smorgasboard
Today we teeter on the edge of the 3rd generation Aikido, that is, there isn’t the access to direct students of O’Sense, by and large. Also many of the boundaries to training widely, such as being locked within rigid hierarchal structures have started to soften or disappear, though there are bastions of expertise, ( and ignorance) running very well. Its,… Read more →
An Aikido Conversation in Melbourne
This past week I found myself in Melbourne for work and had opportunity to catch up with budo buddy Catherine Schnell Sensei at the Aiki-Centre, whom i met quite a few years ago during a Budo tour of Melbourne (See trip report Budo Bums Aikido in Melbourne here). During the course of that nights regular practice we shared some ‘conversation’… Read more →