Aikido and Me

Most of our kokyu Nage techniques are similar with Ken techniques. Start by using from short then the middle and last with the jo. When practice, the difficulty is increasing from short to long due to where your ki flows.

Second day getting back to practice with sticks (no contact) during COVID. Preferably being a practitioner to condition the body after a long break. Kokyu Nage was a good start. More with Jo and Ken will be next.

There is a question "Dear Sempai, I'm a 25 year old, I'm currently Shodan of Aikido. What can I do to contribute to Aikido in general?" Please share your thought. Thanks

Ultimate goal for training any martial art either Judo, Aikido, Kungfu,.... is to train yourself a calm mind before thing can harm you, to act and react accordingly to keep yourself out of harm way. The best is when you are out of harm, you also keep the attacker also out of harm! Destroy the attacker is already hard, keep him/her safe is harder. That’s also the philosophy behind Aikido.

Celebrate 70 years of Martial Art teaching - Dang Thong Phong - Sensei

Traditional irimi nage from Sensei Phong. Westminster Nov 16,2019

Both uke and nage keeled bowed to O' sensei, turned face to face with each other, bowed again. Both stood up and ready to exchange techniques. A sharp critique eyes could see quite obviously who is in more control one from the other. One of them showed the eager to wrap to strike to cut while the other just walk one step forward, lower the body a bit, then raised his hands curly over his hara. A wrestler is different from a samurai on the state of mind. Everyone knows when the wrestler is ready to fight but might not for the samurai. The samurai is always ready on their daily activity like walking, sitting....they trained for physically strong, mentally alert and morally straight. Being closed to samurai is the whole purpose of my training, not become a wrestler.

Action and Reaction. "There's always reaction for every action." This law is true and (I believe) applicable to martial artist as well. If practicing martial art to improve your health, to lengthen your longevity and to increase your confidence then it's worth to consider. A punch to the opponent's chin to knock him out makes the doer feel good but the force from the punch reacted by the punch also goes to the doer's body. That force will collectively stays and adds up with time. It sounds silly but it's there and it finds the way to the brain un-notice and deadly silence.

Each empty handed technique in Aikido has developed from Ken's technique. Therefore, the ken practice is very much needed along your training.

Deflecting or blending? I would try to blend. That's my choice and I believe there's deflecting in blending but there's no blending in deflecting. My goal is to receive uke's attack as smooth as s/he strikes to the mud. I experienced this when I practiced with Roberto, a long time student of Master Dang Thong Phong - Tenshinkai Westminster CA. This requires flexibility, timing, and blending. If uke commits the attack, he will loose his balance at the end of his attack. If uke doesn't commit the attack, he won't see where his target is.... It's my choice and it's only my goal. Happy training.

Not sure that what the nage learned is only a half of the technique! The other half comes from the Uke!. The purpose of coming to the dojo is to learn. learn from your sensei, your senior fellows and also from the beginners. The concept of being a good uke is always forgotten. Uke needs to learn how to HELP and not to GIVE IN. This will be result of how good the nage would be. If you give in all the time, it will be more harm than help. The nage also need to sense what need to be done to complete the technique. That's why Aikido is the study of self improvement. Don't let the empty power foul your mind of how cool you are. Happy Trainning.

Saturday Oct 27, 2018 - Seminar with Sawada Shihan Big thanks to Masuoka Sensei and his staff to make the seminar available. Kudo: Slow down - Sphere - First time to meet the daughter (Second line, second from left) of Aikido legendary Yamada Shihan of New York.

Proper dojo etiquette from Boulder Aikikai Aikido is not a relatonship, but the education and refinement of the spirit. You will not be asked to adhere to any religious doctrine, but only to remain spiritually open. When we bow it is not a religious performance, but a sign of respect for the same spirit of universal creative intelligence within us all. The opening and closing ceremony of each Aikido practice is a formal bow directed to the shomen, two claps, another bow to th...Continue reading

I was lucky enough to read an article written by Sansei Pranin about how dangerous of throwing the uke to the mat without considering uke’s well being with shionage technique. SHIONAGE is not the only one. iRIMINAGE, KOKYUNAGE and SAIYUUNDO are also the techniques that Nage needs to pay close attention to the safety of the uke regardless of rank. Higher rank helps but not completely proof. Let’s learn to make uke off balance and let uke falls on him/herself.

Seminar with Ryuji Sawa Sensei in Sunnyvale. Basic training with new partners. Irimi Nage, Ken training is interesting.

On the quest to find my self, the following comment can be changed at any time. July 31, 2018 Training Aikido is hard and not many people able to find the true beauty of this art (I'm not an exception). I heard someone said "Aikido did not come from one source, it likes the big river contributed by many other creeks, branches and rivers from O'sensei started Aikido from Tanaka’s dojo and developed with excellent movements from Kenjitsu, the nature movements ... to make the cu...rrent Aikido. If you are open mind enough, you will find the beauty. Sadlly, most will find the errors from the other practitioners! If you perform powerfully, some one will say "waste too much energy!" if you perform flexibility, some one will say "too soft, no practical!" if you perform hardly, he will say "need to be more flexible to reserve energy" .... and many others... Before stepping on the mat, I would remind myself the followings: 1. Listen to my sense 2. Listen to my partner's move 3. Look for my central of gravity, my vertical axes. 4. Look for my partner's balance 5. Complete the circle, the infinite loop 6. And breath and say "I am me" See more

Tht là sai lm khi cho rng ngi luyn tp Aikido ch ra òn khi i th tn công trc! Tht ra, Aikido mà mt môn võ thut, do ó "tiên h th vi cng" (ra tay trc ich th chim u th) lúc nào cng úng và luôn luôn áp dng ngay c trong luyn tp hàng ngày. It's a mis-conception to think Aikido practitioner defends the attacker only after attacking! Not quite, first of all, Akido is the martial art (budo) therefore, controlling the attacker is still the highest priority including "moving" even before the attacker's first move! This should be practiced in the dojo everyday.

Sensei Marc Bachraty.

Sensei Fabrice Croizé! Aikido con armas y la relación con el trabajo de mano vacía...

To cheer up for the coming Budapest seminar with Stéphane Goffin

New!! Aikido self-defense techniques https://youtu.be/qUgT9Dj3P0M

Sensei Shoji Nishio - 1995 Pozna Polska 6

went to shihan Sawada’s seminar at De Anza College 10/29/2017

Sharing knowledge about Aikido is not hard, keep the learners interested is much much harder. Aikido is not only the modern but also the traditional martial art. On top of traditional principle to mimic animal movements, Aikido also implement the power from the nature. It's really the self discipline that only the practitioners can evaluate him or herself. Like the cycle of life, it's not always up nor down. You just know to keep it down when you are up and promote it up when you are down. Keep in mind " The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates and the great teacher inspires" (William Arthur Ward)

Famous clip of O Sensei climbing to the the top of Mount Atago with this students. Saito Sensei is seen pushing O Sensei up the steps. Much to learn from the weapons taking demonstration.

Tính Thng Bng Trong Aikido. "The body should be triangular, the mind circular. The triangle represents the generation of energy and is the most stable physical posture. The circle symbolizes serenity and perfection, the source of unlimited techniques. The square stands for solidity, the basis of applied control."...Continue reading

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uRuQoZ9cTo

First Seminar as a group of San Jose Aikido Tenshinkai