Aikido is unique among martial arts in that it teaches calmness and creativity in the midst of aggression .... compassion and non-violent responses towards violence .... and resolution of conflicts without harming others.
Miles Kessler
Miles Kessler
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The Kids and Teens Class Times have now flipped to mornings for the summer. The Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday classes are now 9am to Noon until probably the end of the second week of August.
We will hold the June Birthdays Party on June 29th, this coming Saturday. We will play and practice from 9 to about 10:30am, then set up for the party with cupcakes, ice cream, grapes, bananas, perhaps some other pastries depending on what's on the day old cart early in the morning. For drinks we will have chocolate milk, orange juice and apple juice. There are certificates to present and perhaps we will have some students testing. Monday evening Jun 24th, Judith passed her Brown belt test. That makes three Brown belt certificates to present this Saturday. Martin told me this was an easy test. That makes me laugh, cause that was not what they were lamenting for the first 4 months of practice. All three of them were crying how hard it was for months. So once they understand the techniques, then they become easy. I have started showing them how now they get to learn Nishio Style and there are those long faces again. "IT'S HARD". No, it's just something new to learn. Saturday June 22nd, only 4 kids this morning. This may be normal for summer, one week lots of kids, then the next week only a few. Two came back from a long vacation. Worked with Rafa on some of her most difficult techniques to get her set to test. She is remembering pretty good, but we need to go over more of her test to have an idea she can be successful. Still missing Christopher, he hasn't been able to come for maybe 4 Saturdays. Thursday evening, June 20, Martin passed his Brown Belt test. I was thinking he was not really ready and would have a difficult struggle, but he surprised me and went pretty straight through the test. I had him repeat a few things, but overall it was a good test. So he passed with a lumpy circle. These kids work so hard when there are rewards on hand and there is a bit of competition between siblings or friends. I love it and I am continually proud of them. Saturday June 15th, we had 11 kids and 2 Adults. Back to more normal numbers this week. Everyone except the most advanced students got stripes this week. When Joy, Judith and Martin are here, they are helping the junior students and it's very difficult to get them alone to teach very advanced techniques. They are such a tremendous help in bringing forward the other students, I am so grateful to them. They are directly responsible for so many junior students getting more stripes. This is what teaches the junior students to help the students junior to them as they progress. This week the middle students were helping the new students as well, so we have become a very helping dojo. Thursday Sensei Keith told me his son Alex is coming home from Taiwan in two weeks. Keith says Alex is really anxious to get back to learning more Nishio Style. I am overjoyed to have him back and get him ready for the Nishio Style seminar up in Fredricksberg, Virginia next August 3rd and 4th. This is a video of Saito Sensei teaching a seminar in Japan. Maybe it's a university aikido club or perhaps multiple universities cause the average age looks like college student ages. Probably you won't be able to understand the words, but you can still understand the teaching cause it goes more by demonstration than exactly what he says. I linked it, so you should be able to just click on the url address here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzNa_7uufAs&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR16mgTh9-FqDmg1OPowQDP-lUQdXF0CRs8BNq0CbNwYm5rhjcD9VLwAGN0 Saturday June 8th, We had 8 kids and 1 adult with one new boy and two returning for the second time. I gave those two white belts so we can start tracking what they learn. We have a number of people traveling now, so that is why the low numbers. Some are traveling internationally, so they are gone for almost a month. Sensei Keith was visiting down south too. So it's good that I didn't have too many. I tried to work with as many as possible to get them stripes for learning something. I had a wonderful birthday present, June 6th. One of my 12 year old students passed her Brown belt test. She did about the best test ever for one of my students. She asked for her Dad to be her partner/attacker and he is a pretty big man, tall and muscular. She was handling him and putting him down for the pins. She has gotten pretty strong practicing at home with him and her siblings. They will be taking their tests in the coming couple weeks. Coming regularly and practicing at home makes a huge difference. I didn't have to coach her once. I only had her repeat techniques about three times and there are a lot of techniques on this test. The higher they get the more I have them know. The grades are the geometric symbols of Aikido, circle, triangle and square. She was the roundest circle. Just TERRIFIC!!! I am SO PROUD OF HER!! Monday evening Judith, Joy and Martin came with their Dad. We practiced going through their Brown belt test. They are doing so good that we decided to start Joy's test this Thursday evening. These kids practice a lot at home and also come on week days or nights. They video the techniques when I teach them and work on them with their Dad. This is greatly accelerating their advancement cause they have the whole test in short videos. Saturday May 25th, This was another low attendance Saturday even for the May Birthdays party. We only had 6 kids and 2 adults. But the low attendance is not so bad for those who show up. I think everybody who remembered to bring their belt (one girl forgot), managed to get at least two stripes. So overall it was a productive morning with most everybody learning new techniques to enough proficiency to get the stripe for the technique. I have started requiring them to practice a technique at least 10 times before they can get the stripe. This is greatly increasing their proficiency and memory. So they are better set going into a test. The girl who forgot her belt helped to teach a few techniques to her junior student, so she is going to get a camouflage stripe next time she brings her belt for assisting teaching. When the schools close for summer the class times for Aikido of Gainesville will change to mornings to take advantage of the cool of the morning and the shade of the trees over the building. So starting June 10th we will open for classes at 9am until Noon on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The free Saturday classes have been mornings for the past 3 or 4 years. We will continue with morning classes until the schools open for the fall semester which is typically about the middle of August. I stumbled onto an old demonstration by Nishio Sensei. It's the 11th All Japan Aikido demonstrations. I think they are up to around 57 now so this must be back in the 1960's I'm about 85-90% certain the Uke's are Nishimoto Sensei and Masuda Sensei. Everyone is so much younger than when I practiced with them. Nishimoto Sensei was my Uke and tested me for Sankyu at the old Matsuo Dojo. He just called me up near the end of class and had me do techniques. I didn't even know I was being tested. How many white belts have a 7th Dan test and Uke for you at the same time. That was special and I didn't even know it at the time. I was still pretty clueless at the time. This is the link to the video: https://www.facebook.com/senseiaikidocom/videos/544548876016792/UzpfSTEwMDAwMTA0Njg4Njk3MzpWSzoyNDQ4NjUxNTQxODE2OTQw/ Saturday May 18th. Terrific week! We had 8 people for the last Community Education Bo class Thursday evening. Two people from that class are going to sign up for the next Community Education class for Iaido the Way of the Japanese Sword running on Mondays and Wednesdays starting on June 3rd. Then we had 7 people for the Community Service free class Thursday evening. Saturday morning we had two new kids and a returnee from flag football season end. All total for the morning, we had 13 kids and 2 adults. Kinnera tested for her Purple with a White Stripe belt. She passed with mistakes, a triangle grade. Reshi and Bharathi received their belts and certificates for last weeks tests. Then after the kids left at Noon, there was a new student for Iaido. For his first class we did mainly how to draw the sword and how to re-sheath it. These actions are the most fundamental and those movements are something you just want to be able to do without thinking very much about how to do it. So that is the first step of the Zen in Iaido. Learning to draw and re-sheath the sword naturally, without thinking about it. Saturday May 11th. Similar start as last week, but Christopher arrived actually ahead of time, so we were going through his Blue with a White Stripe test techniques. I thought he was doing OK, but I keep telling him to slow down and do things precisely. When everybody showed up about 9:50 we played some dodge ball then started at 10. We started with presenting Sorin his 1st test certificate. I think he was a bit excited about that. I went through the techniques for the Purple with a White Stripe techniques for the Purple belts cause 4 people are ready to test. At 11 we started a test for Christopher, but he's just not remembering enough. So we will review some more and try again next week. Bharathi and Reshi passed their Purple with a White Stripe test, but there wasn't enough time to test Arohi and Kinera, so they will try next week. I really wanted them to go right after watching Bharathi and Reshi, but there just wasn't enough time. Saturday May 4th. Slow start this morning, but when the kids stared showing up, they all seemed to come in at once around 9:40. Total of 8 kids and 2 Adults. Morgan got another stripe this morning. He still needs the drink-the-soda-look-at-the-rainbow throw and the wrist warmups. He's much closer on the wrist warmups. He knew a bunch of them while we were warming up. Noah go two stripes for rolling this morning. Kinnera, Arohi and Reshi got their purple and silver stripes for Sankyo's on the Purple with a White Stripe test this morning. Lamyaa practiced a bunch on Sankyo Ura take downs and Rafa practiced on the Sankyo Omote take downs for her test. I teach a very definite path for the hand in both the Sankyo Ura and Omote take downs. It brings the attacker around and down, destroying his or her balance without any undue pressure or hard cranking. For both takedowns it's a matter of understanding the "path" and how to hold the hand and twist it a little as it comes around or loops down and up for the take-down. Sensei Keith was up in Virginia attending a Fukushidoin (assistant instructor seminar) in April. To expand on Sensei Keith's experience of the weekend, he already knew much of what was being taught while many 2nd and 3rd Deg. blackbelts were seeing things as new. It is always so gratifying to me when my students go somewhere and see that what I am teaching is spot on or even advanced to what others are teaching at the higher levels. I know I'm a good sensei, but it's better when my students really recognize it for themselves. Others may take my attitude as arrogant. No, it's self awareness of what I was taught in Japan and what I continue to expand on and pass on. I received this wonderful Thank You from the woman who requested and coordinated bringing the children with Tourette Syndrome to the Saturday morning classes. She said posting this was great with her. Simpson, Heather N. Mon, March 2019 to Sensei Tom, Thank you so much for welcoming our group this weekend. I know that the children loved it and really enjoyed learning the activities. In particular, while the kids were learning, the parents were bonding and connecting, which was a real bonus to Saturday. I have taken your flyer and will hand it out whenever possible. Your program is truly remarkable and I appreciate your kindness to the group. Most sincerely, Heather Simpson, OTD, MOT, OTR/L Tourette Clinic Coordinator Southeast Regional Centers of Excellence UF Health Rehab Center at Fixel Center for Neurological Diseases Saturday March 2nd. We had 24 kids plus 3 adults, so counting me, there were 28 on the mats. Five of the kids and teens who were trying out Aikido, suffer from a malady called Tourette syndrome, which I'm calling a brain malfunction that can cause various muscular movements or sounds or even ADHD. Apparently these maladies can often go undiagnosed, which could explain why I didn't notice anything I have not seen or heard before. One boy spoke up a lot, but this was nothing I have not seen before. At any rate, they fit right in and had fun just like everybody else today. I am convinced that the practice of Aikido can have miraculous healing and expanding effects on the brain. The challenge is getting people to keep coming to the point the healing really happens. The body movements of Aikido build new, multiple neural pathways in the brain which may bypass limited areas. The PTSD training down in Ocala was interesting. This varies from no touch to light touch and no fall standing pins to just deflect and disengage. The variables of personal reactions to various techniques or movements are limitless. I bought a book by the man who did this training with veterans for about 20 years till he died of cancer. It's a kind of blog about what he was doing and reactions or break throughs that he witnessed. The instructor, who is a therapist and teaches this, stated it's best to have a trained therapist with whatever group is being taught. My thought is to try helping veterans and others with PTSD here in Gainesville. I received this great email complement from Nathaniel after his first class in Jodo, walking staff, last Thursday evening. It's so nice I asked him if I could post it on the website. He said he would be honored. Dear Sensei, Thank you for writing and for teaching a wonderful class. Having dabbled in various martial arts and numerous dojo’s over the years I have developed a good sense for quality instruction and found it in abundance on Thursday. And I feel very fortunate to be able to receive such a level of instruction within a small class (although I do not expect the class to remain small for long). The commute is a challenge but is what it is. I look forward to seeing you again on Thursday. Best regards, Nathaniel This video explains how to perform the first kata of the Aiki Toho Iaido developed by Shoji Nishio Sensei. I also explain about the cutting draw I was taught right from the start of my practice of Iaido. I did not need to change anything when I was introduced to Tasaburo Tokutomi Sensei, master of the Morinaga line of the Toyama-Ryu style of batto-jutsu, cutting of rolled rice straw matting. Here is the URL of the first Aiki Toho kata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBuEw99f3CE The senior Kids students are not asking to play games at the beginning of class anymore. They now realize that the Aikido is the "play" and they have graduated to a higher level of play. I'm hearing "I love this technique." or "This is my favorite Bo kata". And just a few months ago the statements were "This is hard." Now it has become "This is fun." I have decided to offer extra discounts of extra classes for parents or students who help clean the dojo while their kids or teens are in class. I'm swamped so much of the time with keeping track of the dojo financially, keeping up the websites, doing maintenance, processing new videos and such that the cleaning is not up to snuff. I think this can work out as a win-win for the dojo and the parents. The Aikido of Gainesville Dojo will be closed on Tuesdays during the day. I might be there to do maintenance, but I will not be teaching on Tuesdays. There will regularly be a Free Community Service Aikido Class on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8pm. Tuesday Evening practices may not always be open. Please call ahead of time to determine if there will be a class that evening. Call first Jun Evangelista 352-222-0872. If no answer or Jun is not teaching, call Keith McInnis rd352-258-4725. |
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The primary question: What constitutes a good dojo? How do you recognize a good dojo?
1. The Sensei (instructor) is knowledgeable, helpful and safe. 2. The techniques work and can be powerful, but don't always need to be powerful. 3. The senior students look out for and help the junior students and keep things safe. 4. Everybody is learning a lot and having fun. |
There are Dojos that stand a lot on visual image and ritual because they can't stand on knowledge and there are Dojos that forego a lot of ritual and may not look like much but they have an abundance of knowledge. We are in the latter group.
TEST US! There is an overwhelming abundance of knowledge here.
TEST US! There is an overwhelming abundance of knowledge here.
To see and learn more about the dojo, go across the top menu to "About". On the drop down menu click on "Location". On that page there are 10 videos showing the dojo with explanations of what I have on the walls.
Under the videos menu I have added instructional videos for both Iwama Style and Nishio Style. I will begin showing how I teach the techniques, as time allows. You may find them very informative.
If you want to get in contact with me, email; sensei@aikidoofgainesville.com or 352-494-7816.
Under the videos menu I have added instructional videos for both Iwama Style and Nishio Style. I will begin showing how I teach the techniques, as time allows. You may find them very informative.
If you want to get in contact with me, email; sensei@aikidoofgainesville.com or 352-494-7816.
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The more time spent in class becomes more learned which means the faster the advancement.
Free Saturday classes will remain in the mornings until further notice. Kids 9am to 10:30am and Teens 10:30am to Noon AOG web sites with information about Kids classes are; Aikido Kids of Gainesville, Stop the Bully Using Aikido and Bully Defense Using Aikido These sites have more information about what to expect in Kids and Teens classes and Anti-Bully techniques. Thursday Free Class times are 6:30-8:00pm. There is now a weapons class from 8:05 to 9:00pm following the free class. |
The Nishio Sensei videos shown above here are advanced techniques. I start practically everybody in the Iwama Style to build knowledge and a foundation of basic techniques. After you have the knowledge to pass the third test, then you will better understand and appreciate the Nishio Style techniques which are strong and fast.
Calendar of all Aikido of Gainesville Events
Classes will be tracked by the use of a punch card. The number of classes purchased will be written on the punch card and when the number of punches are completed a new card may be purchased. There will be no time restrictions on the cards.