Congratulations Aikido Del Mar Students!

We held kyu test for all three of our classes on Saturday August 13th.

Congratulations to everyone tested. All students demonstrated tremendous personal growth with sharp focus. The spirit of aikido really came through as friends and families gathered around to join hands and hearts and witness each student striving for their personal best.

aikido kids at aikido del mar

Aikido is FUN! Congrats to Aiki-Kids!

We have our first ever blue belt in the Aiki-Kids class! Congratulations Kaley!

Great Focus Aiki-Youth Students!

Thomas showed amazing discipline and we are proud to see such tremendous progress in his focus. Justin and Elliot’s dedication to their practice really paid off as they are now 3rd kyu in the Aiki-Youth class.

Congrats to Aikido-Adults class!

Real training begins when students can control their mind and body under stressful situations. Cassandra was called to be uke before her actual test, yet she was still able to bring precision to her movements regardless the physical exhaustion she experienced. She is now 2nd kyu in Yoshinkan Aikido.

Thank you friends and families for your support! Congratulations Aikido Del Mar students for a job well done!

Open Mat Hours for Test Preparation

Demo and Testing

Aikido Del Mar kids watching an ikkajo technique.

Aikido of Del Mar will be hosting kyu test on Saturday, August 13th, 2011.

This week parents will be notified wheather or not their children are invited to test.

We have open mat hours every Monday and Wednesday from 7:10-7:30pm. Sensei and sempi will be present during this time to help. All students are welcome to make use of this time to ask questions and practice techniques. On Monday Justin from Aiki-Youth was able to run through all of his techniques during this time in preparation for his 3rd kyu test. We hope to see you there!

Aikido Del Mar Test Training

Aikido Kids Core Strengthening

Aiki-Kids Core Strengthening - core exercises will allow smoother, safer falls and more controlled movements.

We have started test training in preparation for our next kyu test in August.

Aiki-kids are strengthening their core through a series of abdominal exercises. Aiki-kids will be tested on Ukemi (including back break falls, forward rolls and backward rolls), Seiza Ho, Shikko Ho and Kihon Dosa (basic movements). Red belts will also be tested on a basic technique.

Aiki-youths have been working on serveral different techniques including Shomen Uchi Ikkajo Osae (1 & 2) and Suwari Waza Ryote Mochi Kokyuho (1). Students are encourage to learn these movements and practice the techniques as much as they can.

As for the adult class, kyu test will follow the new 2011 Yoshinkan Aikido Test Syllabus (we have included the link for your reference). Extra classes for brown belt training called Kenshu Class are currently held on 7/9, 7/16, 7/23 and 8/6. Video footage of these classes are available as personal study material upon request.

A Note on Aikido Test

In Aikido there is no competition. The founder of Aikido, Morihei Uyeshiba, was deliberate about this. He understood that the most important lessons to be learned in life were not easily learned in a competitive environment. This is part of our “Way”.

The value of testing in Aikido comes from putting ourselves in a stressful situation (testing) so that we can see ourselves more realistically.

Is it “fun”? Not usually, since all our worries and fears raise their ugly heads- fear of failure; fear of being embarrassed; fear of injury- add to this your own list of personal demons. Therein lies its value. Aikido, also known as the Art of Peace, actively discourages us from comparing ourselves to others. This makes it much easier to face our own fears, look them squarely in the eye, and continue on with what we were doing.

All of our classes do this one way or another- face our fears in a safe, supportive environment. Testing is just one more “tool” that our art uses to help us grow.

The word Ai-ki-do is actually three Japanese words together, roughly translated as “the Way (do) of making harmony (ai) with the forces of nature (ki)”. Our Way has many aspects to it, including non-competition, respect for us and others and a compassionate regard for all life. We develop these traits in ourselves by training methods developed over many hundreds of years by the Samurai then distilled by Morihei Uyeshiba. What we are given in Aikido is not based on what is easy or convenient but based on what works. These tools we are given, over time, will vitalize and enrich our lives as well as the people around us.

Robert Mustard Sensei Visiting LA

Robert Mustard Sensei Visiting LA dojo

Greetings All,

We were notified just this morning that Robert Mustard Sensei will be teaching a class at the Studio City dojo on Sunday from 6-8pm. Robert Sensei is one of the top instructors in North America. He lived in Japan for many years and trained under Gozo Shioda during that time. He was the Senior Foreign Instructor at Honbu dojo for several of those years that he was there.

If you are interested in attending this class, Edward and I will be driving up to L.A. and you can ride with us. We will be leaving the Boys and Girls Club at 3pm sharp, so get there by 2:55 at the latest. If you are coming it will help us out to know- respond to this email as soon as you know.

If you are under the age of 18, (and of course with a parent’s permission) Edward and I will be responsible for you if you wish to come and train.

This is a great opportunity to train with a very talented and enjoyable teacher.
OSU,
Kevin
P.S. We will still have training on Monday July 4th from 5:30pm-7pm.

July 4th Weekend Schedule

A couple of announcements:

-this Fourth of July weekend we will have regular classes on Saturday; however, on Monday (7/4) the Adult and Aiki-Youth class will train together beginning at 5:30 and ending at 7pm. If you are unable to train the whole time come and train for as long as you can!

-we will conduct kyu tests in August and will begin test training early in July to prepare for them.
Have a great weekend!

Edward Sensei and Kevin Sensei

“Ki no Musubi – A Meeting of Minds” by Nev Sagiba

Nev Sagiba

To Melanesians, being of “one mind,” means exactly that. And this is why the more heavily populated Niuginis never successfully invaded them for over 50,000 years of trying to do so.

In principles of law, A Meeting of Minds (consensus ad idem) is the primary requirement for, and the definition of a contract.

In natural thinking there can be seen what could be called a Divine Principle at work.

A platoon who are indeed “of one mind” are invincible.

That, united we stand and divided we fall, is more than a cliché.

Where two or more are gathered together with proper intention, all things become possible.

Uniting body and mind forms the active principle of ki.

No matter how hard or soft you train, in the Budo dojo, people practicing are conducting a process of reconciling intention. By contrast, contest oriented dojo augment the disease of contention, but in a second hand and sort of safe way with rules. This is not Budo training but a separatist ego delusion.

Real contest is best avoided. Real contest is final. Real contest means people will die and predictable consequences will follow with inevitability.

The meeting of minds has many benefits. More so, it is our inevitable destiny as a species. After human beings learn to reclaim themselves from various forms of tyranny, including the ones we make for ourselves, fear, doubt, greed etc., the next logical outcome is consensus. Not consensus of opinion, because opinion is always in error, but consensus in factuality, with clarity of understanding as a basis.

To arrive at that state, a certain measure of foresight about best outcomes is an essential. Generally we learn this over aeons through the consequences of bad decisions. We learn from experience and correcting mistakes.

Good Budo training, in particular, good Aiki Budo training speeds up the process to become possible in one life, within the generation you find yourself.

Good Budo training is a scientific study of cause and effect based on ruthlessly unmitigated honesty. Contest is the opposite. Contest carries the opinion of some form of “superiority,” which it then strives to prove by destructive means, ultimately failing. Temporary appearances of “victory” are just that, appearances which do not last long. The only true victory following a victory over oneself, is when all life subsequently wins as a result. It is a process of care, nurture, protection and cultivating a harmonious creative spirit in action.

No person can be an island. All life is interdependent. When fully isolated the individual first goes mad, then dies. Total isolation from the whole is a natural impossibility. Those who strive for it and find it, succeed only in destroying themselves in a very final manner.

In the beginning all was one. It then differentiated as the universal outbreath expanded. Destiny dictates the return, but by gently expanding awareness, minds are capable of meeting sooner notwithstanding, because the universe is composed of light, the great connector of all things, making this possible.

But first we have to find our mind in fullness of clarity, the surface mind being merely an offshoot of greater life gifted to all creatures of habit. Beyond habit exists a deeper and more complete realm, the foundation of soul, if you will, where minds having met, can move forward to create harmoniously.

As humans we have the tools and the abilities to proceed forward in this way as a choice. Or we can choose to drift.

The fruit of outcomes will bear witness to the decisions we made.

Nev Sagiba
aikiblue.com

AikiCORE will resume in Sept 2011

AikiCORE by AikidoDelMar is an effective healing class for the body/mind/spirit.

AikiCORE by AikidoDelMar is an effective healing class for the body/mind/spirit.

 Thank you for your interest in our morning healing/workout class AIKICORE. We will NOT be holding classes during the summer of 2011. We will see you in Sept 2011. For now, please check this blog for recommended workouts you can do in your own home.