All Blog Posts (24)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzBsKtf87cY

This is judo, but very close to our techniques. Also good to know the correct names,

Well, I just got back from dropping off Andy Demko, 7th Dan, Shihan and his son Andrew, 4th Dan, Fukushidoin at the aiport.  I was honored and pleased to host them at my house and along with our Chief Instructor, Dennis Main, 5th Dan, Shidoin at our dojo this past weekend.  As usual, the instruction was top notch and you can clearly see from that the apple does not fall far from…

What I like about this sequence of exercises - they look safe and each next step is just a little bit harder, so you can learn gradually.

Also it teaches exactly what I was missing - how to roll your body after you hit the mat with your back hand.

video

Sergei

Aug 5 class

These are pretty good quality clips. I would suggest to download them as avi file and watch in slow motion or frame by frame. You may use Free YouTube Downloader

Sergei

We had 8 members of our dojo attend the annual USAF Atlanta Seminar featuring Yamada Shihan this past weekend.  I can speak for everyone when I say that the trip went extremely well.  First and foremost, it was great to have such a positive turnout from our dojo support this great seminar where one of our members, Jim Hyde tested and was promoted to Shodan (First Degree Black Belt).  He's been training diligently for the past 5 years and was more than prepared.  Kudos to one of our black…

 I noticed recently during my dan practice tests that my endurance seemed to be improving a lot.  Now, running through a 20 minutes dan test every class is definitely a great way to build one's stamina, but I think that another factor that's contributing is improving my breathing.  For whatever reason, i think that everyone tends to hold their breath during nage-waza and if you find yourself out of breath after nage-waza, that's most likely the culprit.  People tend to hold their breath…

I've been hearing this advise again and again - synchronize the execution of your technique with your breath. And it does not make any sense for me. People normally breath with regular intervals 0.5-2 sec, depending on the need of oxygen. How can this be synchronized with attacks of your opponent(s)?  In fact I'd prefer to keep my breath as even as possible, which is a part of a state of balance.

USAF Dan Testing

Several of our students have inquired about Dan testing (Black Belt Testing) in our organization. So I thought I would share my opinion and experience on this matter. It normally takes anywhere from 4-7 years with diligent practice to be ready to take a Shodan exam. There are some…

In the movie, Rising Sun, Sean Connery educates Wesley Snipes on the Sempai/Kohai relationship. What does the term Sempai | Kohai mean to you in the Aikido community?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUbdPpVmJZ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p3kfB9FfKA

bonus track (kumi tachi 1,2,3): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51xsumatrJw

The Kayla Feder Seminar Experience - - - by Jonathan Weiner

I have to tell you, I really didn't know what to expect on Saturday. I was talking to my good friend, and Chief Instructor of Open Sky Aikikai, Steve Kaufmann Sensei, and he's like you got to come check out Kayla Feder, she's got this amazing weapons background, studied…