A good part of the Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai family gathered on the weekend of December 4th-6th to attend a long awaited seminar with Saito Hitohira Sensei. The seminar took place in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, Germany and drew a crowd of some 150 people from nearly 15 different countries. We arrived Thursday night and so we had most of Friday to check out the city. Augsburg was almost spring like, with […]
April 2015 meant another great and friendly gathering in High Wycombe Judo Centre for a day of training and celebrating traditions in the spirit of Iwama Aikido. A result of growing friendship between Ray Gardiner Sensei and myself in combination with a wish to uphold Iwama Aikido traditions and, not least, by encouragement from Pat Hendricks Sensei, the Tai Sai seminars in High Wycombe have now been established as an annual event. The 2015 edition […]
As a budo ka, having chosen Aikido as your discipline of life, your do -, how do you put your practice of form to the test? How do you progress beyond basic training, stepping out of the concept of kata, one on one, pre destined technique or attack, fixed angles, alignment and, most of all, plenty of time to perform? Do you ever create an arena where you get to approach your practice in a […]
The past weekend I packed my bag to travel to a martial arts seminar in Amsterdam. The seminar was arranged by Takemusu Aikido Amsterdam and Systema Amsterdam, hosting Matt Hill to teach a weekend of what the two martial arts of Aikido and Systema have in common and what they can benefit from one another. I have had the great privilege of taking part of Matt’s teachings before and, to me, no one is better […]