Police Training Campus
Doha, Qatar
read more ...

Hosted by Roswell Budokan
Roswell, GA
read more ...

I hope that the spring, such as it is, is finding you all well. I’m pleased to bring you another edition of the AWA Newsletter. The theme for this issue is “zanshin,” or “awareness.” Too many times, when we have been training for a while, we become complacent in our training. We train hard, but we take some things for granted. Zanshin can be one of those things. To be honest, the concept of awareness is one that I haven’t paid nearly enough attention to in my aikido training. I try, of course, but it’s not usually my main focus. I’m too often caught up in getting the attack right or executing the technique properly to really think about what is happening around me and between me and my partner.

That lack of zanshin changed the day I discovered I was pregnant. I was on the mat as much I could be through the early months of my pregnancy because I was determined to keep training. But, I noticed something different about my training. Obviously, I couldn’t push as hard as I used to and I couldn’t take ukemi, but there was something else, something much less definable. For lack of a better term, I became “aware.” I now felt I had to be aware of what was happening in the groups working on either side of me, something I hadn’t really focused my attention on before. I became much more sensitive to my partner’s movements and how my body responded both during and after attacks. I also became much less likely to turn my back on my uke or to zone out during techniques. I simply couldn’t take it easy on the mat the way I used to. But, I felt a completeness in my training that I hadn’t felt before, even without being able to take ukemi.


read more ...

Feb 2011 - Kangeiko
May 2011 - Spring Camp
Oct 2011 - Yudansha kai/Fall Camp
Apr 2012 - Spring Camp, Katsurada Shihan
Aug 2012 - Shochugeiko
Oct 2012 Yudansha kai/Fall Camp

$25.00 per event date. Send email to Aikidoalliance@AOL.com to place your order.