How to Meditate — A Practical Guide to Finding Your Own Way
Meditation can seem mysterious, complicated, difficult, and time-consuming. But it doesn’t need to be. There’s value in easy, brief, and informal ways of meditating, too. … Read more …
Aikido-101: A Beginner’s Guide for New Aikido Students
Getting Quiet for 15 Minutes Can Change Your Life — A Meditation Story
A couple of years into Aikido training I was sitting in silent meditation with Sensei and several dojomates before class, lights dimmed, eyes closed. This … Read more …
Words for Aikido Weapons Take-Aways and Throws
The names for weapons take-aways in Aikido can be perplexing. The take-aways, or -dori, are easily confused with another set of techniques, throws, which end … Read more …
Ten Ways to Help Out at the Dojo
As a member of the dojo community we often want to make a contribution in some way. But as a beginner there’s often precious little … Read more …
Ten Tips for Your First Weapons Class
Weapons work can seem mysterious. There’s additional confusing etiquette and tradition to figure out, and even more new words to learn. Plus there are people swinging sticks at you! It can be a little intimidating. So if you’re thinking about trying weapons classes, but are a little nervous about the whole thing, take heart, you will do just fine.
Ten Tips for Visiting Another Dojo
I love it when aikidoka from other dojos come play with us. It’s fun to meet people from all over the world, and to learn … Read more …
Weapons Words – The Big Picture
Weapons work shares many words with open-hand training, but weapons also have a lot of words of their own. There are a bunch of numbered … Read more …
6th Kyu Words
This post is meant to help beginning students listen for and understand the technique names we hear in class (especially those on our 6th Kyu … Read more …
Words: Huh? What’s Everyone Saying?
[An introduction to my Words posts, if you haven’t read it yet.] Everyone’s first few days (weeks? months?) of training can be disorienting and overwhelming. You need … Read more …
