Welcome to South Austin Aikido

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Annual Halloween Seminar at the Boulder dojo with Saotome Sensei. 

I hope that everyone from our dojo has the opportunity to train in the Boulder dojo at some point in the near future.  The dojo is incredible!  Often described as the "aiki palace" and for good reason.  The shomen is a thing of beauty and the matted area is more than twice the size of our mat in Austin. 

The seminar itself was very interesting.  Saotome Sensei focused on unstructured training, with the key being on blending.  We went through a series of paired bokken exercises, followed by open hand practice that combined with the altitude, was enough to take your breath away.  At least I was sucking air pretty hard. 

We worked on blending from several different attacks including shomen, yokomen, katadori and katatedori.  The focus was on how as one moves into more advanced stages of training, it becomes necessary to let go of the focus on just technique.  First blend with the energy, while not being attached to any idea or outcome, and allowing it to unfold as you move. 

The seminar also focused on attention to personal freedom. If we let our minds focus on a stoppage point, we essentially block ourselves.  When we find ourselves stuck, then nage should walk or move to create a different angle for redirecting uke.

I had a most enjoyable week of aikido training with my friends in Boulder, Colorado.    Special thanks to everyone in Boulder for putting on a super seminar once again.