Welcome to South Austin Aikido

On February 17th and 18th, I was honored to attend the Aiki Shrine.  This is a training facility which was constructed in Saotome Sensei’s back yard in Myakka City, Florida.  The facility is fun just to get to see, with its traditional Japanese architecture and a large tori gate leading up to it.  The walls of the shrine all can be moved into the dressing rooms to convert it into an outdoor dojo.

Being there on the mat with Saotome Sensei is such a surreal experience.  I just sat in awe as we trained and experienced the outdoors all at the same time.  It is just so different from our normal training that it really is an exciting experience.  The group that came included some familiar faces with Craig Slack Sensei from San Antonio, Mike Pollock from Tulsa, and Komena Lee from DC.

Sensei focused on various aspects of connection and constantly emphasized entering mentally and not using muscle to accomplish the techniques.  He also emphasized the need to blend immediately with the attack.

It was a memorable weekend and one that left me with many new ideas to explore.  I hope all of our students get to experience this type of training in the near future.