Welcome to South Austin Aikido

This year we had a rather small but very dedicated crowd as compared to previous excursions to the annual ASU Summer Camp training in the Rockies. Tim Schmelter, Todd Kammerer, Violina Rindova and myself traveled to Glenwood Springs, Colorado for this training event. We all trained 20 plus hours during the week, which sounds like a lot but it went very quickly.

The training was very insightful and it is always inspiring to watch Saotome Sensei, Frank Duran Sensei, Ikeda Sensei and Ushiro Sensei. This was actually the fourth year I had attended Ushiro Sensei classes and during my first class with him this trip I realized that I have learned a lot from him over the past three years of training. The ideas he originally presented, which seamed completely crazy three years ago, were making some sense. Ikeda Sensei has always said that you do not need to understand what is going on during the seminar because your body will remember the feelings and movement. I believe this is correct and I have experienced it for myself. Also, things that you think you understand sometimes lead you to a place where you can see other ideas and move up in your understanding. In simple terms, learning is not always linear.

It was a truly enjoyable camp with a lot of training, even after hours. As we often reviewed new ideas with each other by training some in our rooms after dinner. It was great to see our friends from all over the world as well as make some new friends. It is always exciting to meet and train with someone from around the world such as Turkey, Spain, France, or Russia and experience that they are learning the same things. It gives you a sense of togetherness and a feeling the world is not such a big place. We did manage to eat a lot while we were gone as well and I discovered that I like Nepalese food.

It was a great camp and I hope to see y’all next year for another great camp!

Click here to see the photos