Real Progress

Building an Aikido program from the ground up is a real challenge and I expected running an all kids class would be an even bigger challenge. I have to say I was wrong about that. Just a few weeks in and everyone is showing such great progress that I can hardly believe our group is so new. I'm learning an incredible amount from the kids and their enthusiasm is making all the difference. Everyone is rolling and tumbling and already understanding some of the bigger concepts in Aikido.

Word is already spreading as well and we're expecting two more students next week! 

Breathing

It's almost a given, noting that breathing is important, not simply breathing but breathing well and at it's best potential. Breathing is not only a core element of Aikido, it's a key to living life to it's fullest. Having struggled with asthma in my youth while remaining unflaggingly determined to run, climb, swim and all the other active things young people do was a challenge.

It wouldn't be until my teenage years, when I became a competitive distance runner, that I would encounter, first yoga, and then Aikido and Judo. For me running was all about pushing envelopes and finishing races by simply refusing to give up, sometimes this resulted in collapsing in a heap as I crossed the finish line, not so gracefully laying on the ground to the side of the race course gasping for air and desperately begging my heart to slow down. Though, within roughly six months of studying Aikido, under the watchful eye of Jane Burghoff, I learned I'd only been haphazardly using all of the lung capacity I had available.

Being aware that, even with somewhat limited breathing do to asthma, I could compensate by really opening up my lungs and allowing my body to breath was a game changer. Something that literally altered how I live my life to this day. I still have some minor seasonal issues and chemical sensitivities but ultimately it only took that six months or so of learning to listen to my body and let it inform what I was doing and what I needed. Once in a very great while I'll go for an inhaler, usually only if I've been around something that aggravates my allergies but my personal experience would suggest that asking your body to do things and then giving it room to do so is at least as valuable as medication and the two combined can move mountains.

With regard to Aikido, one critical difference from yoga is that Aikido teaches breathing in motion. Slow at first but faster over time, Aikidoka retrain their core breathing, often simply returning to how they inhaled and exhaled as children. it isn't the blissfully quiet calm of yoga but then, we don't live in a blissfully quiet and calm world. We can't very well control the world around us, but learning the posture, breathing and body mechanics of Aikido is one way we can carry our practice peacefully into our daily lives and cultivate a personally relevant and lasting inner calm helping us each and every day well outside of any "martial" application.

First fall session for SF Rec and Parks!

We had our first fall session of Oni Kai Aikido for SF Rec and Parks down at Helen Wills yesterday. It looks to be a great venue and an enthusiastic bunch of kids. Everyone had a good time and they were all learning fast picking things up in a hurry.

Turning Aikido into play so it translates well for the very youngest students can be a challenge but when it takes hold it's an incredible thing to watch. The group for this class is all between 3 and 6 years old, so the focus is somewhat different and the fighting aspect of is hidden in congenial game play. At this age it's far more about body movement, cooperative exercise and organization than self defense. In many ways it's as true to the art as it gets and children often, as was demonstrated again yesterday, have a deep and intuitive understanding of how to move and adapt with very little guidance.

For our first class we worked on the simplest of things like bowing and sitting in seiza as well as tenkan and the early phases of falling safely. With children it can be helpful to use visualization tools such as imaginary balls or birds flying toward them so as to build the foundation skills without sending them home attempting to send their siblings and schoolmates sprawling. The martial applications become obvious with practice and they quickly figure out what they are doing but in a relatively soft and kind way. We even managed to sneak in an introduction to Japanese language that was happily received. These little folks will be learning an awful lot over the next several weeks!

Thanks to any of our Oni Kai Aikido parents our there as well as SF Rec and Parks for making it all possible!