Outreach to blindness

Our Aikido school has been active with its outreach programs for the past two years. We mainly concentrated on our Outreach for Education, which included visits to middle and elementary schools; consisting of live demonstrations, as well as verbal material that intertwines with the current curriculum (like: ancient Japan, martial arts or world culture), and words of empowerment. We talk about following the heart, the pursuit of dreams and the practice of perseverance.

A few months ago, my husband, Eli, and I discussed the possibility of teaching Aikido to people with disabilities. He suggested we start teaching Aikido to the blind. His idea was that they could learn something that perhaps they had believed impossible. And by doing so, could gain confidence and improve the balance in their lives. Some of Aikido is based on various grabbing attacks and responses to those attacks. A blind person is able to utilize the contact of an encounter into an application of techniques. A great example is shown in this video of Steve Fyffe Sensei from Great Britain, demonstrating Randori with three attackers. Steve Fyffe Sensei has been blind from birth, and holds the rank of 4th Dan in Aikido.














We contacted several local organizations, and established the program with Junior Blind of America, one of L.A.'s largest non-profit schools for the blind. The program was set to a six month commitment, and started mid September, with a group of twelve blind adults. We started with basic movements and techniques, as well as falls (Ukemi).














Currently the program is in need of more mats, as the group grew bigger than originally anticipated. We would like to provide around a dozen mats for the program. We will welcome any individual, company, group or school that will be able to lend us mats, donate mats, or provide funds to purchase mats. Please contact us at info@northvalleyaikikai.org
We will greatly appreciate any help to this program.

Working with the students of Junior Blind has been truly a heart opening experience, for me and my students. We all feel the true human connection, whether we are disabled or not, blind, visually impaired or sighted. We all have great enthusiasm about this learning of Aikido, and for the new relationships that are being formed through this program.

“It is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving.”

~ Richard Braunstein