Summer seminar | Students' assays: Part V

Seminar Expectations
by Don Schuette

Let me start by saying that I attended my first seminar as an unranked Aikido student who had only a month of practice under my belt. Now, almost two years and several seminars later, I thought I knew what to expect this time. I was wrong.

For the first time, I was not nervous as I drove up I-5 toward Berkeley. I knew what was ahead. My collarbone injury hadn't bothered me for a couple of weeks. I looked forward to seeing familiar faces and practicing with new people. Friday sessions were a great. Everyone was practicing with good energy and intensity.

Saturday morning arrived and so did the soreness. Everything was going good until we started practicing Sankyo. After a couple of pins, the collarbone started popping and cracking. Okay, I told myself to take it easy on that side. After another 10 minutes, I had to make a decision. Do I push through and risk re-injury, or sit out? 5 more minutes and I knew what I had to do.

Sitting on the sidelines was just as painful. I wanted to be out there learning, adapting and evolving. That is why I practice Aikido. But I thought sitting out a few classes is better than re-injury and sitting out another month or two. That's when my attitude changed and I began to refocus.

I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started concentrating on what was happening on the mat. Watching the Sensei instruct the classes and the subsequent practice revealed nuances that I had not noticed before. I felt the energy emanating from the mat. I discovered I could still benefit from the practice as long as I was willing to engage as best I could.

Driving back home, I realized that I should never have assumed what to expect from a seminar, or even regular practice. Leave expectations at the door and accept whatever happens. As Aikido teaches us, we should blend with what comes at us and always engage. These are great concepts we can apply in all areas of life.

Summer seminar | Students' assays: Part IV

My experiences from Summer seminar
by Morgan Samuel

It was intimidating and exciting to be in the same room with so many people practicing Aikido. The first day I held on for dear life. Feeling out how things would work. Learning a new vocabulary of practice. I did not move too far up into hakama territory but did get to take ukemi from one of the Sensei.

The second day I felt a bit more outgoing and followed Lee Sensei's advice to move out of the corners and practice with the Yodansha students. I could feel the difference. Not to say the practicing with the unbelted students was not good but it is different. Besides having to sit out of the last class, it was a very good day. I also found watching the Dan tests to be very inspiring. To see what happens when individuals dedicate sthemselves to the study of aikido and what they can achieve was very motivating.

The third day was the most fun and rewarding for me. I had found my groove and a small level of self confidence to move through the crowd. I especially enjoyed the class on Kihon, which I had to look up when I got back to the apartment that night. So Kihon means basic or basics. It offered great perspective on how to do things correctly

in both etiquette and technique and why we do it that way. I really liked the explanation about what the non-attacking hand should be doing in Yokomenuchi (one-hand side attack).

The one thing I notice the most from the seminar was the way my body had learned to move in aikido. Sunday afternoon when I got back to the apartment, I noticed that my body was moving differently, especially after the class about kihon. My wive, Jasmine, her sister and husband asked me each day about the techniques that we learned so I

would show they what I could without dropping people. While doing this, I could feel things that had once been difficult or caused me to hesitate come easier, flow smoother. I just thought it very interesting how much my body had learned without me knowing it.

The Avatar Summer Camp: Week I

The first week was full of great action and a field trip to Little Tokyo in Downtown Los Angeles.

The Avatar Summer Camp: The start

We started our Summer Camp with a small group of wonderful kids, who did an array of activities:
Two Aikido classes, Japanese language, Origami, Japanese folk stories, games and even a small birthday celebration.




































































Above: Story time, Daruma-san origami, Koi fish prints, Chinese zodiac coloring.

Below: The magical wish box, in which the kids place their special wish for the week...

Summer seminar | Students' assays: Part III

Summer seminar
by Robert Keil

This year was my third Summer seminar at Berkeley. I first attended as a 5th kyu student, then as a 4th kyu, and this year as a 3rd kyu. Each year has brought its own unique experience, and own lessons learned.

At my first seminar, I felt a lot of nervous energy and anxiousness over etiquette and protocol. Where exactly do you bow? Who are the other teachers? There was the novelty of working with dozens of people I’ve never met, and the stress of throwing in a very crowded space. Would I bump into someone? Would I thrown someone else into a third party? But mostly I was struck by the depth of experience of the attendees. The majority of them wearing hakamas, I felt like there was so much knowledge that I should try to grab while I could.

My second seminar was plagued by worries about my recovering knee. Should I wear my brace? Can my knee take the long weekend of practice? In addition, I felt tired and grumpy before I left. As I drove home, I wondered if I should even bother going the following year; if I was really getting anything out of the experience that justified the hassle of traveling.

This year, I felt neither the novelty of the first year, or the anxiety of the second year. Instead, the weekend had a pleasant, relaxed quality to it. I worked with people I recognized from the year before; I knew where to bow; I knew where to get coffee in the morning and where to eat at lunch. The seminar had become predictable, its structure and flow more clear to me. I think it reflected my practice. Which is a mirror of how Aikido practice should progress: First, it is often confusing, then it can be frustrating and you think of quitting, but gradually, it becomes part of your daily life. You train not with a goal, but rather because it is something that you just do. It becomes familiar and fun.

This year was also the first time I did all nine hours of the seminar. Previously, I was too tired or sore to make it to every class. It was quite gratifying to realize that I could train the whole time and not be completely worn down, or tired to the point where all I could do was go through the motions.

I was also struck this year by the dedication shown by so many of the students, especially those who traveled from North Dakota for the weekend. They spent precious money and time to come to the seminar, which made me want to use the most of my time there.

And as a last thought, the highlight of the weekend was when I sat on the side of the mat, as there was an odd number of people at that moment. I sat down on the side of the mat, feeling that I should have been faster choosing someone to work with, when Marriane Shibata Sensei came up from behind, tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Let’s go”. We worked for quite awhile on Shomen-uchi Ikkyo, when were done, I thought to myself, “That’s why I drove here.”

Summer seminar | Students' assays: Part II

Summer seminar
by Keri Simpson

There’s an energy, at a seminar that is unlike anything one experiences, during a normal aikido class. The seminar in question doesn’t have to be big. The Berkeley summer seminar is different, however. I don’t know if it’s the energy of the space itself, or the instructors, or of the people in attendance… Actually, I’m pretty sure that it’s a combination of all three.

Going to the Berkeley seminar – even just to watch – is like being put through a distillery. Over the course of two or three (sometimes even four) days, excess stuff is boiled off, leaving one with a more refined practice. Maybe one doesn’t notice it, at first… Maybe one never notices. After all, how many times can one take bad shihonage ukemi, until one finally figures out what’s not working? And, of course, what works with one particular Nage is almost useless with another. But I digress…

There is something about the Berkeley seminar that encourages one to push oneself harder than one thought possible. Whether it’s attempting to get on the mat, after a serious knee injury or forcing oneself to remain in seiza for the majority of just. one. more. class, when one isn’t sure said knee can handle it, two years later.

But one can and is pushed, from sitting on the sidelines watching, to two full days on the mat, to three full days, to wishing for an extra two or three days. After all, who needs caffeine, when the first hour of class, in the morning is enough to wake you up? The energy of the Berkeley summer seminar is potent and very addictive. It makes one want to stay on the mat for as long as one can, for fear of missing out on something, whether it’s the remote possibility that Shibata sensei will take you for ukemi or the theory that maybe this time, I might actually understand what Kurita sensei is saying; to all the little moments in between.

In the end, there are no specifics that I can point to and say “I left this behind, at the seminar”. Nor is there one thing I can say that I took away, other than the opportunity to be immersed in that energy for one more year, for I am still processing all that I learned at the seminar, along with all I continue to learn, in my practice. And, Universe willing, I will revisit that distillery many more times, in the future.

Summer seminar | Students' assays: Part I

What I learned at Summer seminar in Berkley

by Sonny Monge

Looking back over everything I learned at the Berkley Seminar my biggest discovery was that I had a lot of misconceptions about myself and what I am capable of doing. I am not by nature an athletic person. I have always had an easy going laissez-faire attitude toward life in general. I always tried to work smarter and not harder. Some may have mistaken this kind of world view as laziness but I always thought of it as being more efficient with my time.

I know I have yet to mention Berkley but I thought it would be helpful to provide context to my particular perception of the event. The first and most striking thing that I learned is that there are no shortcuts in Aikido. A short cut kind of defeats the whole purpose of the practice of the art. That is to say, that because the only competitive aspect in Aikido is against you vs. yourself, shortcuts only serve in cheating yourself.

Second I found that I am capable of a level of athleticism that I never new existed within me. I had always been content to ignore my body and instead have had a tendency to rely on my mind and my words. In Aikido I have found not only a challenge for my physical self but also for the mind. Its like trying to unlock a puzzle box and I find that very satisfying. I learned in Berkley that I can test my own preconceived limits and I wont break. Not only can I test my limits but I learned that I can push those limits, inch them forward little by little. Bruises will heal, aches and pains fade and a skinned knee is only a minor inconvenience but in the service of learning anew way to move my body they amount to little badges in my minds eye. This was one of the more satisfying discoveries I made during the seminar.

My fondest memory of going to Berkeley will always be all of the great people I met. All of them brought together because of their enthusiasm and passion for the art of Aikido. Like any art form each individual expresses themselves in the form in their own individual way. At Berkley I was given the opportunity work with so many different people and to share with them their “way” of Aikido and in turn being allowed to express my own interpretation was an absolute pleasure and I am grateful for the opportunity.