Well, it was  bound to happen! Almost everyone in our area can see that there’s quite a bit of snow falling. As always, you can check our main web page, our facebook page, or call the dojo to verify if we’re able to open or not.

As a reminder (or new information to those who have recently joined us), we follow the Everett School District when it comes to closures. So if the Everett School District cancels school, we close as well. That’s the case for today–although based on the calls we’ve received from the other places my family was planning to go today, I don’t any closure is unexpected!

As a long-time practitioner of aikido, I find almost any opportunity to practice one point. The snow reminds me of a story my daughter likes to tell. A year or so ago, it got very icy out–no snow, just a lot of ice. Our driveway is short and steep; as my daughter and I stepped onto it to head to the bus stop, she slipped. I was holding her hand, and started to slip as well. Instead of falling, I held my balance and “surfed” my way down to the end of the driveway, all while holding her up. A demonstration of balance and centeredness? Or just plain luck? I think it was a combination of the two–thanks to my aikido training, I had the opportunity to get that kind of luck. The net result was the same–I got the chance to be my daughter’s hero.

Stay warm and safe everyone! And I encourage everyone to not only enjoy the snow, but use it as a way of using aikido principles in daily life!

This has been going on for a bit, but I wanted to post this again to remind everyone:

Every year, we try to do something to give back to the community. This year, we have chosen the Pediatric Interim Care Center (PICC). Their needs are very simple and they make it easy with a wish list of the things they need most:

Cotton or terry sleepers w/ snap front. size: preemie, small, medium White and Pastels
Gerber 30″ x 40″ Cotton Thermal Receiving Blankets White and Pastels only
Monetary Donations (used for our unfunded beds)
Johnson’s Baby Shampoo
Johnson’s Baby Powder with Cornstarch
Latex Examination Gloves (powdered / non-powdered)     Medium size
Other items that are needed on an occasional basis:
Clorox bleach, toilet paper, Kleenex, Soft Scrub, Mr. Clean Antibacterial cleaner, paper towels, tall kitchen garbage bags, spray furniture polish (Pledge, Old English),  recordable CDs w/ cases, window cleaner, address labels (#8161), legal size envelopes.

Please leave donations in the red bins at the back door of the dojo.  All items will be collected and delivered the week of December 29th.  If you would like to donate cash, just see Jen or myself. We’ll pool the money together and use it to purchase some of the items on this list.

Thank you for coming together as a dojo community and giving no matter how small the donation help these little babies get the start in life they deserve.

One of the advantages of having our own dedicated training space is that we can adjust our schedule to best meet the needs of our students. For some time now, I’ve gotten feedback from students that they’d like the opportunity to have a private lesson with me. In the past, I’ve tried to honor these request, but it’s been difficult to find a time that works well with the student, my work schedule, and my family.

I’m pleased to announce that, starting in January, that I will be available for private lessons every Monday from 5:30 to 6:30pm.

A private lesson provides a great opportunity for you (or your child) to get the most out of your training. Looking to understand more about our jo and bokken katas? Interested in developing better ukemi skills? Have a unique situation, and want to see how our training applies to it? A private lesson may be just the answer. Have a child or sibling that wants to study, but wants to get a head start before stepping on the mat? A private lesson can help. In short, private lessons offer me the chance to provide targeted training to those who want it.

Here are some details about this new class offering:

• Cost. A private lesson with me will cost $20 for a 30-minute session. In my experience, 30 minutes is more than sufficient for these types of classes. This fee is regardless of the number of participants. (See below.)
• Two participants required. As you know, most of aikido practice is done with a partner. To maximize the benefit of a private lesson, I require two people per class. Note that, with two people sharing a private lesson, you have the opportunity to share the fee! That means a private lesson for two people is only $10 per person! I will waive this requirement on a case-by-case basis, so if you don’t have or don’t want a partner to join you, just see me–I’ll see what I can do.
• One participant must be a current member of the dojo. Parents, this means that if you want a private lesson for your child, but are not yourself a member, you can step on the mat to help! Siblings who are not members of the dojo can also participate.
• Schedule as many or as few sessions as you want. Sometimes, only a single session might be necessary. Other times, you might want to schedule several sessions. It’s up to you.

To accommodate this new class, I’ve decided to remove our Monday kids class from the schedule. However, this still leaves us with 4 kids classes per week–more than many other martial arts schools provide.

I’m excited about this new opportunity to help students with their training. If you want to schedule a session, or have any questions, please contact me at aikido.instructor@gmail.com.

Thanks–and see you on the mat!

It seems that every month or so, I get asked about whether aikido is “effective” as a martial art. I don’t particular care for this question, because you can define “effective” in so many ways. Effective on the street? Effective on the field of battle? Effective in a school? Effective because anyone can do it? I could go on, but you get the idea. We need to remember that, in the case of a physical confrontation, the winner does not indicate the best martial art, but rather the best martial artist at that time and at that place.

That said, I understand why people ask the question. Studying a martial art is extremely difficult and very time-consuming. It is only natural–I would even say it is recommended–that people question the effectiveness of their training. To those asking this question, now, I’ll give you the answer I often give: “Aikido is effective. More importantly, our training system is effective for the goals we want to accomplish.”

In aikido, we are not interested in fighting. You could even say that we are only marginally interested in self-defense. What we are interested in is balance. How to take it, how to keep it, how to use it. This is different from striking arts, which focus on how to block and how to hit. It is also (and many people get confused here) different from grappling arts (like judo), which focus on more on takedowns and pins. In aikido, we focus on how to keep our balance as much as possible, and how to take the balance of our attackers. From there, we next study what to do with an off-balanced opponent. Throw them to the ground? Set them down gently? Hit them? Any of these responses may well be appropriate–it is our job to understand the choices that are available, and how to take advantage of them as needed.

One particular challenge people have with aikido is that they only trust it partway. What I mean is this: they initialize an aikido technique, but when encounter a problem or resistance they immediately revert back to instincts. This usually means trying to hit or grapple. There are two problems here. First, there is no guarantee that strike or a takedown will work. There is a reason why MMA, boxing, wrestling, and other arts have weight classes. Putting someone who weighs 200 pounds in a ring with someone who weighs 135 doesn’t make a lot of sense. The second problem is more obvious. In aikido, we study that narrow sliver of time between an attacker’s commitment and an attacker’s connection. This seems very difficult (and sometimes is) but it really is no different than a baseball player learning how to hit a baseball. But because we focus so much on this moment, we don’t study how to hit or grapple as much. So the second problem is that we just aren’t as good at hitting and grappling!

Instead, what I encourage all aikido students–all martial arts students, in fact–is to trust your training. If the principles you study are sound, then by trusting in them you will eventually have a reliable set of movements that will serve you well. And if they are not sound, then you will learn quickly that the art is not effective and you need to move on. The bad news: this information does not come to you quickly. The good news it also shouldn’t take months or years. A good school with a good group of students should give you the opportunity to test the principles of a martial art, and you should at least get some preliminary results of those tests within a month or so. You may not be very good at the art, but at least you should have a sense of “Interesting. I think I see how this works.”

You will be surprised how much you can do when you learn to trust your training. It’s only when you doubt that you hinder your progress.

One of the most common questions that students and potential students have about martial arts training relates to the effectiveness of the martial art. To the new student, the question is typically phrased as: “Does this stuff really work?” To the advanced student, the question changes slightly: “Does this stuff really work against <insert situation here>?”

I understand very well what drives these questions. But I also think they are the wrong questions to ask. Let me explain.

First, let’s focus on the new or potential student. It is very understandable for anyone contemplating an investment of time and effort into a martial art to want to know they’re getting a good return on that investment. But the question, “Does this stuff really work?” is actually very ambiguous. Does it really work–where? On the street? In an MMA ring? On the field of battle? While each of these circumstances may have some overlapping characteristics, they are not the same. A better line of questioning, and one I recommend to anyone regardless of whether they’re thinking about joining the dojo or not, starts with: “Is this martial art based on a proven set of ideas and movements?” The next questions that follow, then, are “What are those ideas?” and “How were they proven?” Another great question is “What assumptions does this art make during training?” Keep in mind, there is no substitute for getting on the mat and training for a month or so to see if a martial art is right for you. But asking these questions can help new students understand the reasons for what they’re learning, and gives them the opportunity to draw their own conclusions about the martial art in question.

Now, let’s look at the advanced student. This student has already invested time and effort into their training. They no longer need convincing that the art is effective in a general sense. But they have also trained long enough to see the shortfalls of their art (and all arts have them). They start to wonder: “Would what I study work against someone who studied <insert another martial art here>?” This is especially true with the increased popularity of MMA. I have lost count of how many people–with years of training in their art–wonder if they could perform well in an MMA competition. This is roughly the equivalent of a sprinter wondering if they win a marathon. Sure, both a sprinter and marathon runner do similar activities, but they have very different goals, and look at their training in very different ways. The same is true when you compare one martial art with another. Those who train in MMA are looking at physical conflict in a way that is different from those who train in aikido. Making these comparisons does little to improve your training.

For the advanced student, a better way of thinking about these things is to look at another art and ask: “Why do they train that way? What assumptions do they make?” The answers from these questions can, in turn, deepen our understanding of our own art. For example, from my experience in Kung Fu and from my interactions with those who study Karate and Tae Kwon Do, I’ve learned that aikido is weak when it comes to training how to punch. (Note: that’s not the same as training how to DEAL with a punch.) The question I next asked was: “Why?” One possible answer is very simple: you can only train in so many things at any given time. In aikido, we prioritize timing and distance over strikes, and that’s worth remembering.

In short, the effectiveness of any martial art can and should be measured by looking at the assumptions, techniques, and training methodologies of that art. Looking at other arts can greatly help with validating those three areas, but I would avoid direct comparisons as they are highly inaccurate.

Recently, my daughter and I have started a small bedtime ritual. After her younger brothers are down (hopefully!) for the night, she snuggles into her bed, surrounded by a menagerie of pillow pets. I grab her desk chair and pull it to her bedside, and we settle in for 30 minutes or so of reading the Harry Potter series of books. It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite times of the day.

We just finished the third book: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Towards the end, there’s a scene where–wait a second. First things first.

Warning! If you are one of those people who (1) has not read the book or seen the movie, and (2) actually cares about spoilers, you may want to stop reading now.

Okay. As I was saying. Towards the end there’s a scene where Harry is need of a particularly strong spell to ward off an onslaught of creatures that feed upon happiness. The spell creates a Patronus, an entity filled with so much positive energy that it drives these creatures away. The spell is, apparently particularly difficult to perform. In fact, the main reason why Harry is able to perform the spell at the end of the book is because of time travel. You see, at one point he sees the spell being cast–although he does not by whom. Later, he learns that his friend has a charm that allows her to go back in time. They do so, and he realizes that it was he, who cast the spell he saw earlier.

If you’re confused, don’t worry–the point I’m getting at has little to do with spell-casting. It has to do with attitude.

When asked how Harry was able to perform the spell, he states (roughly): “I was able to cast it, because I already knew I did.” In other words, his trip through time gave him such confidence that he was unable to fail.

There are few moments when I do not compare what I am doing or learning to aikido, and when I read this passage, I realized that here was a perfect example of what we call positive mind. Harry had such confidence in what he needed to do that he was able to perform at a level greater than he expected. We try to emphasize this idea on the mat: the best technique often comes when the nage (thrower) is so confident in his or her movements that failure ceases to be an option. These moments can happen even for students who have only practiced for a few months or even a few days. To quote another aikido instructor: “Aikido is the only martial art I know of that works best when you act like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t.”

The pursuit of positive mind is, in many ways, the real study of aikido. Correct technique is essential, of course, but it is only one part of the equation. Just as an expert craftsman needs good materials in addition to good tools, our mental state is essential to perform correct technique. Here, Harry has an advantage that we do not: the ability to time-travel (albeit temporarily). But Harry’s experience isn’t anything we don’t already do ourselves: when we visualize success, we tend to perform better. This is what positive mind is all about.

(For those of you thinking this blog post was going to focus on my stint as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher–that’s a story for another time…)

Although this past spring has been less than stellar here in the Pacific Northwest (how much rain do we need, anyway?) I still hold out hope that the summer will be warm and relaxing. Summer has always been an opportunity both to try new things and to deepen my focus on the things I already do, and the dojo is usually at the top of the list. The dojo also gets a lot of new students during the summer as well. I can understand why: aikido seems to be one of the perfect summer activities.

As the father of three kids, I know very well how challenging summers can be. In particular, the lack of schedule can be a huge deal for us. As parents, we all know that, following the first week or two of post-scholastic happiness, there are real risks for boredom or listlessness. Having some sort of activity would be great, wouldn’t it? But regular sports are difficult to commit to. After all, summer is when we have vacations, relatives visit, and do all sorts of things that the rigors of the school year prevent. Plus, as much as I enjoy a good baseball game (especially when my daughter is on the field!), standing out in the hot sun for hours can be difficult–especially when you have little ones, as I do.

Aikido Kokikai South Everett sidesteps these issues and offers a great family-oriented activity for the summer. Here’s why:

• Our dues are very minimal, making it easy for kids to join without worrying about interruptions for vacations and the like
• We have classes throughout the week, so students can adjust their schedule week to week if they need to
• Our large waiting area and kids activities means that siblings and parents can relax while their student trains
• Classes are in the evenings, which usually means we avoid the hottest parts of the day (I’ve appreciated this fact more than once!)

Of course, aikido is tremendously fun, too, and it provides a fantastic opportunity for kids to build the calmness and focus they need to start the next school year.

I freely admit: I hope that any student that joins in the summer continues to train into the following year. And, in fact, most students do exactly that. But even if that doesn’t happen, I’m convinced that aikido remains a fun, rewarding, easy-to-start summer activity.

If you’re reading this, then I’ve done everything right and our new site is now live and functioning! There has been a lot of planning going into the site. Basically, I had a few goals:

First and foremost, I wanted to make the site more accessible to people who are new to the dojo. (If you’re one of those people, please let me know what you think!) Our dojo offers a lot of great services, but I really wanted to focus on three: the quality of our self-defense, our great kids program, and how aikido can be especially effective for women. These are just a few of the areas in which the dojo excels–but I think they are some of the most important.

Second, I wanted to make it easier for students to get information, such as our new student information packet and our kids test requirements. If you’re not a current member, you still have access to this info–but it’s probably not going to make much sense to you until you’re on the mat! (So what are you waiting for?) Hopefully, having this information readily available will make everyone’s lives a little easier.

Lastly, I know how frustrating it is to visit a site and see that it’s completely out of date. Our new site is much easier for myself and others to update. I plan on keeping things current as much as possible!

Please enjoy the site! If you like it, I hope you’ll show it by clicking the Facebook like button at the top right corner, and share it with your friends.

See you on the mat!