Darn! Another injury. Well it IS a martial art. I guess we should just suck it up and expect it as part of our environment.Nothing could be further from the truth.At BigRock Aikikai, chief instructor Steve Erickson and the rest of the senior yudansha…

I gave a talk to my teen class students a couple of weeks ago.  It was sparked by feedback I had received from parents regarding comments they had heard while in the dojo - teens talking about other teens.  We're talking about the kind of comments…

Recently, the parent of a student in my child class (6yrs to 8yrs) asked me the following question: “How do some of these techniques translate into effective self-defense?”  He was referring to the technique Shomenuchi Aikiotoshi.  If you're not familiar…

I recently spent 3 weeks traveling in South America, Venezuela to be more specific.  It was a great time as I had the opportunity to meet, for the first time, members of my wife's family.  What does this have to do with aikido?  Well, it was also the…

Each year, around this time, I receive a lot of communication from students and parents about their upcoming absence from training. A break from regular practice, during the summer for example, can be a very good thing, as long as it is supported by…