New Year's Resolutions - Make a positive difference in your life.

Making your new year's resolutions? Want something physical? stress relieving? fun? meaningful?  Try learning a martial art.  Come join us at Aikido Kokikai of Rochester!

We concentrate on real self-defense applications and resolution of conflicts.  There are no cage matches, points, or artificial weight classes on the street.  The bad guys are always bigger and they outnumber you so need the right set of tools for the job.  Genuine martial arts are designed to level the play ground and give you an advantage over larger, stronger, and multiple attackers.

You can even start January 1st at our annual New Year's Day Class at 10am.  Regular classes are Mon-Thurs evenings and on Saturday mornings.  You will learn both mental and physical skills that apply to reducing stress in your daily life as well as to self-defense.  Check us out at www.bodymindandmodem.com for more information.

Holiday Practice Schedule

'Tis the season, mark your calendars...

Tues. 12/24 - Christmas Eve - Dojo Closed

Wed. 12/25 - Christmas Day - Dojo Closed

Sat. 12/28 - Last Sat. class of the year (special event-watch bulletin board for details) - 10:00 am

Tues. 12/31 - New Year's Eve - Dojo Closed

Wed. 1/1 - New Year's Day - First class of the new year - 10:00 am

Aikido Weapons Seminar

Aikido Weapons Seminar

Fundraising for Sensei’s 45^th anniversary party

Where: Eastern Sky Dojo, 591 Moseley Rd, Fairport, NY

When: January 19, 2014, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon, followed by lunch (cost of lunch is not included)

Cost: $20, all proceeds go toward the local fundraising efforts

Who: All local Aikido students, orange belt and up

Bring: Bokken and Jo

Topics: Weapons Tori, 2 Person Katas, Drills and Exercises

Questions: Contact Paul Gardner Sensei

Aikido Workshop this Saturday!

Just a friendly reminder, the Post-Thanksgiving Day Aikido Workshop takes place this Saturday, November 30, from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon.  See prior post for details.

Open Mat Cancelled (11/24)-

Sorry for the short notice...but open mat is cancelled for today 11/24/13.

Post-Thanksgiving Day Aikido Kokikai Workshop

Aikido Kokikai Workshop

When: Saturday, November 30, 2013 (Saturday after Thanksgiving Day)

Where: Aikido Kokikai of Rochester Dojo

Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm 

Enjoy a fun filled morning of aikido!

Avoid the malls and crowds.  Work off Thanksgiving Day dinner.

Black belt members of Kokikai dojos in the region will demonstrate principles and techniques of Kokikai Aikido from their unique perspective.

Take advantage of the opportunity to learn from and train with black belt aikidoka that do not regularly teach as well as fellow students with whom you do not regularly practice.  

Learn Kokikai Aikido techniques that you may not always see from your regular instructors or variations that nonetheless still demonstrate the principles of Kokikai Aikido.

Please bring your Jo and Bokken if you have them.  Just in case.

This event is open to all dojo members.

We are accepting a suggested minimum $5 donation that will go towards Sensei's 40th Anniversary celebration at the next winter camp.

Testing Congratulations

Congrats to Christopher Eoller vonLech who tested for sixth kyu tonight.

Seminar Spruce-up!

The dojo needs some sprucing up before Halloween Seminar...

A checklist of cleaning tasks will be posted in the dojo this week.

Please pick a task, do it and then mark it done.

With everyone pitching in a little between now and October 25 we should be able to get the dojo ready for Leon Sensei's visit without scheduling a formal clean-up.

Questions or concerns, contact Marcella.

Halloween Seminar with Leon Brooks Sensei

Halloween Seminar!

with Leon Brooks Sensei (8th dan)

Saturday, October 26 and Sunday, October 27

Additional details available in the dojo or
contact Paul Gardner Sensei at the Eastern Sky dojo.

Aikido Study Hall (aka Open Mat)

What?: Aikido study hall (aka open mat), time for self directed practice.

Who?: Everyone, all ranks welcome!

When?: Sundays starting at 10:00 am and usually wrapping up by 11:00 am.

Where?: Our dojo downtown.

How?: Supportive black belt(s) always available if needed.

Why?: Time to work on whatever you want, ex. investigate a technique in more depth, extra prep time for a test, space to work on your kata.

Questions?: Contact Marcella, sixmts04@hotmail.com, 905-1392 or see me in class.

No Morning Class 9/23

There will be no Monday morning class this week.

Congratulations

Congratulations to all who tested this Thursday.  It's a continuing pleasure to see the advancement and evolution of our dojo members.  Also of particular merit was the level of support shown by the entire dojo.  Thanks to all who dedicate their time and efforts towards our mutual progress!


6th Kyu

• Bill Bechdel
• Sean McNamara

3rd Kyu

• Chris Williams

Reminder - No Classes on Labor Day

Please enjoy your holiday and plan on joining class for testing on Thursday at 7pm.



Thanks,
-b

Recent and Upcoming Testing

For one, let me congratulate our camp test candidates for doing the dojo proud:

1st Kyu

• Jordan Bell
• Len Butler

And from our sister Dojo, Eastern Sky
Ni dan

• Jay Steiger

San dan

• Dave Laber

Please keep Thursday, September 5th (7pm class) open for our next round of dojo testing !!

Canceling Open Mat Labor Day Weekend-

There will be no open mat on Sun. Sept. 1.

Relax and enjoy the weekend!

REMINDER...

Dojo clean-up tomorrow (7/27) at 11:00 pm!

The clean-up checklist is posted in the dojo.

Thanks!

Thanks to Hugh, Panos, Ray, Ray's daughter Shea, and Amogh for helping this week with trimming and cinching the mat!

Last thing to do, we need a bunch of those little velcro dots placed along the border to keep the mat top edges down.  Please see me if you can take care of that before Sensei's visit.


Thanks!
-brian

Mat Work

All,

Hugh and I are going to work on tightening and trimming the mat tomorrow night (Wed 7/17) after the 6pm class if you are interested and available.  Couple extra cordless screw drivers are welcome but not necessary. We will also do some patch work if time permits.

thanks,

-b

Sensei will be here in August…

And it’s time to clean-up the dojo!

Please join us on Saturday, July 27 after the adult class at 11:00 am to clean the dojo.

With a group of 4-5 people we should be able to clean the dojo in about 1-1.5 hours.

A list of cleaning tasks will be posted beforehand and can be done at any time before or after the scheduled clean up.

Help Promote the Dojo -

Five FREE ways you can help to promote our dojo:

Facebook – If you have a Facebook page, do a status post about our dojo and include a link to the dojo’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AikidoRochester

Yelp.com – Rate and review the dojo on Yelp.com. The Yelp link for our dojo is: http://www.yelp.com/biz/aikido-kokikai-rochester

Flyer/Brochure/Business Card – Take a few flyers, brochures or business cards and post them on a community bulletin board in your neighborhood (ex. library, work, coffee shop, etc.).

Friend/Co-worker/Relative – Invite someone you know to observe or try a class.

Word of Mouth – Simple, tell people about us.

Questions, concerns, ideas…please see Marcella. 

Friendly Reminder...

The dojo will be closed on the 4th of July.

Classes as usual on Sat. 7/6.

Enjoy!

By Euclid, I think I've got it!

Aikido is about circles ellipses.

We were working on the shihonage lead the other night and found a point that needed clarifying which really helped the students and you may find helpful as well.

Ude Mawashi Undo is an elliptical motion of the wrist (representing the likely point of connection with uke) traveling in a plane that is as closely parallel to nage's chest as possible.  The path of the wrist should never cross the center line if the body or travel such that it goes behind the body (plane of the ellipse should be parallel). 

Couple of notes... First the hips define the plane of the body.  Good posture dictates the torso is aligned with the hips and the hips are carried on the legs.  For the purposes of discussion, imagine that the line connecting the feet lies entirely on the plane of the body (your feet aim your hips).

If Ude Mwashi is in the plane of the body, defined by your hips, which are aimed by your feet, then if you want to aim Ude Mawashi, you need to move your feet.  Turning at your waste or your shoulder breaks things.  So, if you want to have shihonage lead pass right by uke's one-point, but not into uke or away from uke, you ideally want to mirror uke's body plane with yours.  (by the way, you do want to do this, at least for irimi, ok, maybe a couple degrees skew into uke, especially if they were rude enough to use a knife.  Manners are learned behaviors after all)

Ok, second point, the ellipse...Yes, circles are special types of ellipses.  I can almost guarantee which one of our students reading this would point that out.  Circles, however pretty and perfect, are kind of boring.  You just go round and round and acceleration never changes (in magnitude, you know who you are).  Enough of that.  Assume for a second you did move your wrist in a circular path, it would have to cross the center line of your body (your sternum).  Now the right hand is squarely (didn't see special rectangles coming, did you?) in the air space of the left hand and vice-versa.  If you are doing both hands, they either have to crash into each other and explode or one or both of them have to leave the plane of the body to pass safely by the other.  Now, it has to be one of those two options as we know you would never ever mess with the timing.  I likely lost too many people when they went to remind themselves who Euclid was and got sucked into the web and are now watching cat videos on youtube, so we will not delve into violating 4th dimensional constraints.

So, we have established it must be an ellipse and that you don't care enough about cat videos to have jumped ship.  Now, how eccentric is the ellipse?  Ahh, we have branched into something for experimentation.  The eccentricity of the elliptical path (how squished is the used-to-be-circle) is a variable.  As you make the ellipse longer & shorter you will change the effect on uke's one-point.  A really high, sharp ellipse will drop uke into a "hole" in front of you.  A less sharp, fatter ellipse will drop them in a "hole" closer to their body.

Ok, get up and do Ude Mawashi, then go grab an uke and play.  Yokomen attacks are great for this. Pay attention to the sharpness of the ellipse and what it does to uke.  Did I mention we weren't playing with time yet?  We have been describing the path of your hand/wrist, not the speed!  The effect will work the same if you are working at a slow or fast pace.  Have fun.

Summer Session

Note to all, Christian is running class on Tuesday mornings at 7AM for the summer.   Please feel free to join him.  See Christian for details. 

Announcements

As promised, more testing results... Please join me in congratulating Amogh Bhagat on his successful 3rd kyu test this Tuesday!

Also, Anna Ka will be doing a summer class for kids the week of July 15th.  It will run from 1-3 each afternoon that week, please contact Anna if you are willing/able to help for details.

-b

Congratulations on Tonights Tests

Please join us in congratulating our newest 6th kyu students.  It was a pleasure to see such a great turn out to support testing.

Jeramy Baldwin
Lucian Ferruzza
Walter Stuber

Please stay tuned for additional testing this month!

Summer Camp/Test Prep!

It’s that time of year!

The summer session of camp/test prep kicks off, Monday, June 17 at 7:00 pm. Camp/test prep will run for 6 weeks, every Monday night at 7:00 pm from 6/17 to 7/22.

All are welcome and as usual, we will kick it up a notch for camp/test prep classes. Beginners will be taken good care of so don't hesitate to come as well.

The first and last night we’ll have video review in the 8 pm hour for baseline and progress. Please be prepared to stay a little later those nights.

Remember, if you are not testing, we will need ukes of all types, so please come and support your fellow aikidoka.

Camp/test prep has been a long standing tradition in Rochester which, with your support we’ll continue to enhance everyone's quality of practice.

Thank you,

Marcella & Brian

Testing in the Dojo

There will be testing in the dojo on Tues. June 11 during the 7:00 pm class.

Please come support your fellow aikidoka!

Memorial Day Dojo Closings

Heads up…the dojo will be closed Sunday, May 26 and Monday, May 27 for Memorial Day.

Spring Cleaning!

Spring is here…believe it or not! And it’s time to do some spring cleaning in dojo!

Please join us on Saturday, April 20 after the adult class at 11:00 am to clean the dojo.

With a group of 4-5 people we should be able to clean the dojo in about 1-1.5 hours.

A list of cleaning tasks will be posted beforehand and can be done at any time before or after the scheduled clean up.

And yes, the new mat will be mopped!

Questions or concerns, contact Marcella.

March Dojo Testing

Please join me in congratulating our recent slate of rank testing:

6th Kyu: Panos Ginis

5th Kyu: James Keeler

3rd Kyu: Samantha Newmark

Easter Sunday - Open Mat Cancelled‏

I'm cancelling open mat for this Easter Sunday, 3/31.

We will be back in business the following Sunday, 4/7.

Enjoy!

Reminder-testing in the dojo-

There will be testing in the dojo on Thurs. 3/28 at the beginning of the 7:00 pm class.

Please come support your fellow aikidoka!

Post Camp Catch Up

I'm nearing a point where I am caught up from being out of town for camp.  This post is a bit overdue, but we would like to extend congratulations our students who tested at camp and to all those from the greater Kokikai community that showed their stuff.  Without further ado..,

Please join me in congratulating:

For 1st Kyu:
Hugh Higgins
Andrew Sackett

For Shodan:
Peter Veazie
Adrien Florian

For Nidan:
Ray Easton
Alan Tamayo

For Sandan:
Robert Martini

The entire crew did Rochester proud!  Thanks to all of you.  For those of you who missed their tests, there is a dojo copy of the DVD.  If you would like your own copy, please see Brian or one of the people who tested (they each have a copy of the DVD). 

Coming up:

Kyu testing on Thursday 3/28

and...

Sensei in Rochester, August 9-11 (tentative)

Back from Winter Camp -

We're back safe and sound from another great Winter Camp with Sensei...

Tonight (Mon. 3/4) we will be giving out belts and certificates at the beginning of the 7:00 pm class.

If you can't make it tonight, don't worry, belts and certificates will also be given out Tues. 3/5 during the 6 pm class.


Please join us if you can, to help recognize a job well done by all!

Testing in the dojo...

There is testing in the dojo tomorrow, Tues. 1/29 during the 6:00 pm class.

Please come if you can, remember it takes a dojo to raise a black belt!

Reminder...

Winter Camp prep starts tomorrow night, Mon. 1/14 at 7:00 pm. Hope to see you there!

Winter Camp-

Just a friendly reminder...

Winter camp is March 1-3, 2013 in Lawrenceville, NJ.

Registration forms are now available in the dojo.

NOTE: To receive a discount, your pre-registration form must be received by February 8, 2013, see form for more details.

Winter Camp/Test Prep -

Need a boost to get you through the next couple of winter months? How about joining us for test prep?

The winter session of camp/test prep kicks off Monday, January 14 at 7 pm.

All are welcome and as usual, we will kick it up a notch for camp/test prep classes. Beginners will be taken good care of so don't hesitate to come as well.

Camp/test prep will run for 6 weeks, every Monday night at 7 pm and every other Thursday night at 7 pm, proposed schedule:

Mondays - 1/14 through 2/18

Thursdays - 1/24, 2/7, 2/21

As usual, the first and last night we’ll have video review in the 8 pm hour for baseline and progress. Please be prepared to stay a little later those nights.

Remember, if you are not testing, we will need ukes of all types, so please come and support your fellow aikidoka.

Camp/test prep has been a long standing tradition in Rochester which, with your support we’ll continue to enhance everyone's quality of practice.

Thank you,

Marcella & Brian

Happy New Year!

Thanks to all who joined the New Year's Day practice!