Thursday Notices – 28.12.06

 

This is your Thursday emailout of notices for 28.12.06 to club members and interested parties on Yahoo groups regarding club matters and upcoming events.  If you have something to include or a constructive comment to improve this newsletter, please let me know. 

 

 

Hello everyone,

Our club President suggested we give these Thursday Notices a name.  Any suggestions?  Just email me back and I’ll continue offering your suggestions for comment.  I was also thinking our Japanese club members may have some plays on Japanese words/concepts which might work. 

 

Eri Takahashi has said that if we don’t want to be fancy, we could have ‘Shukan News’, as Shukan means weekly, and if we wanted to refer to Thursday, it would then become ‘Mokuyo Shukan News’.

 

Ben Tan has offered a smorgasbord of possibilities:   "Ukemi Shoutouts!" or "Atemi Ukemi News" or "Weekly Shin" or "Ukemi Weekly" or "My Taninzugake News" or "My Ukemi News".

 

Thank you to Eri and Ben.

 

Any comments or more suggestions?  We’ll make a decision very soon for the new year!!

 

Steve M.

 

 

Contents:

              

1. Fridge Genie
2. Griffith University Orientation Week
3. Friday Class – 5^th January
4. Maruyama Sensei 2007
5. “Taking Stock”
6. Entertainment Section
7. Goshinkan Dojo Misogi Bell
8. Previous news (but good news) – worth another read!:

 

 

 

 

1.         Fridge Genie

 

Lots of jobs just get done around the dojo, but they’re all done by volunteers, your fellow members, and every little job done makes it easier for everyone.  Chris Cobban has been our fridge genie for about eight months, quietly filling the fridge with drinks and treats for club members (like the tim tam genie – drinks and chokkies just seem to reappear).  Chris isn’t able to continue with this role, unfortunately.  Is there anyone who would like to take on this role on behalf of the club?  It’s not difficult at all, but someone who thinks they can offer a little bit of time but not much more would be ideal, and your efforts would be greatly appreciated.  Just give me a call or email me, and I’ll fill you in. 

 

A BIG thank you to Chris for being our third fridge genie (it used to be done by Charlie Sensei and Danny Sensei till Chris took over!).

 

 

 

2.         Griffith University Orientation Week

 

Griffith Uni will be holding its Orientation Week during the week starting Monday 19^th February.  I’m expecting some of our members, especially our uni students, would like to express their interest in promoting the club during that week, and/or the following week, in which there will be ‘club sign-on days’ and ‘market days’ at each campus.  These days are excellent opportunities for our club to promote aikido and recruit new members.   Our future as a club on campus, with all the uncertainty of voluntary student unionism, is to continue to attract more club members from the uni.  Further, our club is constantly invigorated by its new members.  Plus we have a responsibility to aikido to be unselfish!:) and allow others to enjoy the benefits we gain from aikido.  We can do that by showing we want others to join our club, letting them know how much enjoyment and fun we have, and by making them feel welcome.  If you can give us a couple of hours of your time late in February to do that, it would be fantastic.

 

If you would like to help out, please let me know via email or give me a call (see bottom of this page).

 

 

 

3.         Friday Class - 5^th January

 

At this stage there will be a Friday class at South Brisbane dojo on Friday 5^th January at 1pm.  As usual, and especially during the Christmas break, it will help if you ring or email me and let me know you’re intending to attend the class.

 

 

 

4.         Maruyama Sensei 2007

 

I am delighted to announce that we will again have Maruyama Sensei in Brisbane next year.  The dates are Friday 28th September to Wednesday 3rd October, which is very exciting!  These dates fall in the Queensland and NSW school holidays.

 

This seminar is also likely to be somewhat larger in terms of numbers on the mat and it goes for 6 days as well.   The Nathan dojo is probably not big enough, so arrangements are being made for an alternative venue, with the Mt. Gravatt showgrounds being the most likely contender. 

 

Maruyama Sensei’s 2007 tour will include Brisbane, Melbourne, New Zealand and Fiji as tour venues.  Melbourne’s seminar will be held from Friday 5^th – Wednesday 10^th October, which will mostly fall in the Vic. and SA school holidays.   Class times and venue to be advised.

 

Maruyama sensei will also be celebrating his 50^th Anniversary of teaching Aikido in Hawaii on the 12^th, 13^th and 14^th of July.  Tony Neal Sensei has already advised via these notices, that he is organising a contingent of aikidoka from Brisbane.  If you’re interested, please let Tony Neal Sensei know at tony@...

 

Details about the seminar are available at www.akachawaii.com/aloha.html

 

I will post more information in these notices as venues and classes are finalised.

 

Danny James

 

 

 

5.         “Taking Stock”

 

Yet another year is drawing to a close & we once again find ourselves taking stock of our efforts that has brought us here.  We ask the questions, “are we where we wanted to be”, “have we done our best” “could we have done more”,  “what do we have to show for our efforts” & so on.  With our Aikido it can be quite simple & for those fortunate enough to wear a coloured belt, some of these questions are easy, you just need to look down & see if the colour has changed.  But we need to judge ourselves beyond the rank & file & take an honest look at whether we have be doing all we can.

 

It can be as simple as counting the classes we attended but that really is a little hollow. Look further & we can judge whether we paid true homage to the art & to ourselves.  Did we turn up on time & help set up?  Did we maintain a good Seiza posture?  Did we pay 100% attention to the class?  Did we talk ourselves into not going to class?… and so on.  But I’m here to tell you that, as easy or as hard it is for you to answer these questions, it’s still a shallow perspective of the potential of Aikido training.

 

Now, can you give a true answer to the following:  How much training have I done off the mat & away from the dojo?  Answer this one question & all the other ones may seem a little worthless.  As we enter a short break from regular classes, it is timely that we review our efforts of solo training. Many new students hold the belief that we need mats, Ukes & a Gi to be able to practice our beloved art.  This thinking is OK for a new student, but for those that have done at least one grading, experience will have told us otherwise.  Leading up to that first grading we would have danced around the back yard or lounge room, visualising Uke, correcting our posture & body alignment as we went through the moves in slow motion.  This type of solo training is essential to our growth & development as it provides us with an environment that cannot exist with an Uke.

 

Only in this solo environment can we traverse new heights & depths in our understanding of the art. In solo training we rely on our mind to push our will & our mind to lead our body.  It forges the shapes & forms of our art into our body & then into our subconscious mind.  I would go as far as to say that solo training accounts for 70% of our potential, which means that just training on the mat in the dojo will only deliver 30% of our potential.

 

If you are not yet converted to the idea of focused solo training, spare some time to think back on the year’s events & look for the times when your Aikido shapes & forms came to the fore without your thinking.  For those who were lucky enough to attend the Systema Knife Defence workshop that was held 2 weeks ago, would have heard, or found themselves saying things like “I was doing this or that & suddenly Shihonage (or insert other Aikido technique name here) came out”. Most of the feedback I got from the Systema workshop was not about the Systema but about how surprised students were that their Aikido came out & worked without them consciously thinking about it.

 

Think about how much more could come out & how much more effective it would be if there was more in there to start with. And how do you get more in there??  Solo training.  We are really lucky in this club in that we have regular classes with lots of Ukes so it’s easy to think that the class time is training.  This thinking should be changed around & instead we should be taking what we learnt from class, going home & practicing it to death & then bringing it & our newfound facets back to the next class to try them out on the unsuspecting Ukes.  If you’re not sure, try it over the Christmas break, what have you got to lose?  It’s a poorly guarded secret that the keys to improve our Aikido lie in the Taiso, the weapons kata & the technique kata. Three not so secret aspects that can & must be trained by ourselves.

 

I hope you can all come back from your Christmas break feeling newfound strengths from your solo training.

 

Simon Russell

 

 

 

6.         Entertainment Section

 

These Thursday Notices are meant for all our club members to contribute to.   They’re not meant to be just a news service.  And beginners sometimes feel they don’t know enough to contribute meaningfully.  This is absolutely not the case.  All our members are interested in news, but they’re also very, very interested in the way others perceive aikido, what they get out of aikido, how they weave aikido training into their lives, and so on.  So members, and that definitely includes beginners, should not hesitate to contribute.

 

It probably appears that all the items in these notices are about news, and you need to be an instructor or executive member to contribute.  Absolutely not true.   I’m wanting to encourage all sorts of contributions from all our club members.  I think I need to go first, though, to show you there’s stuff other than news which is welcome.  Anybody got any limericks?  I wrote the verse below as a contribution for a club newsletter that almost went ahead about a year after I started aikido. 

 

Anyway, hopefully you’ll enjoy the product of my feverish beginners mind:   

 

Some Thoughts of an Older Beginner

 

I’m getting older now and the joints were creaking

So a sort of sport was what I was seeking

My body was slowly starting to rust

I had to do something to unsettle the dust

 

I sometimes think about my distant youth

They were times of sport and times uncouth

And even though I had a ball

They’re increasingly difficult days to recall

 

So, I considered gym as a genuine notion

But it required significant devotion

I’ve done it before and it was a definite bore

The call to the gym would be a call I’d ignore

 

Swimming isn’t pleasant when the weather’s not hot

And public pools and kids mean litres of snot

Every kid sneezing means a likely infection

Swimming for me was an easy rejection

 

Jogging was also definitely out

Even though it might get me out and about

Strains my ankles and makes me hobble

I’d have to hold my belly to stop the wobble

 

Walking is an activity which has been suggested

But it fails to burn up all the food I’ve ingested

I’ve done it for years, I was a walking machine

But I’m also still not particularly lean

 

In the end, I just needed to move

Something that might improve my groove

I liked that Aikido wasn’t about competition

And offered a non-combative tradition

 

Aikido seemed to be the way

To the way of harmony I heard someone say

But I just wanted fitness and flexibility

And perhaps self-defensive ability

 

After a year or so I’ve emerged from confusion

Although I’m sure that’s just a handy illusion

And while I think I understand the key to ki

The way of harmony is not yet to be

 

There’s discord between my muscles and mind

Over-thinking the moves is what I find

And my failing memory makes me freak

When I’m trying to remember a lengthy technique

 

And my skills probably lack some synchronisation

But there is a degree of consolation

My vitality is great and my fitness increased

My flexibility has grown and my creaking has ceased

 

Muscles are stronger and tendons robust

I’ve definitely unsettled the dust

I arrive at training ready to start

I absolutely feel a little younger at heart

Steve Mitchell

 

 

 

7.         Goshinkan Dojo Misogi Bell

Goshinkan Dojo at Byron Bay will be having it’s traditional Misogi Bell ringing in the New Year on January 1 at 10am if any Brisbane people might be interested.

 

 

8.         Previous news (but good news) below – worth another read!:

 

 

 

Membership Form to be Completed in January

 

I just want to remind everyone that you will need to complete a new membership form for 2007, when you return in January.  There is a membership fee (see previous news below), but mat fees which you should have already paid in December cover January as well.

 

Jutta Dowdy

 

 

Club Sponsorship

 

We are proud to announce our new sponsorship arrangement with Brisbane based residential home loan manager, Direct Credit Home Loans Australia.   As part of an ongoing relationship, Direct Credit Home loans has made an attractive home loan offer to our club members, their family & friends.   In addition, they have offered to pay us a spotter’s fee on each home loan referred through the club.   

I sent a separate email three weeks ago detailing our sponsorship arrangement with Direct Credit Home Loans Australia.  If you didn’t receive it but want the details, please let me know.  Many thanks to Gary Weigh, one of our brand new 3^rd kyu’s, who has arranged this sponsorship.

 

 

Weapons Training

 

 Hi everyone, 

 With XMAS nearly upon us the dojo will be closed for some time. I'd like to encourage all the aiki-nuts out there to consider weapons training if you need an aikido fix during the break. O'Sensei studied a number of weapons arts (in addition to the daito-ryu-aiki-jujitsu) before developing aikido. Weapons training is a vehicle that allows us to develop an understanding of body alignment, power in our movements, grace and fluidity. It develops a greater awareness of the line of the attack, where the power is in an attack and how to move with/around it as well as an awareness of ma-ai (correct distance). Maruyama sensei provides us with many weapons kata to develop our understanding of these. These include:

Bokken

Sword of nine directions (how to tune and focus our minds in different directions giving 100% to each)

Free wielding sword (to develop fluidity of movement)

Shinken koro no ken (to fully develop power in cuts)

Sword of the dream (to explore meditation through sword and pure cuts)

also  2 seasons and 4 seasons kata are used as well

Jo

Shooting Star

Butterfly

Jo 3 (to explore the other weapons that Jo encompasses)

Also have the 4 count and 5 count kata

 There are many many other drills as well that we do in class and are suited to solo practice as well. Additionally there are Bokken parts for partners in the Jo kata that allow us to more fully understand the martial significance of the kata

 Paired Kata

These kata are done with a partner Ken vs. ken, Ken vs. Jo, They develop an awareness of Ki extension, ma-ai and an understanding of the openings created from attacks (and highlight movements that we can improve on)

Rising moon - learning to mirror our partners movement

Lightning - learning to move before our partner

Kumijo - an excellent tool for understanding where the power in an attack starts and stops, moving on a partners ki, ma-ai at  4 different ranges, finding shikaku

Sengakuyenno tachi (Shinkage Ryu sword kata) taught at last seminar 'Do not forget' Maruyama Sensei said!

 Maruyama sensei also encourages us to practice them left handed as well. In fact the Jo Kats finish with the Jo held in the opposite hanmi in readiness for this, thus conventionally an additional 'ichi' is added to them to allow the Kata to finish in the starting position for grading purposes

 For those interested a number of Nathan students and I have been practicing Kumijo from 6-6:15pm prior to the Tuesday and Thursday classes (but after mats are down and uniforms are on), we would be pleased to have you join us 

 

Danny James

  

 

Mat Fees and Club Membership Fees

 

 Jutta wants everyone to know that Membership fees are due at the beginning of the year and should be paid in January.  Remember that mat fees paid in December cover January as well, so it will be the usual mat fees in December and then membership fees in January.  The University requires University clubs to charge a membership fee.  The University has also recently required us to charge Griffith University students a lesser membership fee than other members (this does not apply to other students from other educational institutions).  Great for GU students, same as always for the rest of us.

 

 Please be advised that annual membership fee in the new year will be $15 for all members who are also bona fide Griffith Uni students.  For other members, including instructors, annual membership fee remains at $30.  Children whose parents are financial members (and therefore have paid the membership fee) don't pay membership fees. Other children pay a membership fee of $10.

 

Also, if you have graded, there is a small grading fee.  As always, it is not good etiquette to have someone chase you.

 

 

 

Steve Mitchell

GUAC Secretary

Mob.  0432 269 534

Email:  stevemitchell@...