Originally uploaded by markdeso Sensei worked with us on the ikkyo through yonkyo series last nite as well as koshi nage. Koshi nage is a throw similar to many Judo throws. We don’t practice this much in our dojo and so we started literally from the ground up. We did a falling practice, first slapping…

Week 3 day 1, yo! Originally uploaded by markdeso Friday I met with a physical therapist about my shoulder. I injured it around the 3rd week of November. I took a fall from a throw and rather than rolling out of it I came down straight on it. For about 4 or 5 days back…

Originally uploaded by markdeso “The true martial way halts violence with virtue and love.” – Master Onisaburo to a young Morihei Ueshiba. Today we worked on test format techniques, starting with shomen uchi ikkyo both from standing and kneeling positions. Ikkyo, “technique number one” is usually one of the first techniques we learn when we…

A while ago I posted the following, inspired by my friend Linda Eskin:http://markdesouza.blogspot.com/2009/11/for-my-friend-linda-eskin.html The post had to do with the states of unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and finally unconscious competence. Lately we’ve been working with some similar states of being at the Dojo. Sensei will work several classes on topics like this to…

Originally uploaded by markdeso Attendance is up at the Dojo! We have 3 new students, two of which are brand new on the mat, and the other a Nidan. It’s always good to get fresh blood in the Dojo. I love the people I train with but we start to get used to each other,…

Drivin home from the dojo. Originally uploaded by markdeso Today was a fun day at the Dojo. Charlie taught and we worked techniques from yokomen uchi. The techniques we worked were irimi nage, kote gaeshi, Kaiten nage, gokyo and shiho nage. Each attack lends to a different flavor of a technique. The yokomen uchi strike…

Gengo Sensei and meOriginally uploaded by markdeso Today I took my son to San Francisco to train with Stevan Gengo Sensei at Aikido of Noe Valley. Before my incredibly long period off the mat this was my home dojo. I love training with Steve as he is always offering an interesting perspective on Aikido. He…

Originally uploaded by markdeso I was reading more from the book “A Life in Aikido” this morning. Early on in the book, O’ Sensei’s son Kisshomaru Ueshiba writes about O’ Sensei having a bit of a selfish and childish streak in him. I scratched my head about reading this and wondered for a bit why…

Originally uploaded by markdeso We’ve been working on a few interesting themes lately at our Aikido school. Sensei has been working with the state of “la la land”, “neutral zone” and “embodiment”. I’m working on a more thorough post of these states that I will publish later but as a part of my process towards…

Week 1 day 3 Originally uploaded by markdeso I was thinking about this as I left the gym today. There is a difference between a process and program. I define them for me as: Process: a series of things that you can do internally and externally to accomplish tasks and goals, get to the next…