…I will keep on practicing, not for the prowess in self-defense, not for rank or prestige, not even for the wonderful and life-changing lessons that flow from this art. I will practice Aikido for the sheer, unmitigated beauty of it. – George Leonard, Way of Aikido OK, I’m sick. My son brought home a cold…
Tag: Aikido
Road to 1st Kyu – Week 5 Day 3 – all caught up
Originally uploaded by markdeso “The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit.” – Morehei Ueshiba I seem to be playing catch up this week. Last nights post was for Thursday. Today’s post is for our Saturday class. We worked katate dori shiho nage, both the omote…
Road to 1st Kyu – Week 5 Day 2
Originally uploaded by markdeso One of the things I love about Sensei is that he is an excellent story teller. He has had the opportunity to meet a lot of people in the martial arts community. His first T’ai Chi teacher was Robert W. Smith, who was a direct student of Cheng Man Ch’ing, and…
Road to 1st Kyu – Week 5 Day 1 – Harmony,Life Lessons and Mr Fogerson
Originally uploaded by markdeso Harmony is an interesting thing. Musically, there are notes that are hit that, because of the frequency of vibration, appeal to our ears. We hear a major third, a minor sixth, a perfect fifth, and those two notes, played at the same time sound right to us. So as we practice…
Road to 1st Kyu – Week 4 day 3 – Train Joyously
Originally uploaded by markdeso Train Joyously – Morihei Ueshiba Today’s class was a good class. We worked on nikkyo ura and sSankyo Omote and Ura and koshi nage. We’ve done these techniques many times but it’s always a good thing from time to time to pick these techniques apart from time to time. Sensei does…
Road to 1st Kyu – Week 4 Day 2 – The Tea Master and the Samurai
Originally uploaded by markdeso One of my favorite short stories is the one of the Tea Master and the Samurai: A master of the tea ceremony in old Japan once accidentally slighted a soldier. He quickly apologized, but the rather impetuous soldier demanded that the matter be settled in a sword duel. The tea master,…
Road to 1st Kyu – Week 4 Day 1 – Grab My Wrist why don’t ya?
Originally uploaded by markdeso My mom asked where my monday blog was. It’s um, Tuesday, so hence, we will not be having a Monday blog. let me submit my Tuesday blog post in it’s stead 😀 Today was a rousing class. There were only three of us and our teacher Charlie this evening. This evening…
Mark's Meanderings 