Shukan News 11th June

Looking for martial arts Brisbane? Learn aikido at Griffith Aikido

If you have any contribution for the Shukan News (story, photograph, video), please send it via email to gary@garyweigh.com

1. First class at Mansfield – A Student’s Perspective

It was great to have the adult classes finally kick off at Mansfield/Mt Gravatt dojo.   Classes were a little small – 2 newbies but made for great sensei to student ratio!  A huge thank you to Mike Nash for assisting our kids classes guru Steve, who headed up the class.  It was interesting from a newbie point of view as both guys have their slightly different approach to things which meant getting taught the same techniques, with slightly different twists on it.

That’s the reality I guess, every person will always teach something a little differently.  It showed me that getting too caught up in the technique itself, which I tend to focus on, isn’t as important as getting the underlying ‘feel’ of the movement itself.  My beginner’s course was a quest for getting each technique perfect, instead of being able to feel each movement and in turn get it right by default.  Now in attending regular classes, its no longer about perfection for me.

With a fair bit of encouragement from Steve, I took my focus off getting the technique perfect from the start and instead felt for elements like balance and moving of my ‘centre’.  I got a lot from the class and can’t wait until next Wednesday – thanks again Steve and Mike!

There is plenty of mat space available, so anyone looking for an additional night of training would certainly benefit from coming along on Wednesday nights, 6.30-8.30pm.  Full fee paying members don’t pay any extra for having the extra training, so it’s great motivation to brave the cold and come along.

Looking forward to seeing current and many more new members alike in the future classes.

Nat (Adult beginner class newbie & Aikikids Admin)

Link to get there: https://www.griffithaikido.com.au/BAC-dojo-launch-flyer-printable.pdf

2. Effective self defence is dealing with all types of conflict

The dictionary meaning of ‘conflict’ is to come into collision or disagreement with another person; or to be contradictory, at variance with, or in opposition to another.  It also means a discord of feelings and actions.  In other words, it includes self conflict.

Accordingly, conflict can involve another person, a group of people or no one else at all.   It can range from ‘feeling out of sorts’ to a simple disagreement to the extremes of bullying and full-on criminal violence.

Conflict can happen at home, school, work or at leisure and it can happen at random on the street. There is potential for conflict everywhere we go and with every person we interact with.  Unfortunately, the people we love are no exception.

Conflict of any type can be a deeply personal experience.  It can induce extreme stress with adverse psychological effects which can haunt us forever.

When it comes to conflict with another person, it is not always physical.  It can occur in the form of isolation, confrontation, disrespect, rudeness, threat, harassment and verbal abuse.

It can occur at work, in schools and in prison environments, where unrelated people are thrown together, forced to interact and where respite and escape are not easy.

When conflict meets us in the form of another person, the fact we are in conflict is obvious.  It is what we come to expect when we think about conflict.  We perceive an aggressor and we can choose or response towards that person.

However, perceiving inner conflict is not so easy.  There is no external aggressor, so its form is much less obvious and thus much harder to identify and deal with.  It so happens that inner conflict is the most common form of conflict in our everyday lives.

It is the type of conflict that is the most familiar and least addressed.  It can distract us by day and disturb us at night.  Unlike physical violence which may happen once in a lifetime, inner conflict can be a non-stop event; so much so that it can feel normal.

When we practice Aikido, we are ostensibly training to deal with an external aggressor.  The techniques are designed to take the centre and upset the balance of another person.

It is not obvious to new students that the self discipline, self control and calm mind developed over time by repeated Aikido practice, eventually become effective self defence against inner conflict.

3. Christian Tissier Shihan demonstrating Aikido Aikikai

Biography:  Christian Tissier was born 1951 in Paris, France and is one of the best known European Aikido teachers, who pioneered the art in France.  He started training in Aikido as a child in 1962, and trained under Mutsuro nakazono in Paris until he left for Tokyo in 1969. He came to Aikikai Hombu Dojo as an 18 year old, and trained there for seven years. Among the teachers that have inspired him are Seigo Yamaguchi, Kisaburo Osawa and the second doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba. While training at hombu dojo, he taught French language at a school and Institut franco-japonais de Tokyo.

He received 7^th Dan in 1998, and is among the handful of westerners who have been given the title Shihan by the Aikikai.

Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Tissier

4. Thought for the week

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou