Category: aikido

I am preparing for my 1st Kyu test in Aikido. This is the last test before black belt.

In December it will have been eight years since I started. That seems like a long time, but it’s a hard art to learn, and we don’t give the belts away or “sell” them. When I hear about someone earning a black belt in an art in a few years, I now laugh.

Anyway, this is a pretty long test. I lost 3 weeks of prep due to a case of poison ivy, but now I’m in the groove and feel pretty good about it. I have 2.5 weeks to finish preparing myself. There’s nothing on this test I’ve not done before, but more is expected of me. More flow. More centered. More finesse.

The longer I practice, the more I realize what they say is true. Black belt is a beginner’s belt. When you get black belt, it means you have enough knowledge to really start learning.

Our lead instructor has now been practicing for 30 years. He is a 4th degree black belt. Our other teachers, 2nd and 1st black belts, have been practicing for 16 years each. We are lucky to have them. Each presents aikido in his own particular way – each fantastic, sharing a common core, but emphasizing different aspects.

It’s a long road, but I like it.

Sometimes I feel that if I’d started this when I was younger it would be easier. That is possible. But I also think that by starting at 42 it has forced me to learn a more efficient aikido, not so reliant on muscle and brawn.

I need some Aikido.

Went to Aikido practice Saturday morning, then taught kids class.

Then went home and spent the afternoon – until 7pm – helping a friend bust up about 60 feet of concrete sidewalk and haul the chunks back to the rubble pile he’s going to get hauled away.

I felt pretty good afterward. Not hurt, just tired and a little sore.

Two days later my legs really need some Aikido. My legs need it. Need to get them going, get the muscles stretched out, and get the nice back massage that falling down and rolling for 1.5 hours provides.

A good friend of mine is moving.

This is a guy I’ve done Aikido with for the past five years.

When you do something like Aikido you develop great trust in your training partners. Over the course of years, as you grow in the art, as you lend them your body again and again to help them learn, and they do the same for you, and you each learn to receive the techniques with more power without getting injured, a unique relationship develops.

You may not see these people outside the dojo. But for the hours you spend in practice, you share something special.

Something about Aikido attracts a very diverse group of people. I live in a fairly diverse community, but our dojo is even more so. Lot of different national origins, religions, professions, and ages are represented.

My friend who is leaving is a Muslim. I am going to miss him. Through Aikido I’ve gotten to know him and I’ve taught his young son in our children’s class. I think many Americans don’t get to know many Muslims very well.  My friend is such a deeply good man, and is raising a good family. I am happy for this new opportunity for my him. I’m so thankful for the happy accident of blundering into an Aikido dojo where I could meet such extraordinary people.

In a recent email, my friend closed by saying “May God bless you and your family”.

I have never been so moved by such words. People throw around talk of “blessings” and “being blessed” all the time — so often it becomes part of the background noise of American life.  But coming from my friend, it had such impact. It was appreciated. When a Muslim wishes blessings upon you, you know you have been blessed.

Thank you, my friend.

I don’t write much about Aikido these days, though I’ve been practicing steadily for 6 years now. I guess I just don’t have a lot to write about, or rather, perhaps I don’t know how to properly convey what I’ve learned.

Anyway, Aikido is a long road. In the US Aikido Federation we don’t just hand out belts (or sell them). In mid-November I’ll be taking my test for 2nd Kyu. I feel pretty good about it. At this rate, assuming I have learned what I’m supposed to, I will be ready to take my Shodan test (1st degree black belt) when I am 52. And of course, then I’ll be starting over. They say that Shodan is a beginner’s belt. At that point, the aikidoist has enough of the basics to really start learning.

OK, I passed my 4th kyu test today.