Member Resources for students of Aikido Multnomah Aikikai in Portland Oregon.
Dojo News blog articles now hosted on http://www.multnomahaikikai.com/dojo-news
Multnomah Aikikai provides winter intensive training in January of each year.
Winter training is a time to sense your center; a deep ember, burning and warming your body. Nurture that ember and sense the fire within you.
Through practice with each other the fire grows and radiates, warming the hands and feet, radiating out and sparking the fire in each other.
The theme for this January’s Winter Intensive is From the Ground Up. Look for opportunities to condition your core, hips, legs and feet. Sense the strength of your lower body and the power the ground offers. Fuel your technique, your ukemi and your spirit.
Share with each other what you’ve learned about conditioning and taking care of your feet, legs, hips, and core.
When the lower body is strong and well coordinated you can make good use of the ground forces to support movements of the upper body. Chest, spine and shoulders become supple and free.
We’ll practice our techniques from suwari waza, hanmi handachi and tachi waza this month.
In Japan, winter intensive is a time period when people resolve to practice everyday. This January, come to the dojo as much as you can and mark your attendance every day that you come in. At the end of the month we’ll recognize the mu-kyu, kyu and dan members who trained the most.
Schedule changes and special events for Winter Intensive
For January, we’ll practice in a different rhythm on Tuesdays and Thursdays in three class segments. This will allow us to add a fundamentals class, a nikkyu and above class and a iaido/ sword handling class to our training schedule.
Tue 5:45-6:30pm, fundamentals
Tue 6:45-7:30pm, all levels
Tue 7:45-8:45pm, sword handling for aikidoists/ Iaido class
Thu 5:45-6:30pm, fundamentals
Thu 6:45-7:30pm, all levels
Thu 7:45-8:30pm, 2nd kyu and above
The rest of the class schedule, Mon, Wed, Fri, Saturday remains unchanged.
Improve your balance, safely and enjoyably, by practicing the balance challenges in this indoor circuit training course. The exercises are varied and fun. Exercises are scalable so you can practice at the level of challenge appropriate for you. Regardless of your skill level, you can improve your balance and have fun doing it!
Initial orientation session, $20. Personal training and orientation to the course presented by Suzane Van Amburgh
DIY. Self-directed training for alumni of the orientation session for $10. Suzane Van Amburgh on site and available to offer help and clarification as needed.
Multnomah Aikikai members who attend the initial orientation session for $20, are eligible to return for self-directed training (DIY) at no charge.
"The balance class is relevant for all ages willing to try it. You don't realize how your balance changes as you get older, usually not for the better. However, improvements can be made almost immediately and there are balance exercises for people of all ages and abilities. And it's fun!"
~ Kristin Mitchell, Balance Challenge Alumna
Your Instructor and balance coach:
Suzane Van Amburgh developed the balance challenge circuit training course and continually improves the stations of the course. Suzane is a martial arts instructor (aikido and iaido), a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher and a balance trainer. She conducted balance testing and balance training protocols at a physician’s office. She is the founder of the balance lab. Suzane brings fun balance challenges, benchmarks to self-assess progress, and an array of resources to help you explore and improve your own sense of balance.
The exercises:
The training course includes a variety of challenges to improve coordination, proprioception, leg and core strength, how we use our eyes, eye/ hand coordination, somatosensory functioning, use of hip joints and spine.
Our balance is influenced and maintained by the eyes, inner ear, and brain working together. The brain receives signals from the somatosensory system and processes that information along with input from the structures of inner ear and the eyes. Proprioceptors in the ankles and ribs are key to one’s sense of balance and the ability to restore balance. Leg strength and joint functioning are essential factors in balance as well.
When you improve your balance you invest in an improved quality of life. What do you feel safe doing? Even a slight erosion of confidence in you balance over time, will subtly narrow the range of activities you choose to engage in. As confidence in your balance grows, you will broaden your options, move freely and enjoy a more active life.
Whether you are rehabilitating from an injury, training for top performance, or anywhere in between, you will find the right level of challenge for you. If are interested in graceful aging, neuroplasticity, fall prevention or improved decision-making, you will find the Balance Challenge Training Circuit Course fascinating and engaging.
Questions?
Contact Suzane Van Amburgh by email: spacetomoveinfo(at)gmail.com
Do you take ukemi the same way on a person's kyu test that you do in regular class?
When a person tests, he or she is performing specific forms as clearly as that candidate can. The test is a time to demonstrate one's understanding and embodiment of the principles of aikido. As uke, your job is to reflect clearly what the practitioner is demonstrating.
The format of the kyu test usually requires the candidate to perform certain classic techniques in their most basic and fundamental form. We have a clear, published curriculum; the Birankai North America kyu guidelines. A 5th kyu test includes a specific list of techniques to perform. As the student progresses more complexity and knowledge of variations is expected. However, in the lower kyu ranks we set a pretty clear expectation of exactly what techniques they can expect to have to perform.
As uke, on a person's test, your job is to move with them wherever they go. It's not about you; it's not about what you think is right or correct. This is not a time to lead them or "help" them. Launch a clear and accurate attack and then your body should provide a clear reflection of their movement (to the best of your ability).
Nage is an artist, wielding a brush. You are the ink stuck to the end of that brush. Wherever your foot falls on the mat, wherever your body makes contact with the mat, is the resulting art; the calligraphy or the lines and splotches reflecting that artist's intention and technique.
If the artist hesitates, will the witnesses see that hesitation in the wobble of your back foot? How clearly can you follow their movement while still taking care of yourself in the motion? The term ukemi comes from the verb ukeru; to receive or accept. Accept your partner's movement.
If your nage does something unexpected, will you be there - all parts ready and willing to go in the direction they take you? This is the best service you can provide to your fellow dojo member and to the teachers watching the test.
Try out the same approach in regular class. We practice in many ways and we provide different kinds of "nutrition" to our practice partners. However, ask yourself, as you accept their technique, are you the ink?
Beginning Aikido students are often introduced to rolling practice in their first week on the mat. The experience of getting down on the ground and coming up again is fundamental and yet also instinctive. New students have so much going on mentally, emotionally and physically as they begin a new movement practice.
Small rolls, sometimes called "Bucky Ball" rolls or "baby rolls" offer teachers a rich opportunity to orient the new student, practice learning skills, foster attention skills and give them something they can do successfully and improve upon quickly.
For more senior students, the practice serves as a mental and physical warm up, calming the nervous system and relaxing the body.
Bringing attention to what you do and how you do it, matching your breathing to your movement and varying your intention in movement are all excellent ways to prepare yourself for aikido practice.
In this quiet (no-talking) video, Suzane Van Amburgh Sensei demonstrates a rolling practice sequence useful for all levels, from beginner to senior student. It begins with orientation to the relative position of body parts, rocking left and right. It progresses through use of weight shifts, finding the natural levers and counterbalances of the body, smooth transitions from sitting to side lying and up to sitting again. By the end of the video, the roll has evolved to advanced sequences requiring clear intention, core conditioning, good body control and awareness of the space around you.
Let this post serve as a reference tool and "cliff notes" for aikidoists in your regular rolling practice.
If rolling is new to you, don't try this alone. Come to the dojo or schedule a private lesson with a certified aikido teacher.
1. Article by our own Sanders Anderson was published in Biran Nov 1, 2015. Post includes video of Apodaca Sensei teaching at our dojo October 24, 2015 and Sanders' seminar report.
Congratulations to Jon Paul Oliva on passing his Fukushidoin teacher certification test! Here's a video of Apodaca Sensei working with Jon Paul, Saturday, on a "basic and beautiful practice" - makiotoshi!
Hear why seminars are important. These interviews were conducted during a seminar held at Eugene Aikikai. See if you recognize any of our dojo members on the mat!
Is the video frame not working? Click this link to view the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EUhiptpDCQU
Seminars are at Multnomah Aikikai come but once a year (with a few exceptions). Apodaca sensei will teach a children class and a iaido class on Friday; adult body arts and weapons classes on Saturday and Sunday. Apodaca sensei is the chair of the Examining Committee for Birankai North America, he is is Chief Instructor of his own dojo in North Carolina and he served as the Chief Instructor of Multnomah Aikikai 1995-2000. October 2015 marks Apodaca sensei's 30 years practicing aikido!
Come celebrate, be in the dojo, help out, observe classes and/or train!
Catch up on the videos, photos and great articles from our Birankai 2015 Summer Camp in Tacoma Washington.
My First Aikido Camp is a wonderful article by Meghan McCoy,a student from Oak Park Aikikai.
Senseis Darrell Bluhm and Frank Apodaca 2015
Article excerpt:
For me, particularly since I’m still very new in Aikido, every class had something new to learn. Familiar techniques, such a katatedori suwariwaza ikkyo, had to be approached differently because I was practicing with someone I’d never met, and so I had to learn how to move in a way that worked with them. The weapons classes were immensely beneficial, especially Frank Apodaca Sensei’s weapons class. He emphasized cultivating “the eyes to see,” which I took as meaning not just watching and stealing the technique, but also seeing and feeling the energy with which someone moves. I once read that proper form is essential, but without technique and heart put into the form it’s all mechanical, and much of what I believe Aikido to be is lost.
From the August 19th post, scroll down and enjoy the posts!
There's a link to the Birankai Smugmug site with great camp photos...
Check out the wonderful videos tracing back to the first day of camp. Here's one from George Lyons Sensei's class; katatedori, ai hanmi iriminage chudan opening. Along with Lyons Sensei's movement, watch how his ukes move:
Here's a video of Neilu Naini Sensei of Clallam Aikikai in Washington, teaching an outdoor weapons class. Observe her clean execution of tsuki makiotoshi:
There's much more to see, watch and read on Biran Online.
This summer you can get started with a series of four aikido lessons at a refreshing price.
When you schedule all 4 private lessons and make one payment you'll save $40!
Regular price for four lessons: $260
Summer special price: $220
Private lessons taught by Suzane Van Amburgh, 5th degree black belt, Birankai certified shidoin instructor. Learn more about Suzane Sensei.
Limited time offer. Be one of the first 5 people to book. This special price is for for new private lesson students. Lessons to be scheduled within August.
Improve your balance, safely and enjoyably, by practicing the balance challenges in this indoor circuit training course. The exercises are varied and fun. Exercises are scalable so you can practice at the level of challenge appropriate for you. Regardless of your skill level, you can improve your balance and have fun doing it!
Saturday August 1, 2015, Noon- 1pm:
Initial orientation session, $20. Personal training and orientation to the course presented by Suzane Van Amburgh
Saturdays, August 8, 15, 22, 29, 2015, noon to 1pm:
DIY. Self-directed training for alumni of the orientation session. Suzane Van Amburgh on site and available to offer help and clarification as needed.
Cost?
Once you’ve completed the initial orientation session on August 1, you are eligible to return on subsequent Saturdays for self-directed training (DIY) at a reduced rate of $10.
Multnomah Aikikai members who attend the initial orientation session for $20, are eligible to return on future dates for self-directed training (DIY) at no charge.
Suzane Van Amburgh developed the balance challenge circuit training course and continually improves the stations of the course. Suzane is a martial arts instructor (aikido and iaido), a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher and a balance trainer. She conducted balance testing and balance training protocols at a physician’s office. She is the founder of the balance lab. Suzane brings fun balance challenges, benchmarks to self-assess progress, and an array of resources to help you explore and improve your own sense of balance.
The exercises:
The training course includes a variety of challenges to improve coordination, proprioception, leg and core strength, how we use our eyes, eye/ hand coordination, somatosensory functioning, use of hip joints and spine.
Our balance is influenced and maintained by the eyes, inner ear, and brain working together. The brain receives signals from the somatosensory system and processes that information along with input from the structures of inner ear and the eyes. Proprioceptors in the ankles and ribs are key to one’s sense of balance and the ability to restore balance. Leg strength and joint functioning are essential factors in balance as well.
When you improve your balance you invest in an improved quality of life. What do you feel safe doing? Even a slight erosion of confidence in you balance over time, will subtly narrow the range of activities you choose to engage in. As confidence in your balance grows, you will broaden your options, move freely and enjoy a more active life.
Whether you are rehabilitating from an injury, training for top performance, or anywhere in between, you will find the right level of challenge for you. If are interested in graceful aging, neuroplasticity, fall prevention or improved decision-making, you will find the Balance Challenge Training Circuit Course fascinating and engaging.
Questions?
Contact Suzane Van Amburgh by email: spacetomoveinfo(at)gmail.com
Reflections on the 2015 Birankai North America Aikido Summer Camp
by Jon-Paul Oliva, Sandan
Author’s note: As a bit of background, beyond the technical instruction at camp, the commemoration of Chiba Sensei’s life and particularly the devotion and commitment shown by his Kenshusei and lifelong students was very moving to me. In this devotion I recognized the special nature of the teacher-student relationship, and the opportunity that relationship provides us with; to study ourselves through our training. It strikes me that this is one of the great gifts of Aikido and that we all owe a great debt to Chiba Sensei as someone who gave a great deal of his life to make the study of ourselves through Aikido possible.
I have found that the Way of the samurai is death.
This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death.
There is nothing more to it than that.
- Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure
This was a special summer camp for us all. Many longtime students, friends and kenshusei of Chiba Sensei came to honor and celebrate the life of our teacher. Through their instruction and words of commemoration this weekend, these people literally embodied Sensei’s dedication to Aikido and commitment to his students.
Even among those of us who only experienced Chiba Sensei indirectly through our teachers, or occasionally at seminars, there was an extra spark to training and commitment in running camp, created by the motive energy of Sensei’s lifelong commitment to Aikido and his students.
George Lyons Sensei taught a Dan weapons class at summer camp this year. During the class, we practiced kiriotoshi with bokken. I noticed that neither he nor his uke used a tsuba on their weapons. He remarked that at the culmination of the kiriotoshi exercise, the domination movement, that nage must hold the line and penetrate deeply with full intention into the attack of his opponent in order to successfully dominate their attack. Moving into a killing strike against all odds, nage must abandon all hope of survival in order to succeed in this encounter. His exact words were “It’s crazy”, to advance into the oncoming strike, rather than retreat from it. This is the way of Budo.
Although I only had the opportunity to train with Chiba Sensei occasionally over the years at seminars and summer camps, it was abundantly clear to me from the first time I met him that Sensei embodied the spirit of Budo and carried it forward for all of us like a lamp to show us the way. He could radiate ferocity that was palpable to anyone he approached, and he brought forth the same commitment and spirit from anyone who was lucky enough to be his student.
Through his conduct, Sensei showed us how to embrace our fear and move through it. Above that, he dedicated his life to transmitting this spirit to his students. His legacy to all of us is a system of study and a cadre of teachers that, through our own diligent practice and sincere commitment, will make his passing a less difficult endeavor for all of us who must now follow in his footsteps.
What a gift this is to all of us! Speaking personally, I struggle with fear on a daily basis. I sometimes find myself unable to move forward decisively when a situation demands it. I am often reluctant to be vulnerable with others. When I do find the strength to act without attachment to fear, I know that it is because of the great gift of Aikido that I can find the calm center within me and embrace a situation as it presents itself.
This is the great gift and responsibility Sensei has charged us with; to honor his life work by devoting ourselves to the system of study that he has laid out for us. Now, as always, it is up to us to accept this gift and continue our practice in earnest. It is my sincere hope that each of us, in the spirit of self-sacrifice, find the courage within ourselves to renew our commitment to forging the spirit of Budo within our hearts and carry it forward like a light into the world.
Loyalty and devotion lead to bravery.
Bravery leads to the spirit of self-sacrifice.
The spirit of self-sacrifice creates trust in the power of love.
This summer you can get started with a series of four aikido lessons at a refreshing price. When you schedule all 4 private lessons and make one payment you'll save $40!
Regular price for four lessons: $260 Summer special price: $220
Private lessons taught by Suzane Van Amburgh, 5th degree black belt, Birankai certified shidoin instructor. Learn more about Suzane Sensei. Limited time offer. Be one of the first 5 people to book. This special price is for for new private lesson students. Lessons to be scheduled within August. Location: Aikido Multnomah Aikikai, 6415 SW Macadam Ave, Portland OR 97239 Schedule: Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat time slots, subject to availability. Contact Suzane: spacetomoveinfo(at)gmail.com or use the inquiry form on this Dojo News web page. Get started in Aikido practice this summer with private lessons!
This article and photo slide show is published on Biran Online, the Aikido Journal Of Birankai North America. Thanks to Liese Klein editor of the Journal.
Kazuo Chiba, a pioneering teacher who helped spread the Japanese martial art of Aikido across the world, died June 5, 2015 in San Diego, California. Chiba Sensei, 75, suffered from kidney cancer. He died peacefully at home surrounded by family and students.
T.K. Chiba and M. Kanai in 1954.
Born on Feb. 5, 1940, in Tokyo, Japan, Chiba Sensei showed an early interest in martial arts and began serious training in judo and karate in his teens. But he became dissatisfied with both arts and starting seeking a more comprehensive fighting system.
“A budo practitioner, I thought, should be able to respond under any circumstances, whether using sword against sword, whatever,” Chiba Sensei said in a 1995 Aikido Journal interview.
An encounter in a bookstore changed his life: “I picked up a book about Aikido. Inside there was a small photo of [Aikido founder] O-Sensei,” Chiba Sensei said. “When I saw it, I knew immediately that I had found my teacher. I knew nothing about the actual techniques of Aikido, but that didn’t seem important and I just thought to myself: ‘This is it! This looks like a man who understands my concerns.’”
Chiba Sensei went to Aikido headquarters in Tokyo and pestered O-Sensei and seniorstudents until he was accepted as a live-in trainee, at the age of 18. Over the next seven years he practiced Aikido for hours every day and traveled with the founder across Japan to demonstrate and promote the art.
In 1960, then a third-degree black belt, Chiba Sensei was dispatched to the city of Nagoya to establish one of the first branch dojos [schools] under the auspices of Aikido headquarters. In 1962, he also began teaching at the Hombu dojo, and within three years had completed his training and earned promotion to fifth-degree black belt.
In March of 1966, Chiba Sensei became one of the first teachers sent abroad from Japan to spread the fledgling art of Aikido. Wed to his wife, Mitsuko, only months before his departure, he was sent alone to England to establish the art in a period many Britons were
Chiba Sensei in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales.
still actively hostile to the Japanese. “I did not appreciate the food served by my host family – the usual fare being meat and vegetables boiled to mash, except on Fridays when we were served fried fish with salt and vinegar. I could not stop dreaming of soy sauce,” Chiba Sensei wrote in a memoir published in the Birankai Aikido journal.
Culture shock and the political complexities of Britain’s martial arts world made his first years abroad very difficult. After that bumpy start, he established a successful dojo in London and also traveled extensively to teach in Europe, helping to promote Aikido in Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Holland, Morocco, Spain and Switzerland. In 1970 he was promoted to sixth-degree black belt and awarded the title of shihan, or master instructor.
In 1975, Chiba Sensei returned to Japan to serve as secretary of the international department at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. At that time he also began studying Iaido – the art of drawing and cutting with the Japanese sword – with Takeshi Mitsuzuka, a disciple of legendary swordsman Hakudo Nakayama. He also intensified his study of Zen Buddhism and Misogi-no-kokyu-ho, a Shinto practice of purification through breathing.
Chiba Sensei and Mrs. Chiba in San Diego, 1981.
At the invitation of the United States Aikido Federation, Chiba Sensei and his family moved to San Diego in 1981 and established the San Diego Aikikai dojo. Thousands of Aikido practitioners from around the world came to study with Chiba Sensei in California and take part in live-in trainee and other teacher-preparation programs. He also established the Birankai Aikido organization, with dozens of affiliated dojos in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe.
In 2008, after 50 years in Aikido, Chiba Sensei retired from active teaching.
Chiba Sensei and his wife, Mitsuko Chiba.
Chiba Sensei is survived by his wife, Mitsuko; his children Kano and Kotetsu; his
grandchildren James Yamato, Titus Taisuke, Ryusuke, Shou, Kai and Zen, and his brother, Nobuyoshi Chiba of Japan. He will be greatly missed by his family and thousands of students and admirers across the world.
