Walk like a Samurai! Intro to Sword Handling

artist: Daniel Fruelund

Walk like a Samurai!

Introduction to Sword Handling

Wednesdays, 7:30pm
February 4-25, 2015
(Four sessions)

Multnomah Aikikai members participate free.
Series open to the public: $60



Make your body like a blade!

Use your te-gatana.

Enter and cut!

In your Aikido practice, embody the principle of the sword.


The sword is ever present in Aikido practice. Yet, how many of us have familiarity with using a sword?  Basic sword handling will enliven your Aikido practice. This series is open to all members for no additional charge. Know someone interested in sword?  The public is welcome for a fee. The series of four classes build on each other. For this reason, commitment to the series is advised.

Participants may use wooden bokken for this introduction.  If you do not have your own equipment, the dojo has a limited number of bokken available for use during class.  Please preregister by January 31.

This class runs concurrent with our regular Iaido class, led by Van Amburgh Sensei. Basic sword handling skills will be introduced based on the Japanese art of Iaido. Partner exercises may include Aikido weapons forms.

Multnomah Aikikai, 6415 SW Macadam Ave, Portland OR 97239

Learn the basics of Bokken (wooden sword) Tuesdays in December

Bokken Basics: Tuesdays in December

 In this Center Yourself Tuesday series for December, we will study the fundamentals of sword work using the wooden bokken while practicing an eight part kata. No falling is required in this class. Footwork patterns include pivoting, sliding and stepping forward and backward. If you do not have your own bokken you may borrow one from the school during class time.  Come practice! Center yourself with the wooden sword, balance and breath.

During this class we will:
•    Raise the sword in line with the spine
•    Execute sword motions relative to the center line of the body
•    Move our upper body so it’s supported by the motion of the lower body
•    Develop footwork that supports movements of the sword

By practicing these skills we will :

• make good use of the ground so that gravity becomes a friendly force

• enable our bones to transmit power cleanly so that our muscles can relax 

• engage the left hand so that it knows what the right hand is doing 

• educate the left and right half’s of our bodies to coordinate around a central axis 

• allow our ribs to expand and contract in sync with the rise and fall of the sword and breath 

• allow our eyes to settle and align with our intention 

•  improve our balance so that dynamic stability is realized

“Being centered” and “moving from center” will shift from abstract concepts to tangible experiences.

Your instructor: Suzane Van Amburgh
This class is open to the public for a $10 drop in fee. Free to Regular and Community Members of Multnomah Aikikai.
Tuesdays in December: 5:30-6:00pm

Find your Space to Move® at Multnomah Aikikai: 6415 SW Macadam Ave, Portland OR 97239

Second Saturdays at the dojo: Nov 8, Dec13

Second Saturdays Oct. 11, Nov. 8, Dec. 13;  noon- 1pm

Contact us to be informed of class schedule changes and additions

 The Lines of Engagement

Center, Engage, Connect

Come and play Saturday at the dojo in a safe, light-hearted atmosphere of lively, sensory learning. Based on the movements of Aikido, explore the lines of engagement:

• Investigate the moment when you encounter your partner.
• Sense your center.
• Experiment with where and when you make initial contact.
• Discover how you change the angle of encounter.
• Sense your balance.
• Follow the trajectory of your partner’s motion.
• Notice when you naturally take a step to restore balance.

No experience required. You do not have to fall down if you don’t want to.

This class is taught by Suzane Van Amburgh, GCFP and shidoin aikido instructor

Free to Multnomah Aikikai Members (Regular and Community members).  Open to the public for drop in fee of $10.

Send us a quick email to let us know if you’d like to attend. Use the inquiry form on this website or send a msg to: spacetomoveinfo (at) gmail.com

Location:  Aikido Multnomah Aikikai, 6415 SW Macadam Ave, Portland OR 97239 

503-246-8120 | dojo@multnomahaikikai.com 

Why seminars matter!

This post is from Biran Online, posting dated October 7, 2014.
L. Klein is the editor of Biran, The Aikido Journal of Birankai North America

Don't miss the seminars coming up in our own Northwest Region! Check out the seminar info page for details on upcoming seminars.  -Suzane Van Amburgh




Check out the great video above put together by the Birankai Scholarship Committee. Real Birankai students talk about the benefits of seminars as a part of training and development in the art. It’s eight minutes long but full of action footage!

All of us in Birankai Aikido are working to fund seminars to raise our level of Aikido, Iaido and Zazen training through the T.K. & Mitsuko Chiba Endowment Fund. Our national goal is to raise $400,000 in four years and we are already funding seminars through the endowment.

Donate today through the endowment page on the Birankai.org website or visit the T.K. & Mitsuko Chiba Endowment Fund Facebook page.

Thanks for your generosity and let’s keep Birankai Aikido strong!

L. Klein

Drop in FREE for Orientation to Practice through October

Orientation to Practice - FREE in October

Practice is a mind set and an activity where you repeat an operation or movement, assessing and attending to how you do it. You introduce new variables, try something, make mistakes, form questions, change strategy and try again.

This can happen at a very mental/analytical level or it can happen with a more diffuse mindset. We can explore, play, fall, get up, try again. Sometimes we engage in practice with knitted brow and self judgement, but learning often slows down under such circumstances. Practice can be approached with an open curious mindset, a sense of humor and compassion for self.

A dojo is a place where we “practice the way.” At Multnomah Aikikai our primary practice is the martial art of Aikido. In this class, utilizing basic movements of Aikido, you will orient to the joy of practice. Whether you continue with Aikido practice or take up another practice, you will have cultivated the inner tools to direct your own learning with compassion, a sense of humor and the joy of movement.

Tuesdays 5:30 – 6:00pm, Saturdays 10-10:30am. 

FREE through Oct. 28, 2014. 

After the half hour class, we invite you to stay and observe the Aikido Fundamentals class following.

Aikido Multnomah Aikikai, 6415 SW MACADAM AVE, PORTLAND, OREGON 97239

Venture a taste! Bringing on a first course of Aikido practice this month!

Aikido First Course starts Saturday October 11

Serving up your First Course 

in the art and practice of Aikido. 

12 sessions, Sat. mornings and Tue. evenings  

Oct 11- Nov. 22.  Fee $90
  
This series is a progressive beginners' course. Plan to begin on Saturday Oct 11. Arrive 9:45 for registration. Class starts at 10 am with Orientation to Practice and segues to aikido fundamentals class 10:30-11:30am.

Class times:
Tuesday 5:30-6pm: Orientation to Practice
Tuesday 6:15pm-7:15pm: Aikido Fundamentals
Saturday 10-10:3am: Orientation to Practice
Saturday 10:30-11:30am: Aikido Fundamentals
 
 Note: Sat. Oct. 25 join us for an optional field trip to Eugene for a seminar with Phil Vargas Sensei. Click for details. There is no fee to observe seminar classes.

Tue/Sat schedule doesn't work for you?
Become a Regular Member and practice Mon, Wed or Fri at 6:15pm. As a member you can flex your schedule and come to any unrestricted class on the weekly schedule. Click to view schedule.

Drop in for Orientation to Practice It's FREE in October

Join us for The Lines of Engagement Noon, Oct 11, $10.

Fall Aikido Schedule begins September 17

This Fall our adult aikido class schedule shifts focus. You'll see the same basic time slots through the week but the focus of those classes shifts.

Our beginners series, Aikido First Course, begins October 11 and runs Tuesdays and Saturdays through November 22.

Get a taste at the Aikido Appetizer on Saturday October 4th at 10am.

Visitors are welcome to step onto the mat and join us for the half-hour Orientation to Practice, Tuesdays at 5:30pm or Saturdays at 10am (through October 28). After, we invite you to stay and observe the fundamentals class.

The public is also welcome to join us for the Lines of Engagement on second Saturdays at noon, Oct 11, Nov. 8 and Dec. 13. The fee is $10.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday 6:15pm classes are core classes for members of all levels and focus on our monthly teaching theme.  Become a regular member and train in any of these classes.

Two classes on the schedule are restricted to members ranked 5th kyu and above: Tuesdays 7:30pm and Thursdays 6:15pm.

Advanced class is held once a month on the first Tuesday in the 7:30pm time slot.