The Spirit of Shoshin

Christian Tissier Shihan - Seminar Details

2008-05-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

More details on the Tissier seminar this year are up on the Shoshin Aikido Montreal - events page. Karl Sensei spent a week training at the "Easter Camp" in France w/Tissier sensei last month, and it's been nothing but fun at the dojo since he got back. Hopefully this year I'll get to take some more ukemi from Tissier sensei, and be less hesitant when he calls me up. That guy can throw like nobody's business. Wow. Anyway, this is an awesome opportunity for aikidoka all over the place, and there's a decent discount if you register early... so, hopefully I'll see you in Montreal this August.

Seminar Details:
30, 31 August 1st Sept
10:00 - 12:30 / 15:00 - 17:00 (Sat + Sun)
10:00 - 13:00 (Mon)
Registration Form

Seichiro Endo Shihan - Toronto Seminar - Recap

2008-04-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

I spent the last weekend at the Endo Shihan semianar in Toronto, Canada. The seminar was hosted by Naka Ima Aikikai. A group of us from Shoshin Aikdo Montreal drove out to Toronto and stayed at the dojo. Much thanks to Greg Angus Sensei, and the whole Naka Ima crew for showing us a great time, and organizing an excellent seminar.

The kernel of the weekend seemed to be the importance of good ukemi, as well as not competing with your partner while training. Endo Shihan also wanted us to listen to our bodies more, to pay attention to our own balance both while taking ukemi and while applying technique.

Over the course of our training, Endo Shihan gave us many pointers, both verbal and physical, as to what our roles as ukes, nages, and aikidoists should be. Some of the things he said, as I recall them:

Graded people have a responsibility to take good ukemi.
Beginners can't learn good ukemi unless the higher ranked people have good ukemi.
The best nages are also the best ukes, working on your ukemi, helps your nage waza.
There are more options in being soft and sensitive than in being hard and strong.

On the second day of training, Endo Shihan did something I hadn't seen any other instructor do at a seminar, he berated us for not wearing slippers (flip flops, shoes, etc) off the mat, and then told us by not doing that, we were effectively training on the bathroom floor. One other suggestion he made, concerning behaviour, was to be more mindful of our bowing, both during shomen rei, and while bowing to our partners. He commented that we tend to bow too quickly, not being aware enough of what is going on in our bodies, and with our breathing. Bow slowly, he suggested, and be in your body.

On a technical note, we did primarily exercises from grabs (mostly katate dori) with one notable exception, we spent some time working with yokomen uchi. During all of these interactions, Endo Shihan stressed natural movement, and the importance of being relaxed. He trained with almost all (if not all) of the seminar participants over the course of the weekend and so we were all able to grab on and take ukemi for him. I never saw him use any more force than you would excert to lift a glass to your mouth, regardless of the size or relative strength of his uke. He constantly stressed connecting with your partners "ki" as a critical element of aikido.

Overall the seminar was an incredibly positive experience for me, and I hope to attend again next year. Endo Shihan embodies what I feel is the "aiki spirit", and it was a pleasure to grab onto him, and learn what I could from a weekend seminar. Endo Shihan left us with a question: "What makes a good uke?" He asked us not to answer right away, but to spend a year, two years, three years even, thinking about it.

Seichiro Endo Sensei - April

2008-03-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

Endo Sensei will be in Toronto this April, more information here: http://www.nakaima.ca/news.html I've never trained with Endo Sensei, but from everything I've heard and seen, it is a seminar that should not be missed. I'm going to try my hardest to make it this year. Toronto is only a few hours away.

Here's a clip from youtube:

Shodan

2008-02-23T12:24:00.000-08:00

I'll be testing for Shodan on March 7th, 2008 at Aikido West in Redwood city. My teacher, Karl Grignon Sensei, was gracious enough to offer to have me test in front of his teacher Frank Doran Shihan, one of the pioneers of Aikido in North America. I am greatly honored by Karl Sensei's offer, and am looking forward to the test with a mix of nerves and excitement. I suppose I should be used to that by now, and I feel it's a good thing. A little nervousness has always played an important role in my preparations for a test. In any case, if you happen to be in Redwood City that weekend, it would be great to have you on the mat, training and having fun.

Also, lest we forget, shodan, or "first level", is the beginning.

Tres Hofmeister Sensei

2008-02-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

Tres Hofmeister Sensei will be back at Shoshin Aikido of Montreal March 14th, to 16th. Last year's seminar was a ton of fun, and this year promises more of the same.

Here's the flyer w/more information:

Tissier Shihan 2008

2008-02-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks like Christian Tissier Shihan will be back in Montreal this year! Here is a clip from last years excellent event:

Watch the Shoshin Website for details.

Donny Taking Ukemi for Dan Sensei

2007-12-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

Dan Messisco Sensei and Karl Grignon Sensei

2007-12-04T11:49:00.000-08:00

Dan Messisco Sensei

2007-11-28T08:09:00.000-08:00

Dan Messisco Sensei is coming to Montreal. My dojo is hosting him for a 3 day seminar this coming weekend. I'm super excited to train and talk with Dan sensei. I've trained with him twice now, once in San Diego at a seminar, and once in Modesto where he teaches classes at Ken Nisson Sensei's dojo. If I am allowed to claim influences at this early stage of my training, then Dan sensei is at the top of that list.

The way he looks at ukemi, aikido, and life jive very nicely with what I am looking for in my training. I once heard him talk about ukemi being a full time job. It should take up 100% of your resources, so if you find yourself correcting your partner, or only seeing what they are doing wrong, you aren't doing your job. You should be focused on yourself, your posture, your attitude, your breathing. In an art where there is a disproportionate amount of focus on nage's side of the equation, hearing things like this is refreshing.

I'll be sure to post a review and some pictures from the weekend next week.

Taking Ukemi for Karl Sensei

2007-11-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

The Force is Strong with this one

2007-11-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

Christian Tissier Shihan

2007-10-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from the Tissier Seminar hosted by Shoshin Aikido of Montreal.

Pictures on the Shoshin Website

Pictures on the Zanshin Aikido Website

The seminar took place Sept. 1, 2, 3 of 2007 and was quite a treat. We rented out a gym, and me and several other Shoshin students (as well as a few guests) spent a few hours on friday getting the venue all ready to go.

It was great fun to get thrown by Tissier Shihan, and I think everyone who attended had a pretty good time.

Friendship Training

2007-10-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

Once or twice a year Karl Sensei from Shoshin Aikido Montreal, and Antonio Sensei from the Aikido program at Concordia University get together for a "Friendship Seminar". We've had students from Shoshin, Concordia, and McGill on the mat at these one day seminars. In any case, I came across 2 videos taken from the first one of these I attended, and figured I would post them here:

Antonio Sensei:

Karl Sensei:

My Favorite Technique

2007-10-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Uchi-Deshi's post asking and answering the question: "What's your favorite technique?"

I find myself agreeing with Keo, in that techniques are just tools to teach us principles, though I think it's still acceptable to enjoy doing them, and to have a favorite. I also agree with Richard when he says he enjoys ukemi the best, because for me, connecting with my partner and exploring what they have to show me is just too much fun not to love.

If pressed, I would say that any technique that causes uke to look up afterwards with a big grin on her face, trying to wrap her head around what exactly just happened and why she is on the ground when just a second ago, she was standing up.

If pressed more, I might say that I really love the way it feels when someone who has excellent timing executes a sumi-otoshi when you aren't expecting it, or that technique where nage comes up from under your chin, like a ghost, and knocks you on your ass.

If pressed under torture, well, then I might concede that I really like (at the moment) shihonage. I've been playing with it a lot recently, and the more I play, the more interesting the technique becomes.

What I am trying to get at, is I don't really think I have a favorite technique. I just love Aikido, and whatever comes out when I'm doing it... well, that's my favorite technique.

Dojo Website News

2007-10-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to fixing the gallery for the Shoshin Website, both the french and the english versions:

English: http://aikidomontreal.com/gallery
French: http://aikidomontreal.com/galerie

Also uploaded a promo video that sensei made: http://aikidomontreal.com/video

The gallery is a bit of a hack, but it gets the job done, and makes the task of uploading new pictures constant time. A huge improvement. Eventually, I'll probably move to something a little less kludgy, but for now, it will do.

Here's the video if you don't feel like clicking through to the website:

Quick Recap

2007-10-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

What's been going on in my Aikido life in the past year?

I moved to Montreal, QC to help my friend Karl Grignon with his new Aikido Dojo. I took my 1st Kyu test back in January of 2007 at Sunset Cliffs, and I've been training as much as possible since getting to Montreal. It's been a pretty good year as far as Aikido goes. We have hosted Tres Hofmeister Sensei, Frank Doran Shihan, and Christian Tissier Shihan. Not bad for a dojo that is less than a year old.

It has been an interesting experience getting a dojo off the ground, and definitely an exercise in patience.

I'm hoping to get some thoughts down here over the coming months. We will see how it goes.