My ski companion decided to take a break and have a beer. I left her sitting outside in the snow on a lawn chair in the broad area at the base of the mountain called “The Beach”. I skied over to the lift alone, and I was about to get on when a man in an orange ski instructor jacket asked, “May I join you?”
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On Monday, March 6th, DSBK launches a 4-week INTRO CLASS series. Participants who complete the course will attain a 6th kyu belt rank — step one of six on the way to a black belt. Plus a wealth of studied health benefits for less than $10 per class!
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The attacker lunged for Lisa. She deftly shifted back a few inches out of reach. She gripped his hand. She made a graceful pivot. Suddenly the attacker was falling belly-first to the ground. Lisa held his arm, guiding him like a broken plane coming in for a landing. Lisa was ready to drop to her knees and secure her assailant with a joint-lock when an onlooker said, “Uh oh!”
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Participants who complete the course will attain a 6th kyu belt rank — step one of six on the way to a black belt. Plus a wealth of studied health benefits for less than the current cost of eggs!
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Our dojo is good evidence that bouncing back from a global catastrophe takes time and persistence. Improved class attendance, expanded outreach efforts, a generous grant, and community education collaboration were only a few of the victories DSBK celebrated during its 20th anniversary year. Check out the complete annual report to review our nonprofit’s finances, accomplishments, and goals for the future.
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Sensei called out the first technique to be demonstrated on the test. Mike Boeckman listened to the long Japanese phrase. He drew in a slow, collected breath much like a lion targeting its hors d’oeuvres among a distant wildebeest herd. He offered his wrist to the uke who promptly grabbed it in an attack.
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I felt dismayed. In the midst of preparing for my first aikido test—consisting of 10 techniques—I made the mistake of asking one of the black belts what you had to do for the shodan (1st degree black belt) test. Before the next class, he approached me with a sly grin and handed me a ream of papers. As I scanned them, my heart sank. 292 techniques, around 10 solo and paired jo and a dozen bokken kata (choreographed forms done with wooden staff and sword). And after all that, in a rite of passage called randori, a mob is sent rushing at you and you’re expected to somehow survive.
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“Turn off your mind
Relax and float downstream
It is not dying
It is not dying”
I was 13 and the sound coming through my AM radio was like nothing I’d ever heard. Some Indian drone instrument crescendoed to an in-your-face repeating drum riff pounding like a cart with a missing wheel careening down a cobblestone hill chased by a flock of electric seagulls. Strange snatches of orchestral dream music, backwards guitars, buzz saws, and ‘what-the-hell-is-that-sound-anyway?’ came randomly into the mix, then vanished away, until finally fading into the strains of an untuned piano in an English music hall.
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DSBK Aikido Blog 