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We visited some old friends at Midwest Aikido Centre while in Chicago recently. We had never seen the dojo before. It is one of the most beautiful facilities we have ever seen.

We had three fantastic days of training under Osawa-sensei in Quebec City last weekend. It was a wonderful time in a beautiful city with great friends.

David Mooney-sensei of Aikido CEGEP de Ste-Foy and his students and friends did a great job organizing the event and in showing us hospitality.

Some pictures from the seminar and our visit to Quebec City are on Flickr.

I was talking to one of our beginners about the fundamental mindset of practice — of not smashing an attacker out of the way in a brutal confrontation, but being aware of and blending with his movement and intentions.

He said he had been practicing a discipline of “listening” in interpersonal relations, and said it sounded very similar.

I think that’s an excellent analogy. The fewer preconceptions and the more perception you bring to an encounter — being able to “listen” — the more likely you are to be successful.

Like most of Aikido, it is simple, but not easy.

The most difficult technique in martial arts is… walking through the front door of the dojo. Once you have done, that, the rest is possible.

It’s easy to use fatigue or minor aches and pains as an excuse. But if I had only taken classes when I felt fantastic, I would have taken about ten classes by now (over 40 years).

Oddly enough, I think I gained more by practicing under difficult circumstances than when I felt positive and energetic. Somehow, it just registers differently…

Consistency is the most powerful tool there is in training.

I would like to congratulate our friends at JCCC Aikikai on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. They celebrated with a very successful international friendship seminar last weekend.

When I first moved to Toronto as a junior white belt, I tried to attend as many seminars there as I could. (Who else out there remembers the rock-hard, abrasive tatami in the original dojo?)

I am still grateful for the kindness of Obata-sensei and Ochi-sensei in helping with my training.

For those of you who don’t remember Kenji Ochi-sensei, he was a mainstay of the dojo for many years. He was an absolutely amazing aikidoka to practice with — extremely precise and vigorous, but patient with inept beginners like me. He moved back to Japan many years ago and has since passed away, but I still have many fond memories of working with him on the tatami.

This dojo is one of the seminal Toronto dojos, teaching and inspiring generations of Aikidoka, and we look forward to training with them for years to come.

I remember in my early days of practice, being blown away by the abilities of the shihan. Everything they did seemed so effortless, natural and powerful. I really felt like they were born with some special gift.

I came across something in “Daily Self-Discipline” by Martin Meadows that sheds some light on this:

“What an average person sees when she looks at an elite performer – say, a world-class tennis player – is that his abilities seem natural, easy. She concludes, “He was born with it. It was given to him.”

And she couldn’t be farther from the truth. What she sees is an event – the act of winning. What she doesn’t see is thousands of hours of practice. His sore body, countless hours of drills, lost matches, and everything else that has made him the tennis player he is today. He had never been born with his abilities, and neither is anyone else. It’s the result of a long process taking years or decades, not mere days or weeks.

Substitute “shihan” for “tennis player” and this certainly applies to Aikido. Even the gifted had to put in the consistent, hard work.

Except for carpet cleaning and some tidying tomorrow, the dojo cleanup project is complete.

Many thanks to the members who contributed part of their long weekend holidays to getting the dojo shipshape. We cleaned from the rafters to the sprung floor, and the lobby, change rooms, and washrooms as well.

Special thanks to Aubrie and Moises for organizing this, and to the many members who pitched in on the two days. Special thanks also to Greg, an old friend of the dojo, who contributed his DIY expertise and tools to some of the more technical tasks.

Some photos have been posted on Flickr.

Three members of Aikido Hokuryukai – Yumi, Vadim K. and I – went to CAF Aikido Summer Camp in Victoria in July. It was a fantastic and demanding training experience under Osawa-sensei, and over too quickly.

Ted Yoshioka, who visits our dojo from time to time, was also there for the camp.

We also saw several of our friends from Aikido Tendokai, Yumi’s dojo downtown, at the camp. Congratulations in particular go to Machiko Okano, who passed her nidan test, along with other successful test candidates from across Canada.

Other Ontario students were present as well, including members of the Shugyo, Seishinkai, Kensankai, East Toronto, and J.C.C.C. dojos. Aikidoka from across Canada, including Nova Scotia, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta were all on the mat, along with students from Australia, the US and Italy.

Osawa-sensei’s next seminar will be in Quebec City October 18-20. We strongly recommend attending this training opportunity if possible.

Some photos from the event are on Jim’s Flickr page.

Reminder: the annual Dojo Barbecue is coming up July 20 in Vaughan. The info is in the dojo. We hope to see everyone there!

Kyu testing: will be held the next day, July 21 in the dojo. See Jim or Yumi if you have the required training time and are interested in testing at this time.

(The tentative schedule for July is online now… to be confirmed shortly.)

I have been reading some thought-provoking remarks on expertise in a book by Joseph T. Hallinan.

“.., experts, no matter their field, usually have certain things in common… innate abilities—either physical or mental—don’t matter as much as people think they do… But what does matter is practice. Experts practice—a lot. No matter the field, it is generally agreed that it takes about ten years of sustained effort to become a world-class expert.”

The next comment is telling.

“But not just any practice will do. Experience and expertise are not the same thing; simply repeating the same task over and over… is no guarantee you will get better. Instead, the practice needs to be directed toward improving the memory of the performance. When performed correctly, prolonged, deliberate practice produces a large body of specialized knowledge—a library, if you will—in the mind of the person doing the practice. This is important because having a big library allows an expert to quickly recognize patterns that others don’t… Pattern recognition is the hallmark of expertise, allowing experts to anticipate events and respond quickly.”

To become expert, years of committed practice are needed to build fitness, muscle memory and a cognitive map of what you are doing. Repetitive practice isn’t enough. Many people with ten years of experience actually have one year of experience, ten times over. You must become immersed in your practice.

What made you think that learning Aikido would be easier than learn to play the violin?

We were honoured to see two of our members named in the Hombu New Year’s promotions list… Aubrie Appel and Pascal Dennis, both promoted to nidan (2nd degree black belt). Congratulations!

Sincere congratulations also go to Rob Carroll of Aikido Tendokai (our sister dojo downtown) on his promotion to rokudan (6th degree).

Other friends and colleagues promoted to rokudan included David Yates (Kanata), Hillary Dawson (Victoria), Marcel Lavigne (Montreal) and Steve Erickson (Calgary).

We were also very pleased to see several other Canadian Aikido Federation promotions: yondan (4th degree): Nan Yien Chin, Masaru Matsubara and David Bursey; sandan (3d degree): Chris Rosenquist; nidan: Theresa Wojtasiewicz and Ed Wass; and shodan (1st degree): Lorraine Schubert and Diane Smeltzer. Congratulations to all!