The first Farmer’s Almanac said that a fully grown Chestnut tree will feed a family of four for a year. The Chestnut, beyond being valuable wood for furniture making, was a poverty food. When all other food ran out, early American families knew they could survive if they had a single Chestnut tree. I heard this on a radio program about the national effort to bring back the Chestnut after billions of them died about a century ago across North America from a fungal blight. A ne

Dojo-cho Note: The dojo is a labor of love. No one receives any compensation in the dojo, with fees going to keep lights on, rent paid...

Several years ago, I was chatting with a 12-year-old student before class. She asked me if aikido was effective, which prompted me to ask...

What is a Dojo? Answering this starts with what Aikido is. When I asked Sugano Sensei what Aikido was, taking his forefinger and drawing...

Dear All, As we head toward 2025, I wanted to put a few things out: 11 Nov Veterans Day Practice . On next Monday, the 11th, we will have...

A family member was coming with me to take a class and casually remarked, "You know, Aikido doesn't work." Seeing my look, he quickly...

Photo Credit: Scott Laperruque On the morning of 9-11, I had finished a morning class at New York Aikikai (NYA). A friend called from the...

“Aikido could be classified as Japanese martial art.  Developed among samurai society.  Techniques at base are fighting.  Aikido is not mart

24 August 2007. Traveling with Sensei to Belgian, Global Inner Aikido Seminar (GIAS.) Sugano Sensei. “In Aikido there is no relationship...

Heaven and Earth Aikido dojo 2024 Mountain Training message

In 2018, Sensei Tony posted this to our Facebook page. As relevant today as it was then. There was a song on the radio this morning that...

Growing up between Kyiv, Ukraine and grandma’s place in Stavropol, Russia, I was interested to join my classmates for judo classes....

I finished my lesson with my son and we bowed thanking God. Almost every day I try to sit in meditation and then do a few minutes of...

I once asked Sugano Sensei what correct ukemi was. “There is alive and there is dead” he replied. When I asked him what he meant he...

On August 29th, 2010 Sensei Seiichi Sugano passed into another existence. Though I was Yoshimitsu Yamada's uchideshi, we were fortunate...

The New York Times obituary for Yamada Sensei read, “Yoshimitsu Yamada, Who Brought Aikido to the U.S., Dies at 84.” The headline was...

24 August 2007. Traveling with Sensei in cab. Sugano Sensei “In Aikido there is no relationship between words and pretty ideas of Aikido...

(Continued from Day 6) BE- You spoke earlier on breathing exercise. We do it as part of the warm up but it is not an important part of...

(Continued from Day 5) BE- Something that has been very confusing to me has been that in the sword style I am learning they teach a very...

Brian Ericksen : Sensei, I started taking classes in Battodo. It has been very interesting to use a real sword and cut through things. As...