VKS TRAINING NOTES JUNE 99 NOTICES: JUNE INSTRUCTOR'S CLASS The June class will be held on Saturday, the 26th at 1:30. We will look at Kashiwaya's Taigi Tapes and plans for the 25th Anniversary in September and preparation for Sho Den and Chu Den testing. SUMMER CAMPS The Kingston Ki Society will hold a Summer Camp the weekend of 9-11 July. I will be the guest instructor. The setting is very nice - they use the gym at the Correctional College in Kingston. They have some very good students and are blessed with traditional Canadian hospitality. The Shinkido Institute in Ottawa, Canada is hosting a seminar in August. Here are the particulars I placed on the Internet: The seminar will have as its instructors, Koichi Kashiwaya, 8th Dan, Ki Aikido USA and Larry Bieri, 6th Dan, Finger Lakes Aikido, USAF Aikikai. The Seminar is called: Harmony for All and will be held Aug 14 and 15 at Algonquin College, Gymnasium on the Woodroffe Campus, Ottawa. Cost is $115.00 Canadian or $75.00 US. if the registration is received by June 21. Checks should be payable to the Shinkido Institute and sent to 47 Humphrey Way, Katana, Ontario, Canada, K2L 2S9. There is a web site at: www.magma.ca/~leisen/ryureiaikido/ . Bussell's e-mail is: peterbussel@sprint.ca NATIONAL INSTRUCTOR'S WORKSHOP The following information was received from Sensei Dan Frank last month regarding the seminar. I URGE ALL WHO CAN ATTEND TO DO SO. Kataoka Sensei is a truly fine instructor. I have e-mailed to all of the senior instructors a list of those who can attend the "instructors training". Please make your registration before July 1 so that adequate planning can be made for meals and mat space. Greetings from the Montgomery County KI-AIKIDO SOCIETY. Attached is the schedule for 1999 Chief Instructors Conference in Maryland. This email is give you and your students the dates for planning to attend the conference. A letter is being mailed to each Chief Instructor with the details on lodging and conference fees. SCHEDULE FOR CHIEF INSTRUCTORS' SEMINAR AND WORKSHOP 1999 Theme: Conflict Resolution THURSDAY July 29 Kataoka Sensei Leaves for Maryland FRIDAY - July 30 Rest Day for Kataoka Sensei Welcome Party 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM SATURDAY July 31, 1999 8 AM Registration for the seminar 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM Training for Ki Society members 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM Lunch , 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM Training for Ki Society members SUNDAY Aug. 1 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM Training for Ki Society members 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM Lunch , 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM Training for Ki Society members and Public MONDAY- Aug. 2 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Training for Ki Society members 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM Lunch , 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM Training for Ki Society members TUESDAY Aug.3 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Training for Ki Society members 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM Lunch , 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM Kiatsuho for Ki Society members WENESDAY Aug.4 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Training for Ki Society members 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM Lunch , 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM Ki Tests (Shoden, Chuden, Joden as appropriate) 5 PM-6 PM Chief Instructors Meeting THURSDAY Aug 5 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Chief Instructors Workshop (by invitation only) 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM Lunch , 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM Chief Instructors Workshop (by invitation only) FRIDAY -Aug. 6 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Training for Ki Society members 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM Lunch 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM Training for Ki Society members SATURDAY - Aug. 7 10 AM - 1:30 PM Training for Ki Society members and the Public Afternoon - Rest 6:30 - 9:30 PM Banquet, SUNDAY Aug. 8 Departures The fee schedule for the seminar is as follows: Entire seminar for Chief Instructor (includes Thursday Workshop, Banquet and T-shirt) $250.00 Thursday Workshop only for Chief Instructor, Banquet and T-shirt $150.00 Entire seminar for Ki Society student, banquet and T-shirt (w/o Thursday Workshop) $220.00 One day attendance (training only) $40.00 Banquet only $40.00 T-shirt only $15.00 Remit = of the total amount with a check payable to Ki Conference to: Ki Conference, PO Box 3741, Silver Spring, MD 20918. You will need to sign a release form so request it when you send in your fee. This deposit is due by May 26 with the balance due by July 1. CHIEF INSTRUCTOR'S CORNER Last month I talked about taking advantage of training opportunities to expand your understanding of our art. This month I would like to mention some things I have been reading which point out the dimensions of our art besides defense against a physical attack. The following appeared on the Internet this week, forwarded by an Aikido-L member who wanted to share some insight into the breadth and reach of aikido: AN ASPECT OF AIKIDO In her book "Mama Drama", author Denise McGregor shows women how to free themselves from the hysteria that defines their relationship with their mother. McGregor was a recent guest on a one-hour long chat with CNN Books. Here is a transcript of that visit. McGREGOR: Wouldn't we all like to get mother out on the mat! just kidding! Aikido is a softer martial art, and students pair up to work on conflict resolution. It teaches you how to blend with what is, and it helps to create harmony. Instead of seeing you pitted against each other, this martial art teaches you to understand each other's vulnerabilities. When you change your role in the relationship, you force her to change as well. You work with each other's vulnerabilities instead of against them. She obviously has a clear sense of what she has gotten from her Aikido training. We all need to look at our training from time to time to see if we are getting all we could from what we are being exposed to during class and practice. I have been reading Richard Heckler's new book: "In Search of the Warrior Spirit". It relates his experiences while training Special Forces teams in an attempt to make them more effective. The contract was performed by Sports Mind, a Seattle based company. The principal instructor was Jack Cirie, a fellow who trained at the VKS during our early Tico Park days. I haven't read far enough to see the results of their total program but it is full of pithy statements, each of which could be the basis for a lengthy discussion or class. Here is a brief sample: "To compensate for their difficulties they do what almost everybody else does in this art: They force when they should flow, hurry when they should wait, and tighten instead of relaxing. With frightful grimaces they hold their breath, flex their well-cultivated muscles, and try to push me around with mass and brawn. They're puzzled why they, with their superior strength, weight, and youth can't physically dominate me - I'm older, smaller, and less conditioned. The American recipe of a powerful will ordering around obedient muscles is ultimately an obstacle to experiencing the non-resistance of aikido. To their bewilderment, they are finding that aikido is not something one needs to succeed in by being stronger, and its not just one more sport you can simply figure out and then do. It's a complete re-programming in mind, body and spirit." I recommend it to you. FROM THE INTERNET This discussion by Mike is the culmination of several postings by various members discussing the combat effectiveness of aikido. I believe that AIKIDO offers, within all of its principles and techniques, the ability to deal with most any situation that might confront us in our day-to-day living. Both in its "off the mat applications of principle" as well as its technique. And to imply that AIKIDO is only effective for "simple self defense against untrained attackers " (if that is in fact what you are suggesting Bill)........ totally misses the point of what training in this art can achieve. Perhaps this will address both issues at once........ What I find to be AIKIDO'S greatest contribution when approaching the "self-defense" principles in its training _ is _ that it allows us to pull from the sum total of our (mine, your) learning and apply just the right measure of ONLY that which is necessary to overcome the situation that confronts you. When viewed along a line of a "sliding scale of extremes" the response could easily vary from a simple tenkan off the line, allowing the situation to pass you by........ to...... a very abrupt irimi nage that results in a quick end to the situation at hand. Both situations tempered with the right amount of AIKIDO application called upon to achieve the desired result. Which is to survive the moment and move on to the next one. And of course......... the greatest challenge in our continued training is learning the suitable measure of "amount" needed. Easier said than done, sometimes. _S\o_ Michael Speece TRAVELS July 9 - 11 Kingston Summer Camp July 31 - Aug 7 National Instructor's Workshop, Maryland Ki Society August 13 - 15 Peter Bussell Sensei Summer Camp, Ottawa, Canada Sept 24 - 26 St. Louis Ki Society 20th Anniversary. October 6 - 7 Pittsburgh Seminar