Happy Thanksgiving

The dojo will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. We here at the Sanbukan Dojo hope everyone will enjoy their time with their friends and family.

Remember to give Thanks year round!

See you all Saturday ;)

Veteran's Day 2013

Let's not forget to tell them every chance we get.

Thank You

An important lesson

The other day we had a student test and not pass his next belt level. Energy, connection, centering, breathing and flow are tested in addition to the techniques. The techniques were correct and even functional, but the rest were lacking that day. We have seen this student perform in class with all the needed bits, but on the day of the test they couldn't be summoned. It's the inability to call it all together on demand that we failed the student for. The student accepted the failure gracefully and will work that much harder for the retest. And I've no doubt the next time will be wonderful to behold. 

But the reason I'm blogging about it is, I believe that failed test was more of a lesson for the rest of the class then for the student who actually failed. When Sensei Mits discussed with the students the reasons for the failure, I saw a lot of lights going on behind their eyes. A lot of wisdom and determination were passed because of that "failure". Our standards are high, and they should be! On the streets and in life in general, we can't postpone our challenges for "when it's good for us". We have to be able to call from within ourselves and from our training the ability to perform on command and succeed.

Congratulations to our new Yellow and Green belts

The last 2 weekends we have had tests, first Jesus for Yellow and then Satori for Green. I love watching students perform beautifully in tests. Brings back memories of when I was a new Aikidoka.

Next week Saturday, rumor has it, DC will be moving to Second Brown. I'm sure he'll do just as good as the other two.

Also, very soon we will have brand new Sanbukan T-Shirts & Hoodies available to order. Once we have the details I'll post them here.

Happy Memorial Day

I've always liked this phrase. It embodies what Memorial Day is all about. Today, remember those brave men and women who have their lives to keep us all free.

Happy 105th Mother's Day

The modern holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. She then began a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the United States. Although she was successful in 1914, she was already disappointed with its commercialization by the 1920s. Jarvis' holiday was adopted by other countries and it is now celebrated all over the world. In this tradition, each person offers a gift, card, or remembrance toward their mothers, grandmothers, and/ or maternal figure on mother's day.

We here at the Sanbukan Dojo want to make sure that all of our Friends, Students and Loved ones take the day to give their Mothers or Mother Figures back some of that special love that rubbed of on them when they hugged and loved you as a child.

A letter from a friend

Dear Sanbukan Friends,

I wanted to let you know that I passed my nidan test on Saturday at the Midwest Aikido Center Yudansha Seminar in Chicago. My examiners were Yoshimitsu Yamada, head of the US Aikido Federation, and Steve Pimsler, one of his senior students at the NY Aikikai. I am grateful to Mits and his students from the good ol' days for helping me develop good aikido fundamentals. And I find myself quoting Mits frequently when teaching my own aikido students here in Iowa. Please convey my best (belated) wishes to him on his 71st birthday.

Thanks,
Charles Cunningham
Grinnell, IA