On January 10, the Aikido Center of Atlanta hosted its annual Kagami Biraki New Year’s practice.

This year was a huge success with over seventy five people attending from as far away as New Mexico. Longtime ACA Instructor Jeremy Wojcik received his fourth Dan promotion and Robert Allen was given his Nidan certificate. Each dojo-cho took turns teaching half hour segments for a total of five hours.

The Instructors were:

Jeremy Wojcik – Aikido Center of Atlanta

Darrell Tangman –  Augusta Aikido Club

Michael Goodman –  Roswell Budokan/kyushinkan dojo

Blue Spruell –  Peachtree Aikikai

Don Slater –   Georgia Southern Univ. Aikido Club

Garn Sherman –   West Georgia Aikikai

John Porter –   Vicksburg Aikikai

Alicia and Patrick Hardesty –  Kentuckiana Aikikai

George Kennedy –  Aikido Center of Atlanta

The Seminar was free and a pizza party was enjoyed by all after practice. Thanks to everyone who made it such a success and we look forward to doing it again next year!

Little did Yamada-Sensei know in 1964 that 50 years later, his life’s dedication in the “Big Apple” would inspire two aikido students, Dan and Nina Hayes, to connect in the “Little Apple” (Manhattan, KS) in an aikido wedding.

April 5, 2014 Aikido Wedding of Dan and Nina Hayes in Manhattan, KS, officiated by Dan’s “Ma,” Pastor Jayne Sensei of Thiel College Aikikai, and assisted by Reverend Tom Boomershine, fellow aikido student from Iowa. Photography by Brandon Chan

This aikido family actually started in 1972, when Peter Bernath started his aikido career under Yoshimitsu Yamada Sensei at New York Aikikai.  Eventually in 1979, Peter met Penny at the Florida Winter Seminar.  There, Yamada Sensei asked them to open Florida Aikikai, with Peter to be the chief instructor and Penny to be the dojo manager.  So, in 1980, Florida Aikikai was officially opened, and 2 years later, Peter and Penny Bernath Sensei married.

1982 wedding of Peter and Penny Bernath Sensei

Then in 1987, two people named Jack Hayes and Jayne Thompson joined Peter and Penny Bernath Sensei in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to allow their child, Dan, to participate in children’s classes.

1985 wedding of Jack Hayes and Jayne Thompson Sensei

Dan Hayes (circled) with Peter Bernath Sensei leaning on his shoulder. Dan’s younger brother, Matt was also in Aikido at the time. He is second from the right, second row from the back wall.

Jack Hayes and Jayne Thompson Sensei moved to Manhattan, KS, in 1994 with their family.  They formed KSU Aikido, and Dan continued aikido under his parents.

Dan Hayes, his stepmother Jayne Thompson Sensei, Penny Bernath Sensei (guest seminar instructor), and Dan’s father Jack Hayes Sensei.

 By 2002, Dan had been practicing for 15 years.  Then, a freshman veterinary student, Nina, came along, looking for an activity outside the classroom and hospital walls.  She ended up on an aikido mat on the Kansas State University campus with Jack and Jayne Sensei (Dan’s parents) as her instructors.  Nina didn’t have any martial arts experience at all and wasn’t sure if this “aikido thing” was the right choice, but was told, “just keep coming to practice.”  And she did.

Nina’s first seminar, 5 months after starting aikido, was instructed by Yamada Sensei and Peter Bernath Sensei at Kansas State University.

By the time Nina graduated, Jack Hayes and Jayne Thompson Sensei had moved to Minnesota, and she was studying with their son, Dan, the new head instructor of KSU Aikido and the newly formed Tatsumaki Aikikai community group.

Testing under Dan Sensei.

In 2007, however, Nina moved to Omaha, NE, for work.  Dan followed her there, where he formed a new dojo, Chushin Aikikai.  He also continued on as the technical director for KSU Aikido and Tatsumaki Aikikai.  And Nina and Dan “kept going to practice” – regularly in Omaha, and making a 3 hour drive about once a month to Manhattan, KS… until 2013, when Dan and Nina became engaged.

Engagement photo taken by LQ Photography.

With much support from their dojos in Omaha and Kansas, Dan and Nina Hayes were married during the lunch break of the Musubi Aikido Seminar this past April.

Dan and Nina were honored to have their teachers, Peter and Penny Bernath Sensei, and Jack Hayes and Jayne Thompson Sensei instruct at the seminar.

There’s nothing like being uke for your new mother-in-law as she demonstrates a technique for the seminar!  Photography by Stacy Smith.

Thank you, Yamada-Sensei, Peter and Penny Bernath Sensei, Jack Hayes and Jayne Thompson Sensei, and all our aikido friends and family for helping a new “aikido family” start in 2014!!  We look forward to many more aikido memories together in 2015 and beyond!!

Aikido of Charlotte’s Annual Friendship seminar was held on January 3, 2015.  Classes were taught by Sensei Dennis Main, 6th Dan, Shidoin and Sensei Jonathan Weiner, 4th Dan, Fukushidoin of Aikido of Charlotte and were joined by Sensei Charlie Huff, 4th Dan and Sensei Phi Truong, 2nd Dan of Charlotte Aikikai (an ASU Affiliate). This was a special occasion as well, because Main Sensei was just promoted to 6th Dan with the New Year and the opportunity to train with our fellow aikidoka from the area was an excellent way to celebrate.

We were joined by practitioners from as far away as Columbia, SC and Greenville, NC, from a variety of affiliations: ASU, Nihon Goshin Aikido, even Karate.  It was a great time to learn, make friends, and have a fantastic workout.

 Over the weekend of October 25 2014 something pretty amazing happened in the middle of the Atlantic.

Bermuda Aikikai, headed by Sensei Collins Smith, 6^th dan, has been around now for 31 years. Last year for the 30^th anniversary we had a suitably celebratory seminar lead by Shihan Richard Stickles. This year was different, this year was “in-house” with almost all of the instructors being direct students of Sensei Smith. We are talking about upwards of 10 instructors all coming from this tiny little island dojo so you know something great has been happening there.

A little history: Sensei Collins Smith started his martial arts career in his teens. He was a world-class karate fighter and even went twice to the Karate world championships in Japan. Somewhere along the line he discovered Aikido and soon became a student of now Shihan Stickles. For years Sensei Smith studied in New Jersey with Sensei Stickles, in New York with Yamada Sensei, and out west with Chiba Sensei. He returned to Bermuda in 1983 to open his dojo where with unwavering loyalty to his lineage and dedication to his students he has quietly been teaching Aikido ever since.

Bermuda is a dot in the middle of the ocean and Bermuda Aikikai was never going to be a big commercial success, and yet Sensei Smith juggled work and family and the dojo and never gave up, for him Aikido was, and still is, a gift to be received and passed on. He brought the biggest names in Aikido to his students and always supported his students when they wanted to go out and see the larger world. His philosophy was to teach the foundations and let people’s personalities take it from there, something I think he learned from Yamada Sensei and something that, 31 years later, was wonderfully evident in the diversity of aikido we saw when 10 of his students, all now instructor level, brought their styles and in some cases their own students to the mat.

The Aikido that started on that little island has spread. I now have a dojo in Nova Scotia, Canada (Lunenburg Aikikai), Anthea Pascaras has a dojo in London England (Notting Hill Aikikai), and there are two other dojos headed by Graham Fraser and Evie Pond in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick respectively (Mount Saint Vincent Aikikai and Aikido of Central New Brunswick) both under Sensei Smith’s umbrella. The little ripples that started in Bermuda 31 years ago have now crossed the ocean and spread to other lands.

Back to the seminar: 10 instructors all affiliated with Bermuda Aikikai, something like 300 years of collective experience, 10 different styles all unique and yet somehow still linked together, 5 affiliated dojos, a whole lot of fantastic aikido AND a trip on Sensei’s boat. I would say that makes for a pretty fantastic 31^st anniversary party and a tremendous measure of one man’s work.

On a serious note I have called Sensei Smith my friend and teacher for nearly 25 years and  my debt to him can only be repaid by following his example. I now have my own dojo in the equally (compared to Bermuda) isolated eastern edge of Canada. Like Bermuda Aikikai we will never be a big dojo, but we are close knit and we are growing and if there is one thing that the seminar in Bermuda last month taught me it is that great aikido can come out of the tiniest places when your heart is in the right place and you have loyalty and dedication.

James Constable

Chief Instructor, Lunenburg Aikikai

Photos by John Manderson | Luminous Imaging

This year the Florida Winter Seminar celebrated Yamada Sensei’s 50th Anniversary by holding a special Red Carpet event. During the event the audience had the opportunity to see a movie clip that Yamada Sensei starred in called Master Blaster. We presented him with an Oscar for his performance and to show appreciation for his 50 years of dedication teaching Aikido in the US. At the end of the show people close to Sensei talked about how he changed their lives.  Jonathan Weiner of Aikido of Charlotte directed this film and captured it with his crew.  We are all very thankful. Please enjoy this special tribute film to Yamada Sensei.

Penny Bernath

Florida Aikikai

After spending 14 years in the same location in the Village of Patchogue,
NY, Aikido at Suffolk Aikikai has moved to a new comfortable location in
Medford, New York. The space is air conditioned and provides plenty of
parking.  The move coincides with the celebration of Suffolk Aikikai’s 20th
anniversary on August 6, 2014.

San Juan Aikikai has moved to a new location.  The large bright windows blanket the tatami and reflect sunlight on the shomen’s clean sharp lines.  Stop by and visit this beautiful dojo at: 1220 Calle Cadiz, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00920.

As Fairfield Iowa Aikikai’s youth program continues to grow, June’s successful testing and promotions brought smiles to many faces.

August brings Fairfield Iowa Aikikai’s 2nd Annual Youth Camp

It has to be felt.

How many students felt the dynamic power? Have you experienced the exhilaration, fear, uncertainty, excitement as the dynamic circle sends you spinning to the conclusion of the technique? The uke may not fully know how it will end, but for sure they are fully engaged and dare not lose the connection. Those who have had this happen will say to you, it has to be experienced; it’s active, not passive. You have to make contact and stay committed. If you give up that commitment, the interaction changes in a single moment. We love our videos; it gives us a reference point. It gives us something to observe, but it’s passive. Ultimately, we must physically delve into the depths of the movement. We have to engage physically. It’s in that interaction, the ‘doing’ where we feel what happens and it becomes a part of us.

USAF President Emeritus, one of the first members of the New York Aikikai (NYA) and current Sensei, Mike Abrams, explains that it’s important for students to feel the instructor’s technique. He’s an open history book.  Sensei Abrams is another living legend, who explains the importance of what Yamada Shihan and his contemporaries did with the NYA. Sensei Abrams’ class takes you back to the foundations of training at the NYA; he speaks of the ukemi that Sensei Yamada took for his sempai. You get a picture of it in your mind, while listening. In Sensei Abrams class, when he asks you to grab him, one may do so in a rather naïve, unsuspecting manner. One may wonder what is coming next, but as soon as he begins to move you become immediately clear that whatever happens will end with you on the mat, usually face down. Similarly, Harvey Konigsberg Shihan will point to the connection between his hand and his hip movement. He will then explain it to you, in his low gravely voice. He may then say, “Grab” and you do. Then what you thought you understood goes flying out of your head, as quickly as you land on the mat. His disarming warmth and spiritual connection lull you into a feeling of smooth quiet and security. That is of course, until you feel his hip move and his weight drop while you get tossed. You get up, smiling, because your body gets this “turning on the light bulb” moment of comprehension. And ultimately, when Shihan Yamada says, “grab”, undoubtedly, healthy concern goes through uke’s mind from inception. You know his movement is big, powerful and direct. Some uke have explained that when they take ukemi for Yamada Shihan, they feel like their bodies are going in separate directions at the same time. For example, during one class, Yamada Shihan seemed to be moving toward a particular irimi-nage opening, but it appeared that he changed his mind, so he picked the uke up, as though to do an aiki-otoshi. The entire class held it’s breath and watched with wide eyes, while the uke’s head turned from side to side, looking for the landing place (kind of like a fighter jet coming in for an emergency landing).

Then he let us all off the hook, as he said to the uke, with a chuckle, “don’t worry, I’m not going to do that.” Even as we enjoyed his humor in that moment, we were all taking ukemi, because we followed him intently. We were in sync with him and there was nothing between him and us. We released a collective sigh of relief for the uke, but more for ourselves, because for a moment, “things got real”. We felt the air swoosh, when he picked up and seemed to swing the uke around. We felt the distance between the uke high in the air, (with Sensei Yamada holding the uke underneath his arm pit), and the mat. We felt his joviality, but we simultaneously felt the seriousness of training, which I believe he wants us to understand. After class, in the locker rooms, we talked about that and kind of nodded at each other as if to acknowledge it in a single word, “Yeah”.

I suppose all of this is to reiterate, that is it has to be felt.

Dena Williams

New York Aikikai