Photography Made Simple!

Harmonizing your online dojo pressence! I’ve been fortunate to utilize my other media and production firms creativity, video equipment and social networking skills to my dojo’s advantage. Website development, HD Video Production and creating content doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars anymore. The components of a solid online marketing brand for your dojo consist of : A Contemporary looking website that is interactive Creating content that is original and sets your dojo apart Videos are a must. YouTube is the #2 Search Engine behind Google. Graphics matter. Pages of text aren’t read anymore. I’ve had the opportunity with work with several Dojo Cho & Chief Instructors in this capacity in the USAF and I believe in giving back. Feel free to contact me if you’d like a consult on your dojo website, how to invest in the right online tools to drive more traffic to your site, and ways your potential students can learn more about your dojo in new and creative ways. “He helped me not only to achieve my vision of what I wanted to convey to the public about our Aikido school, but he helped me improve on sharing that vision to the public. He helped me to broaden my skills and was available to work with me when I got stuck.” – Jesse Kaufmann, Adminstrator, Open Sky Aikika In addition to being able to radio interview several high ranking USAF Technical Committee Members and Board Members, I had the opportunity twice to work with Peter & Penny Bernath at Winter Camp on original video content. Special Thanks to Yamada Sensei, USAF Technical Committee and Penny Bernath of Florida Aikikai. Video Work for Florida Aikika at Winter Camp “I highly recommend Jonathan for his excellent video work and total commitment to Aikido!” -Andy Demko, 7th Dan, Shihan, USAF Technical Committee “He has added another dimension to advertising Aikido by using his creative video experience. Jonathan produces an exciting short story using captivating clips, editing, and music. Jonathan’s work is exceptional and we appreciate his talents!” -Penny Bernath, 6th Dan, Shidoin, USAF Board of Directors, Florida Aikikai Questions? E-mail me: jonathan@aikidoofcharlotte.com

Who is Jonathan Weiner? Jonathan Weiner is the CEO of Mez Media, Inc. a full service online marketing and advertising agency servicing clients globally. He specializes in HD Video Production, Website Design & Development, Online Radio Podcasting, Email Marketing, Social Media & more. He is the Dojo Cho of Aikido of Charlotte and is currently ranked Sandan and is a Fukushidoin in the USAF.

“True budo [martial arts] is the loving protection of all beings with a spirit of reconciliation. Reconciliation means to allow the completion of everyone’s mission.” Morihei Ueshiba

From Aikido by Kisshomaru Ueshiba

In the fall of 1978 I was living in Santa Fe, New Mexico where the aspen in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains were beginning their magnificent dance of flaming gold. I was teaching at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and during a faculty meet-and-greet, Aikido slipped softly into my consciousness.
A small group of faculty was chatting up a visiting Manhattan artist, Harmony Hammond. As I approached the group I heard her say that she practices a martial art called Aikido.

“What’s that?” I asked, never having heard of it.

She turned to me, her eyes alight; she became animated, almost zealous, I thought, as she described Aikido.

“Why don’t you come to the dojo where I’m practicing and see for yourself?”

Curious about the art and wondering if she were a devotee or a fanatic I went with her to the tiny space and sat where visitors watched. As I waited for class to begin the Aikidoists emerged from the dressing rooms in samurai outfits, bowed, stepped on the mat and silently rolled around the dojo! I want my body to do that flooded my cells. Aikido flowed gently into my being.

In the summer of 1979 I moved to Manhattan and almost immediately found myself walking up the narrow stairs of New York Aikikai to sign up. I knew nothing about the philosophy of Aikido or about O-Sensei; only that I wanted my body to do that. I had no idea I was signing up for life.

Now I look at O’Sensei’s words and wonder what he meant. The completion of everyone’s mission suggests something beyond the physical practice of Aikido in a dojo. Do we have a mission specifically in our Aikido practice to protect one another and to allow each other to develop their own path in Aikido and have another mission as well?

True martial arts is the loving protection of all beings. That sounds very shamanic and again suggests Aikido practice expands far beyond the dojo. As if the mat and Aikido practice is a metaphor for one of our missions in life.

I used to think that everyone had the same mission in Aikido—to practice in a prescribed way, trying to attain the same goals. Then I realized that people are on the mat for many different reasons. To get out of the house, to meet people, to feel happy, to not think, to take up time, to feel a part of a community, to build muscles, to lose weight, to build confidence, to have a place to take a shower, to wear a uniform, to look like everyone else, to learn self-defense. An endless list. We’re on the mat for different reasons, making for great personal diversity in everyone’s relationship to practice. Completing our missions?

Is O’Sensei saying that the essence of budo is expanding our mental, emotional, physical embrace of every living being? That the physical practice of Aikido can lead us to this metaphysical reality?

The memory of a New York Aikikai morning class flashes in my mind. Steve Pimsler was demonstrating, encouraging nages to throw uke with open palms.

“To hold on is human,” he said holding on to uke. “To let go is divine,” which he did and uke went flying. My mind cracked open. I laughed and let go.

I’m amazed that I’ve moved from knowing nothing about Aikido and not being interested in anything except the physical practice, to contemplating O’Sensei’s words and to noticing its manifestations in my life. Aikido has soaked into my core.

And here, as journalists would say, I’ve buried the lead. I began writing this article with the intention of announcing the publication of my new speculative fiction novel, The Power of Indigo, whose epigraph is the O-Sensei quote.

The novel is a surprising example of Aikido’s vibrant life inside me. When I began writing the novel I didn’t have Aikido in my mind. Only after I finished the novel did I realize that I had Leila, an Aikidoka protagonist, and that she and the other characters in the future world were illustrating O’Sensei’s words—revealing their missions. How uncanny is that? Is that random or beshert? Or, Aikido is the rain that soaks into our beings generating blossoms?

The cover of the novel is smashing. One of Harvey Konigsberg’s paintings.

Whether or not you read, I urge you to take a crack at it. Expand your consciousness; move into a future with a strange Aikidoka at your own risk.

You can see more details at the dedicated website, www.alesiakunz.com.

You can order it from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Dog Ear Publishing, and your local bookstore. The Power of Indigo will be on the raffle display at summer camp.

Rolling around at San Francisco Aikikai.

Alesia Kunz

Aikido Express is happy to announce that their first app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod has recently gone on sale in the Apple App Store.
It can be found from a web browser at:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yamada-sensei/id488772972?mt=8
or you can simply search “Yamada Sensei” in the app store or on iTunes.

This app is a great introduction to the Aikido of Yoshimitsu Yamada Sensei, 8th Dan, Shihan, Chief Instructor of New York Aikikai and President of the United States Aikido Federation. The app includes video clips from Yamada Sensei’s famous instructional DVD series “Aikido: The Power and the Basics”, ten advanced techniques displayed in our unique MOTION ANALYSIS “scrubby” tool, and a detailed biography of Yamada Sensei’s life including pictures from his childhood through the present time.
The video clips will be especially valuable to beginners who seek to learn clear fundamentals and important technical details from one of the most influential Aikido instructors in the world. Advanced students will appreciate the motion analysis clips where they can study the finest details of Yamada Sensei’s movements and apply these refinements to their own technique.
For full length videos and dvds by Yamada Sensei and other Aikido Shihan, as well as Doyu uniforms and other great Aikido resources, please visit us at www.aikidoexpress.com