Grass Valley's Family Martial Arts School -- Focus, Fitness & Fun
We’re now offering kettlebell classes 4 days a week — Monday – Thursday from 5:00 – 5:30 pm.
Check out our new full schedule here.
Kettlebells really are amazing. With these simple balls of iron, you get an amazing workout andquickly! They’re fun and effective. But you need proper instruction to make sure you’re using them correctly and don’t hurt yourself.
If you haven’t tried kettlebells with us yet, now’s the time!
I’ve posted 130+ photos from Doran Sensei’s seminar here on March 31, 2012.
This was a great seminar and the photos give a pretty good sense of the fun.
To see the photos go to the Aikido’Ka photo gallery.
By the way, I have a bunch more photos from the seminar that I’ll be posting soon.
Here’s video taken today of Doshu Moriteru Ueshiba at the All Japan Aikido Demonstration. Doshu is O’Sensei Moriteru Ueshiba’s grandson and is the worldwide head of aikido.
This is a beautiful demonstration — flowing, graceful and powerful. It’s also a classic demonstration, in that Doshu shows variations on basic techniques. He shows the oldies, but goodies. Just beautiful.
A favorite part for me is when Doshu shows a technique open hand and with a jo. He does this while holding the jo in one hand.
This video is a must watch for all aikido students.
In case you don’t already know this, Doshu is the head of the Aikikai Foundation, aikido world headquarters. The Foundation is the organization which continues the founder’s martial art. The founder, of course, was Morihei Ueshiba. When he died in 1969, his son Kisshomaru Ueshiba took over. When he died in 1999, O’Sensei’s grandson took over.
This an annual event for the Foundation. 2012 is the 50th time the event was held. People travel from around the world to attend.
I’d love to see your comments on the video.
I’ve never been in the military. I simply would not have been a good “fit.” None of my close family have been in the military. The closest is a cousin who was in the Navy reserve for a short time. Oh, and there’s the brother-in-law who somehow got himself thrown out during basic.
But I’ve had many, many friends and acquaintances who have served. And I can tell that I’ve missed something terribly important.
And then, of course, there are all those folks who chose – or were forced – to serve and gave the ultimate sacrifice. They fell so that we can run and play. They gave all so that we can watch TV and cruise the internet. They died so that we can be all that we can be, or not.
So as I go about my usual reading (I don’t watch TV), I see lots of stories about Memorial Day Weekend being the start of “grilling season” and “beach season” and the beginning of summer. There are a bunch of stories about the Indy 500.
I have no problem with any of these things. I think they’re all great, if you’re into them. In fact, hanging out with friends and grilling and going to the beach and going to a car race sound pretty fantastic.
But Memorial Day is about none of these things. Thanks to those we honor on Memorial Day, we have all of these things. We need to keep this clear.
Memorial Day a Federal holiday honoring members of the United States Armed Forces who have died serving their country. Let me correct that: These people died serving our country.
So during this lovely long weekend of fun and games, let’s take some time and reflect on those heroes who made it possible. And be very, very thankful to them.
I have to say that this was the best demonstration day we’ve had yet. I was super impressed! Here are the promotions:
Gabe and Milo aren’t white belts any more! They earned their yellow belts (8th kyu).
Kit earned his orange belt (7th kyu).
Taylor and Jacob earned their green belts (6th kyu).
Gideon earned his purple belt (5th kyu).
Ian and Gabriel earned their blue belts (3rd kyu).
Well done everybody!