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Aikido'Ka

Grass Valley's Family Martial Arts School -- Focus, Fitness & Fun

Kimberly Richardson Sensei

Feb 10 2017

Attend Our 10th Anniversary Celebration — March 10-12, 2016

It’s completely hard for me to believe, but our 10th Anniversary is coming up. So, I think this calls for a little dojo history lesson. 🙂

White-Faced Ibis
These are White-Faced ibis, not Sandhill cranes.

In Japanese culture, the crane is special. It’s a sign of longevity and good fortune, because it supposedly lives for 1,000 years. In reality, cranes do live long lives. In captivity, their life-span averages 40 to 60 years. Supposedly, one captive Siberian crane lived for 83 years and fathered chicks at age 78. OK, then!

Anyway . . . to Aikido’Ka Opening Day. We had classes and other events going all day long. It was quite the extravaganza and tremendous fun. While I was leading a class, I heard a familiar sound and listened carefully. It didn’t take too long for me to think I was hearing Sandhill cranes — a lot of them.

I dashed outside and saw circling directly above the dojo a flock of Sandhill cranes. There must have been hundreds of them. The cranes visited several times that day. I’m not superstitious, or anything like that, but I sure did appreciate the visit. 🙂 The cranes don’t show up every year, but they often do.

Michael Friedl Shihan and Kimberly Richardson Sensei
Michael Friedl Shihan and Kimberly Richardson Sensei

While I can’t guarantee the cranes will appear during our 10th Anniversary Celebration, I can assure you that we’re going to have a great time. Two of my favorite aikido people will be teaching — Michael Friedl Shihan and Kimberly Richardson Sensei. Michael Shihan is my direct aikido teacher. He’s an extraordinary teacher and a great guy — informative, fun, easily approachable. Kimberly Richardson Sensei is an absolute marvel. She moves with extraordinary grace. She’s very friendly and approachable. You’ll love both of them. Getting the two of them with us together is an incredible treat. We’ll also have some other teachers who have been instrumental in our success teach some. We’ll be providing lunch at the dojo. I also understand that Michael Shihan may put on a brief magic show during lunch!

On top of all of this fun, Ian Isbell will be doing his shodan test Saturday morning around 10 am. Ian will be our second home-grown black belt. Talk about exciting! Ian has been training for about 8 years, and is a key member of Aikido’Ka. He’s a really great guy with a truly joyful spirit.

Ian Isbell
Ian will be demonstrating for his shodan on March 10, 2017.

Aikido’Ka is a friendly, fun dojo where you are welcome. So please join us and celebrate! You’ll get a $20 discount if you register before March 3, 2017.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR 10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION.

By the way, the photo I’ve used with this post is not of Sandhill cranes. They’re White-Faced ibis. Ibis aren’t cranes, but they’re considered “crane-like.” Since I couldn’t find any photos of cranes that I’ve taken, I used this one. I expect to get some crane photos soon and I’ll update this post then.

Written by Frank Bloksberg · Categorized: seminars, Special Events · Tagged: 10th Anniversary Celebration, Kimberly Richardson Sensei, Michael Friedl Sensei

Mar 16 2016

Kimberly Richardson Sensei Seminar Photo

We had an absolutely amazing seminar with Kimberly Richardson Sensei. I hope we can do another soon!
Here’s a group photo.

Group photo from Kimberly Richardson Sensei's seminar at Aikido'Ka
Group photo from Kimberly Richardson Sensei’s seminar at Aikido’Ka

Written by Frank Bloksberg · Categorized: seminars · Tagged: aikido seminar, Kimberly Richardson Sensei

Jul 19 2015

Group Photo of Aiki Summer Retreat Instructors

Here’s our incredible lineup of instructors at Aiki Summer Retreat 2015: Michael Friedl Sensei, Kimberly Richardson Sensei, Danielle Smith Sensei, and Craig Fife Sensei. Wow.

They led an absolutely fantastic Retreat.

Aiki_Summer_Retreat_2015_Instructors-

Written by Frank Bloksberg · Categorized: Aiki Summer Camp · Tagged: Aiki Summer Retreat, Craig Fife Sensei, Danielle Smith Sensei, Kimberly Richardson Sensei, Michael Friedl Sensei

Jun 11 2015

Aiki Summer Retreat 2015 Featured Instructor Kimberly Richardson Sensei

Don’t miss Aiki Summer Retreat, June 21 – 27: Senseis Michael Friedl, Danielle Smith, Kimberly Richardson, Craig Fife with Special Guest Robert Nadeau Shihan.

Kimberly-Richardson-1About Kimberly Richardson Sensei:

Kimberly Richardson is the founder and chief instructor of Two Cranes Aikido in Seattle, Washington where she teaches children, teens and adults. She began her training with Mary Heiny Sensei in 1978 and has studied throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan, most notably with Motomichi Anno, Saotome and Ikeda Shihans, Terry Dobson and Tom Read Senseis.  Kimberly Sensei received her 6th degree black belt from Mary Heiny Sensei.

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In 2008 Kimberly founded a non-profit, TCI, an Institute that provides educational and embodied leadership programs in the Seattle community and beyond. Her goal is to share O’Sensei’s principles and practices that cultivate peaceful solutions to conflict and encourage nonviolent action.

Additionally, Kimberly Sensei has studied Tai Chi Chen for ten years and she is passionate about ballroom dancing. Watching children develop confidence and self-esteem on the Aikido mat is the inspiration for her first book, Gus Learns to Fly.

Click here to learn more about Aiki Summer Retreat 2015.

Written by Frank Bloksberg · Categorized: Aiki Summer Camp · Tagged: Aiki Summer Retreat, Kimberly Richardson Sensei

Jun 11 2015

Aikido Stories Podcast Episode 6

Kimberly-Richardson-1In Aikido Stories Episode 6, Kimberly Richardson Sensei Sensei tells us 3 stories: about her early training with Mary Heiny Sensei, one of her first experiences as a chief instructor, and the highlight of our episode, about trying to catch a flight home a few days after 9/11.

Listen to Aikido Stories Podcast Episode 6 at this link.

If you have a story you want to share, just send me an email or call and leave information about your story. If I feel like your story would be a good fit, I’ll contact you. Call me at (530) 273-2727.

If you’re enjoying the podcast, please leave a rating and comment in iTunes. I understand that is the best way to help spread the podcast. Thank you!

Enjoy. Please share the podcast and leave your comments below.

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Written by Frank Bloksberg · Categorized: Aikido Stories Podcast, podcast · Tagged: Aikido Stories Podcast, Kimberly Richardson Sensei

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