Jim Ellison (from Spiritual Gravity blog) The second move in “The 17” is called aigamaeate. It roughly translates to forward posture strike. Aigamaeate is part of the atemi waza, or striking techniques. In this technique, tori’s objective is to first perform a balance break. The attacker’s arm moves up, as tori does a hand switch…
Jim Ellison (from Spiritual Gravity blog) Ju Nana Hon Kata – also known as “The 17” is one of the first katas we learn in our aikido curriculum. This video series will demonstrate each of the moves in ‘The 17’, the way they are taught in our dojo. Please note that these techniques involve some…
Jim Ellison (Spiritual Gravity blog) I began practicing aikido in 1979, at the age of 33, and have been teaching it since the mid-1980s. Our dojo teaches a Tomiki style of aikido and is part of the Kaze Uta Budo Kai organization. I recently turned 70, and continue to teach classes a few times a…
Jim Ellison When I first stumbled onto aikido in 1979, I was looking for little more than a way to keep in shape and possibly learn a few self-defense moves. One of my students recently asked me why I’m still practicing…wouldn’t I be bored with aikido by this point? This question got me to thinking…
Jim Ellison (original post from Spiritual Gravity blog) In our dojo, we have four levels between white and black belts: yonkyu (green belt), sankyu (brown belt), nikyu (brown belt), and ikkyu (brown belt with black stripe). While these are still considered beginner ranks, students in this range have been exposed to the basic principles of…
Jim Ellison (Spiritual Gravity blog) Life is full of small miracles. Some people like to call them “coincidences”, but I think that “small miracles” is a much more fitting term. For me, Aikido has been a life-changing journey that has shaped me as a martial artist as well as a person, and has heavily influenced…
As an aikido practitioner and teacher for almost 4 decades, I occasionally get asked what advice I would give to someone who is just starting out in aikido. Probably the hardest thing to get used to as a new aikido student is learning how to move differently than how you are used to. In my…
Jim Ellison (Spiritual Gravity blog) and Tammy Epperson Have you ever watched martial artists on TV or in the movies and wanted to try it for yourself? Or maybe you have recently started taking a martial art, and are frustrated with your perceived slow progress and could use some advice or encouragement. Jim Ellison has…