AOSB Newsletters

Belated November News: AOSB on the Move

Belated November News:
AOSB on the Move

Inryokyu Volume 6 Issue 11

by Josh Paul, AOSB Head Instructor

I know. The November 2024 edition is late. It’s the second time since 2020 that I’ve missed an issue. I’ll admit, publishing monthly is a point of pride for me, but I have a good excuse: I have actual news (versus my usual rambling), and I had to wait until all the pieces of the news were in place before I could publish it. I hope to publish a second issue this month with my thoughts about the news. This issue is practical information.

I’m both very excited and rather sad to announce that after more than a decade of aikido at 205 Columbia St, WE’RE MOVING! Our lease is up for renewal and it is just too (f***!) expensive. We’ll continue training at Columbia St through January 2025. In February 2025, we’ll begin classes at the very cool INDUSTRY CITY! 

September 4, 2012. New lease in hand!

I will continue as head instructor at the new location, but we also have a new dojo name, a new dojo-cho, and new management. The new training space is big, clean, and beautiful. We have every confidence that this move and the accompanying changes are changes for the better.

Thank you for your support and dedication to Aikido of South Brooklyn and the art of aikido. Industry City, here we come!

Below are many of the details about the upcoming changes, and answers to many questions. Keep reading and keep and eye out for more news and details!

Industry City courtyard.

What’s the new address and contact info?
Industry City
67 35th St
Building 5, Floor 3, Studio C358
Brooklyn, New York 11232
kzadojo.com
kza.dojocho@gmail.com
@kzadojo

What’s the new name?
Kaizenkan Aikido Dojo

Who is the dojo-cho?
Josh Sensei will continue as the head instructor.

Stephanie Flores Sensei is taking over as dojo-cho, and will oversee the dojo’s day-to-day operations. Stephanie Sensei brings decades of aikido and managerial experience to the role.

Greg Squared, Felipe Perez, and Avi Kaplan will be working with Stephanie Sensei, and taking on various administrative and managerial responsibilities. They all bring decades of aikido experience and diverse professional experiences to the dojo. Together, they will ensure a smooth transition to the new location, and ongoing dojo operations.

What should I do until the move?
Keep training! There’s nothing else to do. In early January, we’ll send you enrollment forms for the new dojo. Throughout the month, we’ll be setting up the space. In late January, we’ll move the mats and start classes.

What’s the new class schedule? What are the fees?
Please visit our new website and follow us on Instagram for the latest details on tuition and schedules.

What does kaizen mean?
The new dojo’s name is Kaizenkan Aikido Dojo. Kaizen means “change for the better.” It is a philosophy of continuous improvement that emphasizes how small, incremental changes can produce large improvements over time across all aspects of life. It is a philosophy we embrace on and off the mat. KZA Dojo, like AOSB, will be affiliated with the Aikido World Alliance.

What about remote/private students?
Tuition and scheduling will remain the same for remote students. Josh Sensei will also be offering private instruction in-person and online.

What if I have an intro package or pay quarterly?
Any new member packages or quarterly payments will be adjusted individually. 

Getting Esoteric: Favorite O'Sensei Quotes

Getting Esoteric: Favorite O'Sensei Quotes

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 10

Having just returned from the AWA’s Fall Camp with Eiji Katsurada Sensei, I was inspired to reread The Art of Peace. After revisiting some of my favorite passages, I started asking my students about their favorite O’sensei quotes. It’s the best idea I’ve had in a long time. It’s revealed if, when, and how they think about their practice off the mat. It’s also been great fun discussing the quotes, and discovering which quotes resonate with different people. Here’s first response, and it’s wonderful. What’s your favorite O’sensei quote? Let us know and we’ll add it to the collection!

Yondan Essay: The Application of Aikido in My Daily Life

Yondan Essay: The Application of Aikido in My Daily Life

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 9

I once read that to understand aikido, aikido must be practiced as a lifestyle. I wanted to understand aikido. I still do. And so I set about integrating aikido into my life, so much so that it is difficult for me to explain how I apply aikido to my daily life because aikido is my daily life. There is no separation between training, the dojo, and some other self and life. It is all one. I try to apply the principles of aikido to my relationships, my lingering part-time day job, and the management of my dojo and, in return, the practice of aikido opens the world before me.

What is Aikido?

What is Aikido?

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 7

This month’s issue of Inryoku is a throwback to my 2004 shodan essay What is Aikido?

For black belt promotions, the Aikido World Alliance requires written essays. For shodan, there are two topics: What is Aikido? and What is Shugyo? These essays are personal reflections on how aikido has changed, informed, and enriched your life.

I tested for shodan in August 2004. With this anniversary approaching, I took a deep dive into my computer archives, and unearthed this essay. It is timestamped July 23, 2004. Here’s an excerpt:

Studying, practicing, and exercising these basic principles is aikido. It is awareness of our surroundings and the people around us, as well as maintaining the four basic principles that makes aikido unique, and self-defensive.

I hope you will enjoy this trip down memory lane with me.

Get Curious: What's on Your Next Exam?

Get Curious: What's on Your Next Exam?

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 6

Fill your practice with curiosity and exploration. The kyu/dan requirements tell a story—it’s a narrative, not a checklist. My Medieval literature professor in college began every lecture with the question, “what is this text trying to convince us of?” What are the kyu requirements trying to convince you of? It’s not “I need to know this technique,” but rather, “why do I need to know this technique, and why now?” What is the skill set that this set of techniques is trying to impart at this point in my practice?

Mixed-Age Practice and Neuroscience 

Mixed-Age Practice and Neuroscience 

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 5

For this month’s issue of Inryoku, we are thrilled to present on article an the value of mixed-aged practice written by dojo member Jamie O’Hara Zeigler. At AOSB, we offer classes for kids ages 4-5 and 6-12 years, and adults. The adult classes are for ages 13 and older. The current age range in adult classes is 13 to 72.

Over the last 25 years, we’ve seen and experimented with different age breakdowns. While there are some advantages to smaller cohorts, bringing together teenagers and adults with a common pursuit is a unique and valuable experience and, we think, makes for better aikido.

Entering: Reflections on a Misaligned Front Door

Entering: Reflections on a Misaligned Front Door

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 4

“The way people interacted with the door was often reflective of how they interacted with their training partners. Your training partners, exams, kata, demonstrations…these things are all obstacles to be negotiated. They are all doors to pass through. And when you come to a door, do you expect to turn the knob and walk through without resistance? Do you expect the same when doing ikkyo? And when you meet resistance, how do you respond?”

Revisiting 2012 Spring Camp with Eiji Katsurada Sensei

Revisiting 2012 Spring Camp with Eiji Katsurada Sensei

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 4 (bonus issue)

This bonus issue of Inryoku first appeared in a 2012 issue of the Aikido World Alliance’s newsletter. It’s about the AWA’s 2012 Spring Camp with Eiji Katsurada Sensei from Hombu Dojo in Toyko, Japan. Katsurada Sensei is ranked nanadan and holds the title of shihan (7-degree black belt and “teacher of teachers”). He is a student of Aikido Doshu Moriteru Ueshiba (doshu means leader of the way). Ueshiba Doshu is the grandson of aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba. You cannot get much closer to aikido’s origins than this!

I dug up this article because Katsurada Sensei will be teaching at the AWA’s 2024 Fall Camp! The seminar is October 17-20 at Keishinkan Dojo in Memphis, TN. I hope this article will help inspire and motivate you to attend. Click here for seminar details and registration.

Flexibility and Fitness in Aikido

Flexibility and Fitness in Aikido

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 3

Flexibility and fitness are sometimes overlooked aspects of a standard one-hour aikido class. There’s only so much that can be covered in an hour, so we tend to give preference to technique practice. After all, you can easily stretch in your living room, but you can’t always practice at home with your partner or roommate (especially if they don't train.) Aikido has homework, and part of the homework is cultivating flexibility and fitness beyond what’s achievable in class. 

Dojo Etiquette: Something to Worry About?

Dojo Etiquette: Something to Worry About?

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 2

Dojo etiquette is being helpful, treating others as you wish to be treated, and practicing safely. It is putting the needs of the dojo and the community ahead of your personal needs. It is an attitude and lifestyle worthy of worry, preservation, and transmission. Without etiquette there’s no “mystique” to the dojo—it’s just another fitness class. Etiquette is the most practical skill we cultivate in the dojo. It is the one that we can use daily, and in all our interactions. O’sensei said that aikido is medicine for a sick world, and our world is certainly diseased with vulgarity and incivility.

Twenty Five Years of Aikido

Twenty Five Years of Aikido

Inryoku Volume 6 Issue 1

This year marks my 25th year of aikido. During that time there have been no significant breaks or gaps in my practice. I’ve continued training through all sorts of life events like getting divorced and remarried, having a son, injuries, surgeries (including an emergency root canal), pandemics, natural catastrophes, new friendships, career changes, betrayals, and the invasion of social media. Taken altogether, it begs one simple question: Why?

Yes, Aikido Seminars are Important!

Yes, Aikido Seminars are Important!

In January 2023, I posted a newsletter about the importance of attending aikido seminars. In fact, I think seminars are so important that I decided to re-share that article this month. And not just because I haven’t written anything new. It’s also because of the timing. The 2024 seminar announcements are starting to roll out, meaning it is time for you to decide which seminars you’ll attend, choose among hotels, AirBnBs, planes, trains, and automobiles, and submit vacation requests. It’s time to plan your 2024 seminar calendar! But why? Why should you attend one or more seminars in 2024? Keep reading to find out.

Why Does Uke Fall?

Why Does Uke Fall?

In a routine aikido class, students pair off and assume the roles of nage and uke. The nage is commonly described as the defender—the one executing an aikido technique. Uke is commonly referred to as the attacker—the one striking or grabbing and falling in response to nage’s technique. But why does uke fall? When you are uke, are you thinking about why you’re falling?

Aikido in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Aikido in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence wrote this newsletter. Well, not exactly. It inspired this newsletter. The article written by SquareSpace’s new AI app is at the end of the page. It’s not a bad article, but also not very readable. It doesn’t sound like me, although it says all the right things about aikido in the age of AI. And if you don’t know me or if you are unfamiliar with my writing, you might not realize that a robot wrote it.

Is Dojo Etiquette Necessary?

Is Dojo Etiquette Necessary?

The dojo is more than a physical space. It is a culture, too. To maintain the dojo’s “mystique,” our manners, dress, and behavior—our etiquette—should more formal and deliberate than elsewhere. This begins by understanding and remembering that we are dojo members, not clients or customers. Membership is a privilege, not a purchase.

Aikido as an Encounter with Healing 

Aikido as an Encounter with Healing 

When I started aikido at the age of 45, I had never been inside a dojo except as a parent. Falling terrified me. Conflict—especially physical—was best avoided. And I would go out of my way to feel safe, which meant practicing people like me. Three months later, I look forward to falls, and I prefer practicing with everyone across the gender spectrum, regardless of age and rank.