Vicki also pours her heart into the dojo as well; she is a patient Aikido widow.

Vic has never said that I shouldn’t go to a class, in fact Vic is the one that makes sure I do go if I ever feel that I’m overloaded with work, or simply feel like it’s all too hard, she understands how Aikido is medicinal for me.
I would never have made it to Shodan without her.

I also need to thank my kids who I’m very proud of, Beth, Marek and Brittany, they are the reason we are an Aikido family.
The kids started almost 6 years ago, and have rarely missed a class, this has been demonstrated by Marek’s kids black belt and adult 3rd kyu brown belt; the girls have also trained hard and are only three gradings from their own black belts in kids class.

Voluminous thanks goes to Mori Sensei and Shuko San for their gift to all of us that come to the dojo (on and off the mat), through Sensei’s leadership and guidance we are all privileged to be able to learn and train at a peerless dojo.
Upon entry to the dojo Shuko’s smiling countenance is always there to boost us up along with her caring words and actions, both on and off the mat.
If it wasn’t for Sensei and Shuko’s continual support and guidance I know I wouldn’t have been able to make it Shodan, let alone 9th kyu, they helped me climb my own personal mountain in the very beginning, I can now see the extensive vista of Yoshinkan Aikido spread before me, although the horizon is still a long way off.
In many dojos around the world learning Aikido is still considered a mystical process that requires intense personal study of a Sensei at a distance, we are lucky that Mori Sensei gives us a balanced environment to learn Aikido in; we get the best of both worlds with Sensei’s traditional approach that has been enhanced by his own real world uchi deshi experience, allowing us easy access to his knowledge of Aikido and the power at it’s centre.

I have had many and varied ukes in my journey, and they have all tested, pushed, led and guided me to being able to make it to Shodan; not only the many white, brown and black belts that blazed the path ahead, travelled alongside, or kicked me up the backside, but also the treasures in the kids classes that Shuko and Sensei have allowed me the privilege of helping to train.
I continue to strive in my Aikido to have the relaxation and enthusiasm of the kids, and the spirit and precision of the adults.
There are many that I can name from the dojo that have all played their parts in helping me to Shodan, both on the mat, and prior to that as I fought to have the courage to step on the mat in the first place.
Thank you all, I really can’t thank you enough.

Looking back at my grading certificates I saw that all told it has taken me 3½ years to get to Shodan from my 9th kyu grading, not as long as I had thought, but still longer than I had expected; this is mostly due to my travel commitments for work.
What I have learnt though is that it was a journey that I needed to take, a journey that doesn’t end at Shodan.
As a family we first stepped into the dojo 6 years ago this July; the main reason was Vic and I wanted to give our children a foundation for their lives to allow them to be able to deal with crisis, both physical and within themselves.
I also started on the mat tentatively not long afterwards in late 2003, but due to work commitments and my own procrastination I only did a couple of classes.
In February 2004 my work got the better of me and I took 6 months of stress leave, in the subsequent 18 months I did a few classes of Aikido, but I was always there watching my kids on the mat.
Although I didn’t do much Aikido, I do credit the fact of being physically in the dojo as often as I was when off the mat to helping me rid some of the baggage that had contributed to my time off work.
To this day Aikido is still my refuge from stress, the simple act of walking through the draped curtains on the front doorway sweeps away any worries or angst I have had during the day.
We all can be noisy on and off the mat, but the dojo is a peaceful place for me, all my worries lie gagged and bereft of influence on the footpath outside.

Aikido has also helped me smooth the rough edges off my zeal for intellectual stimulation.
Many of us are physically exhausted and sweating profusely when we finish a class, but that is fleeting in comparison to the mental workout I always receive from class.
My father said to me recently that Aikido is the only interest he and my late Mother have ever known me to persist at for any length of time in my entire life, this is especially true as I am the proud owner of a five year old’s attention span.
My parent’s observation is borne out in the fact that Aikido has never bored me.
I think that this is because although the practice of Aikido is comparable to an iceberg, more below the waterline than above; to my mind Aikido is more of an Antarctic ice shelf, still with hidden depths below the surface, except it also has a great expanse or breadth above the water.
The depth is present across all the techniques, kata/kihon-dosa and grading curriculums Sensei has gifted us, and the breadth is present in the many variations that each technique has to offer, and the techniques we still do not know that we will all experience when we are ready to earn them.
So remember when Sensei demonstrates a technique we need to observe carefully and earnestly, for there are many nuances to the techniques that at first blush seem minor, but end up being as defining to the technique as the more obvious movements; this high level of awareness is a skill that I continually have to work on and is always a pleasant challenge in every class.

One of my main goals as I cross the yūdansha threshold is to not beat up on myself for my failings during gradings.
I still don’t plan on winding back my expectations, as my goal is to have the “perfect grading”, at least to my own satisfaction; this may be a long way off or even continually out of my reach, but if I look to this old saw “shoot for the eagle to bag the pheasant, so you don’t eat crow” as the force behind my training and gradings, I can at least be confident that I have done my best.

To me Shodan is the start of a long, long path on a mind bending journey, I have many things to learn about Aikido and about myself, that I’m positive that Aikido will draw out of me; not the least of these is to relax more, use my hips and not my arms, maintain harmony with uke or shite, and work on my balance in conjunction with my centre.
If we do these things I believe that the techniques will burrow their way into us, we just need to maintain our spirit to guide them in; this requires us to do more than just having an always-ready Osu and a strong Kiai.

Recently I started reading a translation of three books written by two Samurais during the Azuchi-Momoyama and early Edo periods, titled “Soul of the Samurai” by Dr Thomas Cleary.
The edited quote below is from the first book, “Martial Arts: The book of family traditions” (by Yagyu Munemori, Zen Sword Master (1571-1646), pages 23-25).

It describes the path I’d like to take on my Aikido journey.

“In all things, uncertainty exists because of not knowing. [...]
When the principle is clarified, nothing stays on your mind.
This is called consummating knowledge and perfecting things.
Once there is nothing on your mind, everything becomes easy to do.
For this reason, the practice of all the arts is to clear away what is on your mind. [...]
When the object of your study leaves your mind entirely, and practice also disappears, then when you perform the art [...] you accomplish the techniques easily without being inhibited by concern over what you’ve learned, yet without deviating from what you’ve learned.
This is spontaneous accord with learning, without subjective awareness of doing so. [...]
When you have perfected all sorts of exercise and built up achievement in cultivation of learning and practice, even as your hands, feet, and body act it does not hang on your mind”

OSU!

Mark Coleman

First Published at  Aikido Yoshinkan Brisbane Newsletter May 2009

I am now a new type of beginner, and I’ll be working hard in each of my subsequent gradings to improve my standard and work towards that “perfect” grading.

I know many at the dojo and friends and family will chastise me for looking for a “perfect” grading, but I think this cliche is appropriate “Shoot for the eagle to bag the pheasant, so you don’t eat crow”

Hmmm, can I use that in my newsletter article

OSU, have fun

I made some mistakes, recovered from some of them, and blundered through some others; the stuff I was worried about went fine, the stuff I was confident about, I didn’t do so well in.

Tuesday night is the first night back for classes, so hopefully I’ll be presented with my black belt by Sensei; then the next challenge isn’t the next grading, it’ll be writing an article for the newsletter on what it feels like to get a black belt.

I’ll publish the article here as well.

Link To YouTube for Director’s Cut of my grading (8 mins/50MB)

I lost my dear dear Mum to Cancer in February, after a relatively short period in hospital.
My Brother and Sister came over from England, but were too late to see her alive.
It has been the saddest time of my life since she left us.
I think of her everyday…….

I have done some more travel to Chile since then, 2 trips of 2 weeks each, and a short 3 day’er in Townsville.

Where possible I have done Aikido training, but it’s been hard of late due to either travel or the weight I have put back on since travelling over the last 18 months.

I have graded though and passed my gradings up to and including Jun-Shodan, so my next grading is in December for my Shodan (1st Dan black belt), hopefully I’ll be around for training as I’ll need all three months of training to get my head straight for the techniques in the grading.

One thing I am looking forward to is November, or what’s now going to be Movember for me, as I plan on shaving my Moustache to raise funds for Prostate Cancer and Male Depression charities.

My Movember website link is http://au.movember.com/mospace/1355411 so please drop by and donate, I’ll be posting messages and photos of the progress when I can.

Vic and I are going to the gym now, but getting up at 5am is a real hard slog, it’s ok once your up, but the self-talk to convince yourself to get out of bed is madness.

I’ve said it before, but I am planning to be a bit more regular in my postings, just don’t expect them to have anything in common, as most of you that know me know that I can be a bit eclectic.

Cheers…Mark

Second class was demo training, we did Aikiken and Kihon Dosa Renzoku, this was from Jun 3rd Kyu so I should know it off by heart.
I was a bit rusty but alright, need to do better next demo training class.

Jun 3rd Kyu is a special intermediate grading Sensei has put in between 4th Kyu White and 3rd Kyu Brown. It has a flowing combination of kata and Renzoku Waza, with some fixed techniques. It looks complex, but a good stepping stone to 3rd Kyu as 3rd Kyu has 90+ techniques you need to learn.

After Aikiken and Kihon Dosa we went into Renzoku Waza from brown belt grading, this was fun, but my kokyu nage isn’t very good, I don’t drop fast enough, I turn too soon, and I lean forward too much. When I do do it right you can feel the difference.

OSU

I had bought a brown belt from QLD Martial Arts Supplies on Monday in anticipation, hoping not to jinx it mind you

I walked into the Dojo and Sensei presented me with my certificate for passing, it was a great feeling, as expected Shuko San asked if I felt the responsibility, I agreed whole heartedly. Having colour in my belt is a big responsibility, I have a long way to go, but I remeber what I thought as a white belt about what brown belts should know.

I know having a brown belt isn’t close to even being ready to be a real beginner, but you are seen as knowing at least the basic moves. Hopefully I can live up to that.
OSU

Jim and I partnered up, Jim was first Shite, and we were called up first out of the two pairs for 3rd Kyu.
That meant that I had my back to the crowd and nearest Sensei, it’s probably the best spot as you can hear Sensei clearly and you can’t see the crowd.
Unfortunately the position didn’t make much difference to me, as I mucked up one technique “Suwari Waza Yokemen Uchi Sankyo Ni” I kept on going left instead of right when blocking Uke’s Yokemen. I did it twice and realised once I did it wrong and bowed to Sensei and Jim and I redid the technique, all was fine the third attempt
The only thing was that I caught the mistake and didn’t have Sensei tell me to do it again.

Two thirds of the way through I was really puffed out, and as I was second Shite I was really pushing it for my Renzoku Waza, as Jim has already thrown me to the mat 8 times in succession.

When Jim and I sat back down in seize waiting for the second pair to do their Renzoku Waza i had a great sense of relief come over me, I’d finished

We were the 6th grading on Saturday, and the last two gradings were for Richard and Emmanual’s Yondan (4th Dan). They were both very good, each with their own nuances, I was especially taken with Emmanual’s Ryote Mochi Tenchi Nage Ni one moment he was doing the ni turn and the next Jason, his uke, was flat on his back, the slide and Tenchi Nage positioning was lightning fast.

After the grading Jason asked for all brown belts to gather around, and he gave us some tips on our Renzoku Waza, do a full 180 degree turn and keep the throws in the one line.

All good tips, and Ill try and apply them during training in the coming week.

OSU

Well, since I last graded and passed 5th kyu I have graded and passed 4th and Jun-3rd kyu, that then meant I had 3 months to prepare for 3rd ky (Brown Belt) grading in June.

Since my last post I have also been doing some travel to Perth and doing interviews for Network Administrators for work, as well as doing Aikido training.

I have been going to Aikido approx 3 times a week, and doing the odd second class.
I haven't been in the best mindset lately, I can't pin my finger on it, probably nerves due to the upcoming grading.

The brown belt grading has 94 techniques, 3 are mandatory and 3 are random picks by Sensei, with mixtures of standing and kneeling (Suwari-Waza) techniques.
I'll only end up getting to 3 classes this week, due to public holiday on Monday and out of sorts tonight (see next post).
Next week there is a full week of grading training, so I'll be trying to get to all 9 classes available to me.

Considering I'm home tonight I'll try and catchup some work due to some time-out I had today.

I find the hard part with doing the techniques is once you think you have mastered one intricacy you find you need to polish another that you thought you had all sorted.
I guess this all helps to maintain a Zen like focus, as you need to be aware of all things, but not one in particular.
I am reading a English reinterpretation of Miyamoto Mushashi’s The Book of Five Rings called The book of Five Rings for Executives. one of the quotes was about moving like water, being ordered and flexible. I am finding this hard to do, but is a challenge I am attacking.

Grading training from Saturday, not sure I can make Saturday, but then it’s on for young and old from Monday, 4th Kyu will be challenging as they are Ni versions of the Ichi techniques in 5th Kyu.

We went onto a renzoku variation of this technique, and I didn’t roll properly and dinged my left shoulder, normally my right is the dodgy one.
Halfway through I felt very drained, but I managed to get to the end of class, but I really felt the fact I didn’t do enough exercise whilst away, as well as eating too much

I need to to do more Aikido and get my fitness up, so I’m going tonight after kids class, it’ll be my last class before 4th kyu grading training starts on Saturday, so I need to get fit again for next week, as I’ll be doing about 7 hours of training on the mat.