My First Winter Seminar

By Keith Lit, Florida Aikikai

Editor's Note: Keith Lit is a 3rd kyu at Florida Aikikai, and has been a valued contributor to dojo projects, which include organizing the annual Winter Seminar.

It’s 10 a.m. and we are bowing in. I raise my head and body and feel a little shocked by the sharp, breathy sound of so many bodies moving in the same way around me. We are in a ballroom trimmed in plush colors and hanging chandeliers, the large doors to the patio opened and the cool ocean air lofting in. There is a huge picture of O-Sensei at the front and lined up in long rows facing it are around 300 students of Aikido. I am near the middle of the third row and trying to watch the front carefully, but I am nervous and excited and hyper-aware of the people around me.

In the front row, some of the most senior students and teachers of the federation are sitting at the center, and though I try to hold a quiet mind when bowing in, I can't help but take notice of them and feel a little overwhelmed. They look like giants with incredible posture, and I feel small and slumped, but inspired. I've seen several of them before, on Web sites and videos, and I struggle to decipher their names embroidered in katakana on the backs of their hakama. At the very front, before O-Sensei’s picture, Yamada Sensei accepts the bow of this large group and rises to his feet, as we rise with him.

This is my first time to see Yamada Sensei, my first USAF seminar and the first ballroom I have practiced in. For the last six months I have practiced at my dojo and have become basically obsessed with Aikido. My wife and I started practicing Aikido while living in Japan, and it was a blessing that we fell in love with from the beginning. We had a wonderful teacher and spent a year at a dojo that was for us a beautiful and almost fantastical experience. When we arrived back in this country recently, we didn’t know anything about different federations, styles, teachers, or dojo. We only knew we wanted to practice a lot, and we found an apartment near Florida Aikikai mostly because of its schedule.

We couldn’t have been luckier, because we suddenly found ourselves taking daily classes with incredible teaching and a whole new world of the American Aikido culture. Most important of all, we again have senseis and we are devoted to them, something that brings me a lot of joy. Now I find myself, six months later, on my tiptoes, peering over shoulders to see what my sensei’s sensei is doing.

We breathe. Raising and lowering our arms together, we breathe in and breathe out. My focus sharpens a little and the bodies all around me become more anonymous and energized. We take another breath. Sensei claps his hands and as we all suddenly sit he has already done a tenkan and is right behind his uke, stretching him out. Shocked, I watch as carefully as I can three more quick repetitions of the technique and hope I understand at least a little of what is happening. We bow again, and everyone turns to find partners. Another student and I bow to each other and stand up, both of us a little unsure and confused. There are bodies everywhere and it’s difficult to know how to practice.

We start slow and just try to move and get used to bumping into people, and I am really hesitant when I hear Sensei tell the group to take ukemi. Still, we manage to fall, and I discover the interesting experience of taking my ukemi straight down while watching in the reflective ceiling. Soon Sensei begins another technique, we choose new partners, the room is heating up despite the open windows, my partner and I manage to use a little more space without colliding into other people, and I can feel practice really starting to happen. Forgetting more and more about who is who and what I might be, I focus on the wrist I’m grabbing, the response to my partner’s movements, my direction, my mistakes. It’s a state I know and cherish and I feel much more comfortable now, even as I get a bit of someone’s heel in the side of my head.

Techniques and partners change, I meet people, chat, throw, and fall, and soon class has finished and we are lined up again facing the kamiza. We bow and wait for Sensei to leave the mat. As I get up, I find my partners and we thank each other and introduce ourselves, and it’s really clear that people are excited and ready to have a good time.

The weekend started intensely and continued to be exciting and magical all the way through. That first morning we had a second class with Shibata Sensei, and I was enchanted from the first moments by his grace, power, and presence. I was utterly confused about what technique was being practiced much of the class, but much of the time was spent watching Sensei and I could feel that there were unbelievably big things to be learned from his demonstration and that I needed a lot more practice to become more open to what he was teaching.

That class, too, passed quickly and then you could really feel the seminar was underway. There was a lunch break and more classes. It was a bit of a whirlwind that first day, four hours of working out plus to the tasks that we, as hosts, were doing during the 10-minute breaks. Many people, including Sugano Sensei, hadn’t made it to Florida because of weather and jam-packed northern airports, so the schedule of classes was shifted and revised several times. By the end of the day, I was quite tired and already feeling a bit sore, but even the aches and fatigue were buzzing with excitement.

The following two days were wonderful, as well. There was so much Aikido happening -- classes throughout the day in the ballroom and classes on the patio with weapons and many different instructors. In all the partners and groups that I was a part of I met many interesting and open people. There were so many strong people, moving in different ways with different personalities to their practice, and I felt my own movement being affected and expanded by this intensive exposure. To be honest, it was really confusing much of the time and I stumbled through several techniques, but all the while I could tell that it was OK to be confused and that there was way too much to make sense of at my level. Even the most advanced students seemed to still have so much to learn from the two masters with whom we were studying. They were truly astounding, and the community that has grown around their teaching was something quite humbling and inspiring for me to experience for the first time.

One of my favorite parts of the seminar was watching one of our senior members with whom I have practiced a lot take his sandan test. Watching him put forth in front of everyone the Aikido that he has built over the years, I had a strong sense of how early into this process I am, and how much I just want to keep going and going along the path. The passion that I saw and felt from the incredible group of people at this Winter Seminar is an inspiration that will no doubt help drive me forward on my way. Thank you.