August 2011

Seidokan Aikido Communicator Part 2

Summer Camp Japan 2012
We are looking at having Summer Camp in Japan. Hosts Chris Koprowski and Darren Cook are working on putting together information (i.e. prices, schedules). Here is some of the information they have sent to give you an idea of cost and schedules: We're thinking the first or second week of July (during the week), i.e. July 1st 6nd; July 8th -13th, 2012... depending on facility availability and attendees preference. A short, intensive 3-day/4-night camp with three training sessions per day (9 sessions total); 30 attendees, shared rooms, training: 12,600 ($160)per person + transportation, meals, incidentals. Or a longer 5-day/6-night camp with THREE (morning/afternoon/ late afternoon) training sessions on MON, WED, FRI...and two ""free" days (TUES, THURS) to explore Tokyo and outskirts. {The rules say we still need to book an activity each day so we could offer ONE training session Tues/Thurs as "optional" training} (11 sessions); 30 attendees, shared rooms, training: 18,840 ( $240.00) per person + transportation, meals, incidentals. Training sessions are 10:00 - 12:00; 13:00 - 15:00; 15:30 - 17:30. There doesn't seem to be any evening slots available for reservation

Inside this issue:

Japan 2012

Overall cost will depend on what extra activities attendees will participate in, i.e. if they want to stay close to the facility, dine in/out, go traveling, etc. If guests want to take day trips outside of Tokyo, then the costs will increase. This is only a rough guide and a best 'guestimate' right now. However we need to know if there is enough interest to pursue having camp in Japan next year. Please email Dr. Mark or Michiyo to share your thoughts (yeah or nah) so that we can get an accurate count. If there is not enough commitment, we will look for a different location. Please email them at seidokan1981@gmail.com Respectfully submitted: Tammy Kloack

Camp Insights New Beginnings Interview Promotions Upcoming Events and Tape

2-9 10-11 12-14 15 16-17

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Reflections on 30 years of Seidokan Aikido By Doug Wedell This years camp marked Seidokan Aikidos 30th year. Certainly Kobayashi Sensei was smiling down on our training as his dream continued to blossom and grow at camp and across our many dojos. Like a bamboo forest, the principles and love Sensei shared with us are taking root in thousands of hearts and minds and growing stronger. The Kobayashi family has kept the Seidokan spirit alive, and that spirit was reflected wonderfully in every facet of our camp, on and off the mat. When I asked Sensei long ago what he felt was the most important principle to teach students of Aikido, he replied immediately, respect. Respect of students and teachers for each other, and of each of us for our fellow human beings, is at the core of our Aikido training. Respect also reminds us to be humble. When Kobayashi Sensei was introduced to OSensei, he was amazed that OSensei maintained a low bow, indicating his respect for what Kobayashi Sensei was doing for Aikido. The spirit of respect and joyful training permeated our time in Michigan and continues in the training in our own dojos. On the anniversary of these 30 years of Seidokan, we can bow low to Sensei, to the Kobayashi family, to the teachers and students alike, and be assured that the next 30 years will continue our growth in the principles. Domo Arigato Gozai Mashita

Volume 1, Issue 4

My thoughts from Georgia By Steve Bessonny, Seiwa Dojo (from Atlanta) I began practicing at Seiwa Dojo under Dr. Crapo sensei and Janean sensei. After an amazing 10 years, I was forced to leave the dojo when my family and I relocated from Michigan to Atlanta. For the past year, I have practiced at several different dojo, but have not found a place to call home. I have stayed in touch with Dr. Crapo sensei and he has repeatedly asked me when I was going to open a Seidokan dojo in the Atlanta area. I believe camp was the motivating spark I needed to begin the process of opening a dojo. Doug Wedell sensei was also very encouraging. I will keep all up to date as I work to make this a reality. Thanks to all for a great camp.

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Seidokan Aikidos Thirtieth Year, My First Summer Camp By Andrew Graczyk, South Carolina I spent a great deal more time trying to write this article than I would be comfortable admitting. It was not because of any lack of material or ideas from which to draw; I learned many things from many people and could go on for hours about what happened at the camp, the insightful comments given to me by various instructors (Larry Wadahara and Dr. Steve McAdam would have had every right to be sick of my questions by the end of the weekend), the wonderful seminars, and the sense of camaraderie both on and off the mat. What held up my articles progress was actually my desire to encapsulate the feeling of all those experiences in some meaningful way that also did not rival War and Peace in its word count. I worried that I would not do justice to the summer camp as an event or Seidokan Aikido as an entity, or that my comments, being those of someone who has only practiced Aikido for four years and has only just been awarded the rank of Nikkyu, would lack any meaningful insight into the events of the weekend. For hours I wracked my brain and struggled to find the perfect angle and specific topic within the greater scope of Seidokan Aikido and the summer camp for which I could write an article that would contain some reflection worth reading. So determined and single-minded was I in this goal I had created for this article that I did not see how the very single-minded determination that was driving me was also preventing me from ever really accomplishing the goal I had set for myself. On the morning of July twenty-second I laughed aloud in an empty room, not because of some deteriorating mental state but because in an instant I realized the irony of spending hours struggling to come up with and write about some perfect topic for a Seidokan Aikido summer camp. In struggling to find such a topic, in trying to tailor the interpretation of my own experiences to some conception I have of what other people will find useful or interesting, I disregarded literally everything Aikido and my instructor (Dr. Doug Wedell) have taught me over the last four years. Yes, my experiences at the summer camp were those of a relatively inexperienced follower of our art, but that does not mean they could not prove useful to someone. Many peoples insights contain similar messages, but the differences in how they are expressed can make all the difference in a listeners (or readers) understanding. In attempting to write the paper I repeated the most dire mistakes I often make in Aikido: I tried to force something to move in the way I thought it should, I did not harmonize with the intentions of the communicator itself, I treated the article as an adversary, and, last but certainly not least, I refused to relax. Before I realized the irony in my methods for writing the article I had decided to attempt demonstrate through anecdotes how my experiences at the summer camp not only taught me important lessons in Aikido, but also reminded me how much more I have to learn. In one final ironic twist I suppose my experience just while writing this article has demonstrated the same thing, though certainly not how I expected. This article I wrote in twenty minutes. I did not struggle to find the perfect topic and I did not worry about whether or not anyone would find it insightful, only whether or not it was what I felt I should write. This experience showed me that, while the summer camp can provide instruction from and interaction with many great people, such interaction is not always necessary to reveal mistakes in ones practice of Aikido. In Seidokan we believe that anyone can reveal something important about the art, and maybe sometimes you reveal those things to yourself, if only accidentally. That being said, I would like to express my gratitude to all of those who have instructed me, and by that I mean all those with whom I have ever practiced, because without you I would never have been able to learn.

Volume 1, Issue 4

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Seidokan Aikido Summer Camp June 2011 By Janet Adams, Seiwa Dojo I love the Aiki-taiso. I love that its the first thing we learn, the first thing we do in every class, that everything else we learn comes back to the Aiki-taiso, and that we are never really done learning it. I appreciated each of the Aiki-taiso classes and instructors, but one of the Aikitaisos in particular was memorable. The Aiki-taiso class led by Kobayashi Senseis video had very special meaning on this 30 year anniversary of Seidokan Aikido. Being on the mat with Mrs. K, many of the Seidokan Aikido leaders, and fellow students, sharing the Aiki-taiso to the voice and image of Kobayashi Sensei was not only unifying mind and body for me, but everyone on the mat, and the organization. Here are some of the items that really impacted my camp experience: The One Point Exercises by Barbra Rodriquez. The class started off with an impressively slow, smooth, controlled, perfect ukemi. He kept his one point through every degree of the entire ukemi. It was amazing how simple it looks going that slow. Due to a temporary medical condition, Im not allowed to practice ukemi. I am looking forward to practicing ukemi at some point in the future, and will learn ukemi, practicing with what we learned in this awesome class. At one point in Mariko Kages class, she had us do udefuri while blending with a partner. It was like a moving hug with open arms. Then we did it in a line, blending with one partner after another. It reminded me of a dance or a duet. With so many people on the mat, blending and harmonizing, it was a very cool feeling and learning experience. Larry Wadaharas Kengi class demonstrated the difference between holding a weapon, and extending your ki through your weapon. We can tell a difference when someone is working on the mat with Ki or just merely being there, so it was neat to see it applied to the weapons. I am looking forwarding to learning more throughout this next year of practice and seeing everyone at camp next year.

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A different type of camp this summer: Blind camp 5/12/11 By Clyde Morgan, Seiwa Dojo Western Michigan University hosts a blind student camp annually, where the students are taught various martial arts among other things. Bronson, from Southside dojo in Kalamazoo has taken his students there for several years to help out the blind students. This year I decided to make the time to go and help if I could, wow!! What a treat for me, these kids are fearless!! I really had no idea what to expect, but they started off with some stretches, then forward and backward rolls, they would just roll toward the voice at the end of the mat. Bronson had them doing techniques from ryo kata grabs with very little instruction. They would drop each other to the mat with little regard about height, or distance of fall. It is truly amazing to experience aikido with students that have to listen to your words, or that have to feel that technique as a true part of themselves in order to duplicate it. I look forward to helping next year too!

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Camp Photos:
We had a great celebration time on Friday night!

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Beginnings By: Dr. Mark Crapo At camps, seminars and sometimes in e-mail, some of our members express an interest in how they might go about getting a dojo started. Since one of the founding ideals of Seidokan is to share our knowledge with others, we thought an on-going column covering this topic might give seasoned, or fairly new, dojo heads a chance to share, from their experience, while the tips may help others grow and further spread our art as they start teaching on their own. There are a number of models a dojo might follow; Teaching... out of your garage, back yard or even living room to get things started at a community center at a Y Center or other youth or sports club at a school as part of an intramural or after school sports/education program through a continuing education program in a high school or community college an actual, for credit, college course and perhaps then, a college club at your own, free standing, school . I'm sure there may be others and we'd like to hear from any of you with your thoughts, ideas, tips or questions in what you did to start or what problems you might be facing as you start.

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something to share in the New Beginnings Column?

I'll start the ball rolling with a few thoughts of my own. I think the last option I listed, having your own free standing dojo, is without doubt, the toughest way to go. I started teaching in Michigan in 1984, after moving home from Los Angeles. As a way to introduce Aikido to the area (there were no Aikido dojo within an hour of Battle Creek) I offered to teach an introductory class through the local high school. I also offered to teach a seminar on Aikido Principles to the football team and show them things that could Do you have help them the very same day. (Principles to Unify Mind and Body) This went much better than I could have hoped for and I ended up doing this for about two years. At the same time I was asked to expand and offer classes to the students in an after school program. This was a repeating six week program that I did for about 2 years. I taught pretty much the same thing every six weeks; obviously just enough time to cover some of the basics. This was really great for my own growth as I repeatedly went over the fundamentals, which helped them become a part of me, while the questions and problems the students came up with helped me learn from them - the students.

After doing this for about a year, some of the teachers (whom I'd done several self-defense seminars for) asked me to teach classes for them. I ended up teaching at a Tennis / Sports Club in Kalamazoo, which most of them belonged to. I often taught the class in a racquetball court - no mats. (One of the great things about Seidokan is we generally don't do "break falls" but sit our uke down, which can be done fairly gently when teaching outside or inside without tatami.) One of the great benefits of teaching in the above settings, aside from my personal growth/ learning, was the financial aspect. I didn't have any financial responsibilities. I offered seminars at no cost, but from that, started teaching in the school and was paid an hourly rate. At the Sports Club, I as paid a portion of the fees they charged for the class. (It was a looong time ago but I think it was a 50/50 split or maybe they only took 40 and I got 60?) I later taught in the evening Adult Enrichment Program and was paid a portion from each student that enrolled. Not only was I getting paid but I didn't have to do any real bookwork/accounting, pay any bills or come up with money to buy any equipment. As a matter of fact, the classes at the Sports Club went very well and the Club bought mats for the class after about six months. Continued on next page

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As I said, I did this for about two years. I then joined a couple other martial arts instructors and started the Battle Creek Budokan. We had classes in Kendo, Uechi-ryu Karate and Aikido. Eventually, maybe 4 or 5 years, my classes grew and we wanted more Aikido classes (I had one class on Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat and Sun) then we could get when sharing the mat time, so I rented space solely for my dojo. After about 10 years we moved into our present space, which we are still buying. Sometimes I'm not so sure owning my own space is the smartest thing in the world. Now instead of being paid to teach, I have to throw extra money in at the end of the month to pay the heating bill (which can be $500 a month in the winter), paper towels, floor cleaner, rock salt (to melt ice in the winter) or taxes. I say this so anyone thinking of starting their own dojo is reminded of the costs of setting up and running a business. In my case it's a business that I've never taken a paycheck from and a good month is one in which I breakeven. Partly this is intentional; I only charge $25 a month for kids, $30 for full time students and $40 for adults with some pretty good family rates to boot. This is my way of giving back to an art that has meant so much to me for the last 40 years. This is a start, a beginning, people want to know how did YOU start, where did YOU get mats, what about insurance or, or, or... ??? Please write down some of your experiences and send them in for the Beginnings column. In Oneness, Dr. Mark Crapo Seidokan Aikido Shihan-Bucho

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AIKIDO BEGINNINGS: Doug Wedell Sensei By John Robertson I had the opportunity to interview Sensei Doug Wedell at this years camp in Battle Creek, Michigan and was able to do some relevant research beforehand. Ive met and even interviewed many high ranking Senseis from all over the world - all good men and women who are devoted to their art. Still, the highest compliment I can give, and I give it to Dr. Douglas H. Wedell, is that to me he is Shichidan Doug Wedell Sensei, and, oh yeah, I think hes some kind of professor as well. When youre on the mat with Sensei Wedell, theres no doubt in your mind that youre being led by a man who knows exactly what hes doing and knows exactly what he wants out of you. Theres never any ambiguity to his intentions. You quickly become an empty (and curious) vessel that allows him to pour his experience willingly into you, and he seems to be able to do that with the smallest amount of instruction. Doug started his martial arts training by attending wrestling camps with his brother beginning in third grade and continued to compete in wrestling through this first year of college. He told me that he considered wrestling to be the great American Martial Art, good training, but without the spiritual element. Still, even in wrestling, there were signs of an Aikidoka on the mat. Doug considered himself a finesse wrestler. He never tried to overpower his opponent, but trick them into falling. He mentioned that his High School wrestling coach had gone to a seminar and came back with a discussion of Unbendable Arm and asked his students to consider relaxing as they practiced. Still, wrestling wasnt taking him anywhere spiritually. After his sophomore year at the University of Illinois, he read a book by George Leonard, The Ultimate Athlete. Leonard included two chapters on Aikido in this highly read book. (Some of you may have read George Leonards book, The Way of Aikido, The Life of an American Sensei.) Those two chapters on Aikido in The Ultimate Athlete got Doug Wedell interested in Aikido, and as he says, made he want more.

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Interview with Doug Wedell Sensei

When he went back to the University of Illinois his junior year, he saw a poster announcing an Aikido demonstration by Robin Heifetz. Doug made it to the demonstration and that just about did it for him, he got the more he was looking for. Always interested in Eastern Philosophy, he joined Sensei Robin Heifetzs Ki Society Group and loved it right from the start. He was twenty years old at the time. Doug told me that Robin did a great thing for him in that he brought Sensei Kobayashi out twice in his first year of Aikido. Doug loved Sensei Kobayashis light spirit on the mat. Kobayashi always seem to be bubbling with enthusiasm. His lessons really stuck with Doug. Sensei Joe Birdsong, who is now in Austin, was Dougs first Aikikai teacher. Wedell Sensei joined Birdsongs Aikikai group two months after joining Robin Heifetzs group. He had heard there was another Aikido organization on campus and wanted to see what they were all about. Fortunately these two groups practiced on different days, so Doug could train with both groups without conflict. So he was training six days a week and going to school. Doug was interviewed by Joe Birdsong, as were the other members of the Aikikai group, as to why they started Aikido. Joe Birdsong was getting his Ph.D. in Anthropology at the time and very much wanted to document why so many people started Aikido for Martial Arts reasons and came out the other end wanting spiritual development. Sensei Wedell says he still follows Birdsongs notions that a key element of Aikido is transforming yourself to focus on spiritual development. Continued on next page

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Unfortunately both Joe Birdsong and Robin Heifetz were only at the university for the first year of Dougs training. That left brown belts to the task of trying to lead the training. Both groups often visited Chicago to train with more senior teachers: Ki Societys Shihan, Fumio Toyoda Sensei, and Aikikais Shihan, Akira Tohei Sensei. After graduating from Illinois and having been exposed to three Shihans, Doug decided that he really wanted to train with Shihan Rod Kobayashi Sensei in California. He wrote Sensei Kobayashi a letter, emphasizing his seriousness about training with him and asked if he could stay at the dojo. Doug says it was funny because from time to time Sensei Kobayashi would remind him that he still had that letter and they would both laugh about it. Doug studied with Kobayashi Sensei in Los Angeles for seven intense years (1979-1986), four or five days a week, while getting his graduate degrees at UCLA. Wedell Sensei said that after 1981, the birth of Seidokan, Kobayashi felt freer to develop the art more. The art kept changing, changing, changing, and sometimes coming back full circle. This process gave Doug the idea that its all right to experiment in accordance with the principles. According to Doug, Kobayashi Sensei was very fond of O-Senseis saying: Ive created over 3,000 arts, but these are but empty shells, go develop yourselves further, students of the way. Sensei Wedell took this to mean, study the essence, not the empty shells, and keep this a living, breathing art. Doug loved working with the other Aikido Institute of America (AIA) students and teachers at the time: Jim Shibata, Mark Adachi, John Carter, Gene Lamb, and Steve Muchnikoff, to name a few. Doug says that some of the essence of each of his teachers and friends is in him, and hopefully some of his essence is in the students that he is training now. He hopes that the next generation of Aikidoka will take the art further.

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My goal is for you to learn, your goal is for you to learn, so lets figure together out how we can do this.

To write Sensei Wedell off as just a good Aikido teacher and oh yeah, a college professor too, is an injustice that I wont continue. Dr. Douglas H. Wedell is a Professor of Cognitive Psychology. The motivating force behind Dr. Wedell's research is an attempt to better understand how context affects how we think about and interact with the world. He is as prolific in his academic writings as he is with his martial arts presentations. If you care to research any of his many academic papers, simply Google: Douglas H. Wedell, and if you havent seen his Aikido videos please go to: http://people.cas.sc.edu/wedell/aikido/ or You Tube: Doug Wedell, a must see. Do you think that trying to figure out why people react the way they do by studying their minds would affect how you train a person in Aikido? Or better yet, attempting to teach people to harmonize and follow the principles of Aikido would affect how you educate and research an academic subject like psychology? Sensei Wedell says that both scenarios ring true. Academia seems rather tame, but there are many battles being draw to discredit your research or tear apart your methodology. Aikido teaches you to recognize what they are saying by following what they are saying (go with the flow) and see where its going. Maybe they're right? This allows them to follow what youre saying. When youre in the classroom with students and they get miffed, you have to find a way to see their perspective. My goal is for you to learn, your goal is for you to learn, so lets figure together out how we can do this. Continued on next page

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Psychology is helpful on the mat. He used one of his terms from academia, Contextual Dependency of Judgment, which means that we feel differently about things in different contexts. Take that into Aikido and you realize that people interpret things differently because they have a different context. If you havent been practicing Aikido for twenty or thirty years, you are seeing it very differently from a person who has. This viewpoint has helped improve his Aikido instruction because he has to stop and ask himself, OK, what is this persons context? Finally I asked him, thirty years from now when you cant do Aikido, were would you like to see the art go. He didnt give it a minutes thought, You can always follow the principles. Any other words, I said, You can always do Aikido, he merely agreed with that infectious smile of his.

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Sensei Doug Wedell with Kobayashi Sensei in South Carolina, October 1993

Sensei Wedell and other camp participates in Misogi , June 2011

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Congratulations on the following promotions

Yondan Michael Miller Dan Hamilton Sal Hernandez Aurora May-Hernandez John Robertson Sandan Shalomi Sagiv Tony Mahoney Shodan Carl Harris Susan Clauss John Marino John Avink Sue Deese Aikido Institute of Mid-America Aikido Institute of Mid-America Aikido Institute of Mid-America Seiwa Dojo Seiwa Dojo 2/3/10 2/3/10 2/3/10 2/15/11 3/15/11 Aikido Institute of Jerusalem Seiwa Dojo 5/20/11 6/17/11 Ahsa Aikido University of Texas Aikido Club Victory Dojo Victory Dojo Aikido Institute of America 6/18/11 6/18/11 6/18/11 6/18/11 6/18/11

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Jogi Workshop at the Aikido Institute of America Friday, September 23 Saturday, September 24 Sunday, September 25 For more information, please email at Aikitiger1@aol.com Any other events coming up next year? Please email them to us and we will add them to the next communicator.

Volume 1, Issue 4

Summer Camp 2012

As we mentioned on the first page, we are looking at having Summer Camp in Japan. Chris Koprowski and Darren Cook are working on putting together information (i.e. prices, schedules). However we need to know if there is enough interest to pursue having camp in Japan next year. Please email Dr. Mark or Michiyo to share your thoughts (yeah or nah) so that we can get an accurate count. If there is not enough commitment, we will look for a different location. Please email them at seidokan1981@gmail.com I know this was mentioned on page one but it is important that we hear from the Aikido memebers if they feel that camp will be doable for this next year. Camp in Japan would be awesome! Do you plan to attend if it is held there? Respectfully submitted: Tammy Kloack

Aikido in Your Daily Life How are you applying the principles and using them in your daily life? Share with us your stories, your ah-hah moments, and practical ways you see Aikido practiced in your daily life. This may be at work, home or play...Please email me at tkloack@gmail.com and share with us. You may inspire others to look at the art in a new way.

Seidokan Aikido Video Tapes

Basic techniques in accordance with Aikido principles In this video series, the late Seidokan Kancho, Rod Kobayashi, shares his experience of over 35 years in the Way of Harmony With Nature. Each waza, or art, is not only clearly demonstrated before an actual class, but he offers an explanation as to why each movement was made. Basic Arts Part 1 Detailed explanations of Aiki-taiso and Basic examination arts Part 2 Basic examination arts and Aiki-kengi and Aiki-jogi Dan Arts Part 1 Advanced arts required for shodan and above. Part 2 Continuation of Aikido arts for all yudansha. Tapes were produced and directed by Dr Mark R. Crapo and Vince Soo. Copyright and all rights reserved by: Aikido Institute of America, Seidokan Aikido World Headquarters. To order, send check or money order to Aikido Institute of America. Also please print, fill out the order form, and include it with your payment.

Note: Many other supplies are available from Seidokan Aikido Headquarters, such as patches, booklets, embroidered belts, etc. For more information email seidokan1981@gmail.com or phone/fax