I just went to a one-day quickie seminar with Linda Holiday sensei (5th dan, North Bay Aikido), and I thought I'd write up a quickie review.

The seminar was held at the first aikido dojo where I used to train, Aikido of Diablo Valley. It was nice to be back on a familiar (albeit very firm and sticky) mat, as well as sharing the mat with my two former instructors, Rick Rowell and Shari Dyer, and one of my current instructors, Wendy Palmer. The seminar itself was lightly attended which made for a lot of personal attention from Holiday sensei which was a great plus.

Holiday sensei has spent a lot of time studying under Hikitsuchi sensei at Shingu in Japan, and she imparts quite a lot of knowledge about subjects ranging from misogi breathing to calligraphy; Holiday sensei and I had some fun after lunch trying to decipher the signatures and hankou stamps on a piece by Saotome sensei as well as the meaning of the calligraphy ("Takemusu Aikido") itself.

The first two hours of practice revolved around taijutsu using the four "elements" of water, air, fire, and earth. We went through some circular movements for katatedori kokyunage for "water", enacted "air" and "fire" through some wickedly entering atemi-irimi throw, and "earth" for grounding from the hips during iriminage. All in all, I personally feel I can use a ton or two of earth for my training...

One thing that she said that I liked was that even during a movement like the initial part of katadori nikkyo (at least for one of the versions we practiced on Sunday), nage should have the same positioning and feeling as though nage were performing an irimi movement. I liked that feeling of keeping a positive, forward feeling even while moving back.

The second two hours centered around Holiday sensei's training in using the bo staff. We spent the first hour or so learning the first half of bo ikkyo (first teaching of the staff) that she learned at Shingu. It's a great kata, one I wish I had more time to learn and digest, especially its partnership practice. We spent the middle part of the two hours working on ikkyo for taijutsu, letting us relate the movements of the bo that we just learned. The last thirty minutes or so, we spent rushing through the second half of bo ikkyo.

Overall, Holiday sensei brings a very informative and lively feeling to her classes. Her techniques are very definite without being destructive, quite solid without being harsh, and very light without being nonexistant. She is full of humor, often smiling and laughing while throwing people around; as she said to one of her uke, "I'm not laughing _at_ you -- I'm just having a great time!"

I've trained with Holiday sensei on a few occasions, both when she was teaching the class and when she was just taking a class. I have always found working with her a great pleasure, and I can recommend her teaching and training to anyone. She teaches at North Bay Aikido in Santa Cruz, California. Their website is .

Jun