ADDKido Meets Aikido

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[unsuiJim]

Hi!

I'm Jim. I'm currently in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada and moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in one month. I plan to join a dojo in Winnipeg after (or during) the summer.

I trained in Aikido with Hiroaki Izumi sporadically due to a traveling career. I also trained in Toronto from 1989-1991 but I do not recall the instructor's name.

I also have a background in BJJ, Judo, Kali, Ninjutsu (before they started re-naming it regularly), JKD Concepts, Muay Thai and 10 years as a professional bouncer. I have explored Russian Martial Arts and Kung Fu but I always come back to Aikido every time I can find an acting, computer or writing contract in a place where there is a good dojo.

Finally, I found you. Now I can keep in the spirit even when I cannot pair up with a partner and trade uke and nage positions until we can play no longer.

Thank you for being here.

Jim Schubert
("unsuiJim")

[Charles Hill]

Hi Jim,

What have you found in Aikido that you couldn`t in the other arts?

Charles Hill

[akiy]

Hi Jim,

Welcome! Rocky is a great guy and teacher; he used to be on Aikido-L a while back and I had the opportunity of training with him at the first Aikido-L Seminar...

-- Jun

[unsuiJim]

What is it about Aikido? I don't know. There's a feeling to the practice of it. Maybe it's the deliberate, sustained emphasis on centering and staying centered. It's entirely kinesthetic and totally outside consciousness. There's a feeling of being home. Something relaxes I didn't know was tense is sort of what it feels like.

It happens when I work with the bokken too. I've practiced kali, escrima, etc. for about 25 years and the feel ing is not there when I pick up the sticks, but it IS there when I even think of picking up a bokken.

It's almost as if there is something sacred about Aikido, the bokken, etcetera that just isn't there for me in any of the other arts.

Does that even come close to answering the question?

Jim Schubert

[unsuiJim]

Jun,

Rocky definitely embodied the spirit I just outlined above. An outstanding human being.

I always look for good role models, and he is one of the few I immediately knew would be one the instant I met him. I learned a lot from him and wish I could still train with him regularly. Last I heard he had headed to Texas or something like that.

I last saw him a few years back in Canadian Tire waiting for our vehicles to be repaired. My girlfriend met him and when we left she said, "He was one of your teachers, wasn't he?" I said yes and asked why she asked. She said he was the way she thought good martial arts teachers should be.

If you ever see him, say hi for me. He probably won't remember me, but send the well wishes anyway.

Jim Schubert