Diana Frese

hi Janet I have not posted in a long time, work home repairs computer problems etc, but your topic is dear to my heart. I did have a class for several months and it was great. Started with one friend who stopped us on the street in our truck on the way to work. A psych nurse in
Westchester, lived across the border in Byram CT she came to Stamford to train with me as the local Stamford dojo at the time did not meet her only day off. Besides, she had a shoulder injury. Well, I had a knee injury. And then a few others joined, one with an ankle problem, another had trained years previously but ended up too busy with work and family and so felt out of shape. He brought his young half brother in law, who was a teenager . And one guy who preferred our class because he wanted to learn more slowly than in the regular dojo that my colleague Ray was teaching. (People who wanted a faster class we simply sent to Ray...)

No rolling, we were in a tiny room on the sixth floor of a loft building where my husband had a wood shop and the windows and frames were so old it was just plain scary. But I was amazed at how well everyone did even without rolling. It sure looked like real Aikido. Even "the kid" did fine, once he realized his arms were about a foot longer than the previous year. I knew he wasn't the type to try to push people through the brick wall.....

Seriously this is sooo important to have available for people interested in starting, continuing or re starting Aikido. For financial reasons, we couldn't hang on to the space, but I never forgot the experience and the knowledge that yes, most limitations can be worked around. Great that we can share these experiences on Aiki Web and thank you so much, Janet for your beautiful description of your class.