At the beginning of December, I dedicated myself to begin teaching here in Casper, WY. The first step was to find a place where I could teach. My initial inquiries at the local YMCA seemed very promising, but things seemed to have stalled on that. A week into December, a friend wanting desperately to start training wondered as we sat in the Mall food court where we could go while waiting for the Y to make up its mind. We thought about health clubs and the like, then my mind wandered to a series of stories that was being printed in Aikido Today magazine about 9 years ago when I was a beginner. It was called "Tales from Jord's Storage Unit Aikido". It was a fictitious(?) story of a group of adventurous folk training in a Storage Unit. This flitted through my mind, and I said to him, "well we could buy mats and set up a space in my garage".
He just kind of looked at me in disbelief. The more I thought about it the more it appealed to me. I would not have to beg for space, and I could teach one or two people at a time. We would have place to get started until we found our "real" space later. Plus if I had students training in my garage, when I went to other places I could say I have "X" number of students training right now, ready to sign up here.
So I did so. Chronicled here:
http://jfusion.supertux.com/4DD
I call it the Four Directions Dojo, and those that know me well will get the joke.
The day we put it together it was 30 Degrees Fahrenheit. Since then, it had only gotten colder, we were measuring temperature in negative numbers. But recently it began to warm up, it crept above 50 degrees today, and it was time to strike. It was time to train.
I set up a time, and my first two students were coming over. I got dressed in my training duds, and decided to "wake up the dojo". I went in and bowed reverently to the shomen and clapped, and bowed again. I then took my Jo, and improvised a misogi-no-jo. I was careful when touching heaven, I did so *between* the rafters.
For a first class my students did very well. We went for about 1 and a quarter hours. (Note to self, get a clock for the dojo!) After my first class, my wife got ready, and while a friend watched our son, she and I went to the dojo to train. She had last trained four years ago, working up to the intermediate level. We started off with footwork, then I drilled her on the techniques she should know for her rank. It is as they say, like riding a bike. She did fantastic. I have to credit my teacher with that. John Smartt has a way of teaching Aikido as concepts instead of procedures. Sumi Otoshi, Kotegaeshi, and Ikkyo, these are not things you learn how to do, so much as ideas you learn how to express physically.
It was good to be on a mat again, even as small as this one. It was good to train. I look forward to the next session.
One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train. -- Morihei Ueshiba