new years day Practice

At our dojo we celbrate new years day practice.

I don't actually know if this is an Aikido wide thing. We practiced a technique 108 times to cleanse us of distractions from our path.

this year it was Sankyo, and i think my right wrist hsa just about taken all it could take, it was great, and really worth it,

I wanted to see if any of you out there have any simliar experiences in regards to new years day practice!



o..

One dojo used to do over the year training, train before midnight new year's eve to after 12. I really liked it, but I don't think there was enough overall interest to keep it going. And driving on new year's eve and early morning is probably not the smartest thing to do...

Another dojo I know does 1000 cuts with the bokken to close the old year, and 1000 cuts to open the new year. I kind of like that still...did the 1000 to open the year with them on Tuesday. Obviously I'm still using too much of the wrong muscle...or I wouldn't be in some of the pain I feel today!

Best,
Ron

That must of been a union muscle Ron, and its on strike. You know them union they dont like to work them holidays.
lol

My dojo had a 7 am class. I wanted to blow up the alarm clock when it went off lol.
But it was a great way to start off the New Year i plan on doing the class every year. The dojo is now i thin 8 straight years of doing it at it current location i dont no how long it has been in total.

...hmhhm.....108 times....why exactly 108? Is this some kind of magical number that cleans up all those distractions?

Szczepan Janczuk wrote: ...hmhhm.....108 times....why exactly 108? Is this some kind of magical number that cleans up all those distractions?

Number of beads in a string of prayer beads.

We do a 2 hour training every New Years Day.

We have our annual 1-1 at 1:00 pot-luck get together. There is some training but mostly eating and wrestling with the kids

Bronson

The first couple of years I was at New England Aikikai, we had a new year's eve practice from 11:30PM to about 12:30. Kanai Sensei would do a small Shinto ceremony at the beginning (it involved lighting incense, some clapping, and chanting), then we went on to practice. It seems to me that one year we did a set of 108 ikkyos (shomenuchi swariwaza), and that later on, and definitely after the New Year's practice had been moved to noon or so on New Year's Day, he had each instructor show a technique. After the midnight practice, we had a potluck. Yasu Itoh (now head instructor of Aikido Tekkojuku Boston) always brought a traditional Japanese New Year's soup. David Halprin made his chicken curry, and there was a reasonable amount of beer, wine, and champagne, but I never saw it get into heavy drinking. It was just a great observance.

I really miss Kanai Sensei right now!

Anyway, I would love to get a New Year's night practice together, here, but it's a small dojo and I don't think there'd be much interest. A few of us got together for some free practice on New Year's day afternoon this year, but it wasn't anything special or ceremonial.

My dojo has a morning class at the beach, rain or shine. We train for a while, including some bokken practice, and then wade into the surf to perform shinkokyu misogi. Very refreshing and invigorating.

The 108 is a Buddhist concept of the number of delusions we humans are saddled with. My own New Year's practice is to do 108 mae kaiten. In gassho.

Otto Lam wrote: At our dojo we celbrate new years day practice. I don't actually know if this is an Aikido wide thing .... I wanted to see if any of you out there have any simliar experiences in regards to new years day practice! o..

The dojo I go to does the same thing -- start practice at 11:30 and end at 12:30; we stop just before midnight, meditate through the stroke of midnight, and finish up the new year. I went last year and this year and enjoyed it. In fact, I was going to post a query to ask how this got started.

Anybody?

owww....

I miss kanai sensei as well.
I wish you didn't bring that up.


But of course my Dojo follows Kanai sensei. It doesn't surprise me that new England aikikai has that new years day ritual. I had always followed tha tradition just thinking that that is the way things are, it never occured to me to ask about it.

Okay I'm off to go train now!


later everyone!


o..

We had a Sunday morning training for kagami biraki too - we did a lot of suburi and kumitachi and afterwards enjoyed tons of sushi and sake

One question re the number 108: I heard that for new year the bells in Japan ring 8 times in the old year and 100 times in the new one - is that actually correct?

Mark Uttech wrote: The 108 is a Buddhist concept of the number of delusions we humans are saddled with. My own New Year's practice is to do 108 mae kaiten. In gassho.

Not only Buddhist -- reverence of 108 is much wider spread and goes back farther. Look here for some examples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/108_%28number%29
http://www.salagram.net/108meaning.html

My favorites are:
- 108 suitors coveting Penelope in the Odyssey
- the sum of the numbers in LOST
- and the number of stitches on a baseball

We used to chant 108 mantra over the new year (this was Hindu influenced yoga).

ASU winter camp used to have a class from 11:30 to 12:30 and we'd stop to ring the bell over the actual event, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen anymore, at least not in DC.

Bond St. has a silent class on new years eve where everyone has to get up and demontsrate a technique... but it ends much earlier.