Monday, September 12, 2011

Why Joining Aikido?

Welcome to Swinburne Aikido Blog. The blog has been quiet for quite awhile due to some reasons and difficulties faced by the committee. However, with the commence of new semester, the enthusiasms of the committee has been raised and we are certainly looking forward for you to join us.

We always get common enquiries from fellow students asking that will the techniques cause pain? Is the technique effective? How fast can I get a black belt? Is there any competition. Well, dear friends, if you spare me some time, I will be delightful to clear your doubts and convey our principle and beliefs.

Aikido is actually derived from the ancient Japanese warrior martial arts and gist from several arts such as Judo. The art itself focus on the utilization of the opponent's strength against the opponent itself. Aikido practices the flow of motion and manipulate the situation by going along with the flow and execute technique at the correct timings. The technique will involve pinning, joint locks and some throwing techniques. As the joints are usually the weakest point of a human being despite the built of size, most of the techniques go against the mechanism of joint. Despite that Aikido can be dreadful if one had achieve certain ability to execute the techniques at right circumstances, the martial art focus on LOVE, PEACE and HARMONY.

Aikido does not have any competition and it is a rule and principle that is to be follow by all practitioner. This is due to the fact of the art itself can be dreadful when one is determined to hurt another, especially in order to win a competition. Aikido is a self defense martial art that emphasize of self defense techniques that polishes one's reflect and prepare the person in the state of mind of what to expect.

As Aikido apply the principle of LOVE, PEACE and HARMONY, we do not encourage fighting and do not promote the perception of being invincible after learning the art. The art should be practice with the heart and intention for self defense. Self defense, for us, is not referring to to beat the attacker or to knock out the opponent to show your strength and superiority. However, Self defense is more to the ability to survive when you are under attack. Say a hypothetical situation of you being rob where by the robber is holding a dagger in his hand. You are not ask to disarmed the robber immediately and take him down by executing the techniques. However, you should prioritize your safety and life under all circumstances. If the attacker still insist to harm you, the Aikido learning that you have is to allow you to use your reflex and ability to distract the attacker and earn the opportunity to ESCAPE safely. Yes, escape. This does not make you look like a coward, trust me. What is the point of fighting where you can survive?

Meanwhile, the grading of the club will depending on each practitioner as their skills and improvement will be monitored by the qualified instructors of the Dojo. The beginner starts as 6th kyu and will have their first upgrading to a 5th Kyu holder and proceed until 1st Kyu. After all the stages, will be the beginning of black belt holder, 1st dan, after going through various of tedious test. For our Dojo, practitioner are not differentiate according to the color of the belt and they will wear the same white belt from the beginning till 2nd Kyu. This is with the intention that the practitioners will not practice for the sake of exam but to truly understand the art itself and to be humble at all time. The practitioner will be granted a brown belt when they obtain their 1st Kyu in order to increase the sense of responsibility of the individuals and to equipped themselves with the proper knowledge and skills to be a qualified 1st Dan holder.

After trying to set the concept right , there will be another common doubt that is to be clarified which is the issue of PAIN. Well, there is a saying of: "no pain, no gain". In Aikido, when the technique is effective, the receiver should feel the pain, however the pain is definitely bearable. The practice requires the executer to control the amount of strength and the receiver to give signal when they require the executer to stop. Hence, this will not be a big issue of joining Aikido.

In short my friend, even if you do not have any martial art background or has been practicing one, we will welcome you to join us any time. All you need are positive attitude, open mind, perseverance and the will to protect yourself

By,
Eileen Phoan
Vice President

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Seishinkan Dojo & Matthiew's farewell Dinner

On Wednesday, 15th Sept, our instructor announced that we shall have an Seishinkan Dojo dinner as one of the Seishinkan members(who actively help our Swinburne Aikido club) will be leaving for further studies in UK. Due to the announcement is quite sudden so we are truly sorry for those who can't make it. However, Swinburne Aikido Club shall have our own dinner very soon.

On Thursday, We met at Hornbill steamboat Eatery for a simple dinner. Here are some photos to share:


Everyone is busy cooking food

Spoon bended by the so-called 'ki' (just for laugh)



cooking




Swinburne Aikido president enjoying his food

Lovely Seishinkan aikido members who always show support when our club needed extra help

Once again, thanks to Seishinkan Aikido Dojo for inviting us to the dinner. At the same time, we would like to thank Matthiew for always helping us when we needed extra help and wish him all the best studying in UK!










Wednesday, September 15, 2010

2010 ORIENTATION DRIVE

Swinburne Aikido Club had took part in 2010 Orientation drive that happened on 20th August 2010.



Our club had participated in the Swinburne Hunt event that help the new comers to get to know premises of the campus. Our station was located at G block Auditorium so that we are able to encourage the fellow collegues to have a try out.



Our preparation for those who will be interested.


Sensei Jack and Fabian praticing Jo while waiting for the students to come



This is me explaining concepts and ideas of aikido

Seishinkan Dojo Volunteer, Matthiew, having fun with his camera






Once again, we would like to thank Sensei Jack, Matthiew and Dixon for helping out. Thank you.

Normal Class Resume



Hope that everyone enjoy the Raya visiting and yummy kuih raya last week! After gaining calories from all the yummy and heavy tonnage food, its time for us to burn the excess calories off!!

Swinburne Aikido class will resume again starting this Saturday same time and venue, which is

Time: 1pm-3pm
Venue: Seishinkan Dojo

For those who are ready to join us, please to come and practice together. While for those who are interested and would like to have a try out, you are very welcome too!

As reminder, if you need transportation to reach our dojo, please text Eileen(0168829707) or Fabian(0168162567) for confirmation. We provide transportation for those who needs it and will wait at Chillipeppers from 12.25pm till 12.45pm.

Thank you!
See you there!!

Friday, September 10, 2010

HARI RAYA BREAK

Aikido Class will be off on 11th September 2010 (Saturday) due to it is still Hari Raya Holiday.

However the class will resume next week as usual.

Aikido Club would like to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya!!!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Brand New Semester

August intake is around the corner and that means there is a brand new semester awaits our Aikido club!
For this semester, we are still hoping to attract more members that are keen for the art or are interested to give this martial art a try.

The weekly meeting will start very soon. On the first study week, we shall have our first trial class. From, the trial class, interested individuals are able to get a big picture about Aikido and also to decide whether to give it a go. However, one is unable to judge Aikido from a 2 hours session because as the art itself can be a total different from one's concept of traditional martial art. Moreover, a lot of practices are needed in order to help a trainer to obtain a proper flow of the techniques and hence to execute the technique efficiently. In short, the knowledge of Aikido never stops, it require a person to learn, practice and improve at all time.

Anyway, the usual Swinburne Aikido weekly training are as follows:

Venue: Seishinkan Aikido Dojo
Day: Every Saturday (Starting from 28 August 2010)
Time: 1.00 p.m. till 3.00 p.m.

However, members are encourage to join another one hour session from the weekdays or Sunday classes of your choice without any additional charge. The purpose of this is to let the members to have more solid training and hence polish their techniques.

For those who might miss our trial class during the first week, do not worry! You are welcome to have a try out any time. Just contact us and drop by our dojo during practice time.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Swinburne Aikido Practice

Attention all Swinburne Aikido Members,

The Swinburne Aikido training will resume as usual, on every Saturday starting from this Saturday (13th March 2010).

Time: 1:00pm - 3:00pm

Venue: Seishinkan Aikido Dojo

3rd Floor, SL 28
Panovel Commercial Centre
Jalan Simpang Tiga / Jalan Mendu
(Above Guardian)
Kuching, Sarawak

Reminder,

Transportation will be provided to hostel students. Please wait in front of Chillipeppers at 12:20pm.

Thank you.

President :

Fabian Tan