In honor of the 75th Anniversary of the "Day of Days," the Allied airborne and amphibious assault into Normandy, France, Spirit Aikido will not be holding class tonight. If you're interested in joining us, I will be introducing my children to "Saving Private Ryan" at the Tower Barracks Theater at 1900. The film allegedly has …
Author: kmhovan
Training: Week of 22 April
Hi friends, I understand some of you are still away this week. I often like to make observations that relate aikido to the things I see throughout the week, but this week is a bit different. As you likely know, I am an Army Chaplain, and as such, I approach everything from a perspective of …
Training Week of 15 April
I'm a bit late this week. I missed being on the mats with you last week, but I must say that I enjoyed my vacation in Spain. While there, I found it very interesting to notice things that applied very nicely to aikido techniques. First, I had the opportunity to visit a Spanish Fighting Bull …
Training: Week of 8 April
Hi Spirit Aikido students and friends! Just to remind you, there will be no aikido classes at the Tower Barracks Physical Fitness Center this week. I am leaving in the morning for Spain on the first "Heidi & Me only" trip we've had since our honeymoon, pre-children family visits excluded. As always, I strongly encourage …
Training: Week of 1 April
Hello, fellow Aikidoka! Our training focus for the week will be applications to the first wrist technique. We've already covered a couple, and we will continue to add to our tool box. We will also do some review of some of the earlier techniques you've learned. As always, it's important to practice what you can …
Training: Week of 24 March
Aikidoka... Kids may be on spring break from school, but we are still training at Spirit Aikido. This week will be one you don't want to miss as many will have the opportunity to learn a new technique. In fact, the technique we learn this week is very possibly the most-used and most versatile technique …
Training: Week of 17 March
The Jacket Grab The jacket grab is frequently the second technique we teach in Nihon Goshin Aikido. It doesn't require ukemi (escape techniques) such as the side fall or forward roll, so the new student can begin learning a new technique while still learning and refining his or her falls and rolls. It is simple …
Classes through January
Greetings fellow Aikido practitioners. I'm writing to let you know of evenings that we will not be holding classes from now until the end of January. I will be TDY for a couple weeks, so I want to make sure you can plan accordingly. There will be no class tonight (27 Dec) as I am …
Break is Over!
OK Aiki friends... I've been out for two weeks and I'm suffering from aikido-withdrawl. It's time to get back out on the mats. I look forward to seeing you at the Tower Barracks Physical Fitness Center tonight at 1830. We'll get the blood moving, dust off our technique, and practice our art.
Aikido Inspiration
Happy New Year, my Spirit Aikido friends. As we begin 2018, I wanted to show you a really well made YouTube video from the Usagi Dojo in Prague, CZ. I hope to visit and train with them at some point in 2018 as they're relatively close-by. For those of you who are fairly new to …