Holding the sword correctly will allow you to swing it effectively and efficiently. The first real Japanese sword, known as a katana was smithed around the year 700 AD. And since then has developed and transformed into what we know today and the Japanese Samurai Sword. Before we get started with this lesson, there …
This is the story of how I met my Aikido instructor, Kato Hiroshi. He wasn’t my first Aikido instructor, but he was my last. It was a fateful moment, in Japan and I was ready to give up on my dream, to learn Aikido. I was totally defeated, the wind knocked out of me, laying …
I’ve taken Aikido classes in Houston, Boston, San Francisco, Austin, San Antonio, Arlington Mexico and in Tokyo, I’ve seen many different styles and systems of weapons being taught. Essentially Aikido comes from three different arts, The Long and Short Sword, The Staff and Unarmed techniques; Kenjutsu, Jojutsu and Daitoryu Aikijuujutsu. In 1990, I trained Aikido …
It must have been around the year 2004, I decided to do an all day workshop on Kokyu-Ho (The way of the breath.) I did tons and tons of research about breathing, different breathing exercises and how the body is influenced by our breath. It was truly an enlightening experience and gave me a deeper …
A Simple Breathing Exercise to Improve Your Aikido Read More »
Three years ago, I ended my relationship with sugar. I created a vlog that details that story. I talk about the three benefits I get to experience everyday because I stopped eating sugar and I talk about the struggles I went through to get to this point. Click play on the video above to watch …
It’s always exciting to look back and see how much you’ve improved, but it’s always hard to leave your comfort zone in order to improve. Here are three things you can do that will help you improve your techniques in Aikido.
Hello, I’m Erik Calderon and I’ve been doing martial arts ever since my dad stuck me in some classes when I was 5 years old. At 20, I moved to Japan for the sole purpose of studying Aikido. I trained on average 3 to 5 hours per day. I chose Aikido because I liked it’s philosophy and I saw it as something I could do for the rest of my life.
Everyone that watched the Floyd Mayweather fight against Conor McGregor knows that MMA fighting is useless against a boxer.I wonder what would have happened if the fight had taken place in the Octagon? Would Floyd still have won? This question leads us into the realm of rules. What are the rules of Boxing? What are …
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been doing an in depth study of Irimi, which translates into English as, “go straight into an attacker.” It takes a lot of courage to go straight into an attack, especially when your attacker is bigger and stronger than you.
In proverbs 23:16 it reads, “The righteous may fall seven times, but still get up, but the wicked will stumble into trouble.” And in Jeremiah 8:4 it reads, “You know if a man falls down, he gets up again.
