Approaching 1K members of the Aspire Aikido London Facebook group

Dear existing members and new members,

It is wonderful to see that Aspire Aikido London Facebook group is now approaching 1K members (we might even surpass this number by the time this message is posted) - so I want to say thank you to everyone who has been a member to date for supporting Aspire Aikido London group and of course a big thank you to anyone new who is now joining us too!

I must admit that it feels quite amazing to see that we do have a pool of people who love Aikido.

Truthfully, I find this encouraging to know that there is still a good group of people with the desire and or passion to learn this wonderful Art from new generations to old generations, who are in my view the pillars for keeping our Aikido alive and encouraging our internal 'flame' to continue burning inside each one of us regardless of what is happening around us and in the world we are currently living.

So from the bottom of my heart, I wish to thank all our Senior Instructors for doing what they do best, which is simply to keep practicing Aikido daily regardless of what is going on outside the Dojo.

I think many will agree with me: "You are our inspiration to us all and you are in our heart helping us indirectly or directly when we watch you in person or on videos. You simply encourage us to do the same pursuing our own personal journey in learning this wonderful Art! Domo Aligato Gozaimashita".

Meanwhile, I do hope that you are finding so far any of our shared posts with videos/articles quite pleasant to watch/read and educational or even inspirational.

We strive to share them wholeheartedly and with a positive spirit where we can all appreciate one's Art in Aikido even if we don't practice from the same school or teacher.

Sharing quality videos from other instructors is always enriching to do and of course we will continue to share Morihiro Saito Sensei videos whenever we see any (I think I have done fair justice to promote his videos to date), as I believe many of us will see him as being inspirational to our personal research in learning Aikido.

Many will have seen Saito Sensei videos repeatedly and continuously appreciating his talent with rather exceptional skills to be able to explain quite plainly to us all on how to progress and to build our Aikido to be strong.

We are indeed very lucky to be living in a digital world where we can find any of his videos by searching easily on youtube or google, something that could not have been done in the 1980's and 1990's - VHS tapes or DVD were only available and you had to have the right player with TV screen - now it is on tablets, mobile phones, pc, laptops, internet tv etc. Having said this, we have all the digital technology but sadly we are not seeing huge number of Aikido practitioners that we used to see in the 80s and 90s...

One could think that learning Aikido would be more in demand but thanks to the technology, it sadly has drastically gone down prior to the pandemic situation and during pandemic, it has even waned further.

Is it because Aikido is not giving the desire that younger generations are looking for? Or is it because Aikido is failing to address what young people want to see? This certainly would bring a huge debate where everyone may have different opinions on how Aikido should be and why it failed to attract the numbers.

I think, if you have read any of my previous blogs (feel free to view our blog page from Aspire Aikido London website to check them out if you have not done so before at https://www.aspireaikidolondon.co.uk/blog), you will know, from reading my previous blogs, that I am in favour of keeping Aikido Traditional and to pass this Art as faithfully as possible keeping all Aiki principles in place, just what Morihiro Saito Sensei did preserving O'Sensei's Aikido for us to appreciate what his Aikido was. I believe there should be a solid interest with students who want to learn this Art.

My dream goal would be to 'revive' Aikido appealing younger generations without having to change the Art but to teach them giving younger generations a bigger appeal to learn this Art and to hopefully preserve it like a treasure for future generations to benefit what this Art means and was meant to be taught.

The pandemic has been a difficult challenge for us all for the last 2 years and although it is not over, I feel we could be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel towards a normal return, as we are seeing more beginners joining now than before. Let's hope this continues!

Everyone sees that 2022 has certainly been unprecedented for everyone having to cope with not only Covid but a new international crisis with the war in Ukraine and ultimately this affects a few people who may find it financially challenging to continue practicing Aikido or start learning this Art due to inflation going up at its highest for a long time.

When there is a will power there is a way and I think people will find a way to continue despite all odds. We have seen people returning to practice Aikido in clubs. We have shown our true resilience during pandemic and also showed people that when we could not socialise in the end, we will always need our human contact for our well being instead of staying at home all day long day after day.

People are missing the good hand shakes, the hugs, the affection with other friends and families. So I think, we could be seeing a surge of people wanting to go out more than we did see over the past 2 years.

It has been said that Aikido has all the attributes for helping our well being for not only keeping our body in good shape and healthy but to keep our mind and soul healthy and by practicing Aikido with one another feeling the physical contact can be of great benefit and crucial to keeping our well being and mental health healthy.

I hope to see anyone who may be joining us to this amazing International Seminar with Said Sebbagh Faa Sensei, who will be visiting us in the UK for the first time this August 2022. This seminar will be very inspirational as it was an amazing experience having met Said Sebbagh Faa Sensei in Spain.

The training was so enriching that it gave me a much stronger flame to continue and I wholeheartedly wish the same to any of you in the pursuit of your own Aikido study!