Our dojo will be celebrating its 20 year anniversary in June.  Over the years thousands of children have come through our programs.  The children who step on to our mat today are significantly different than those who preceded the many technological advancements of today's culture.  The line from an old Bob Dylan song comes to mind, "The times, they are a changin'."  I'm frequently saddened and very concerned about the well being of our precious children

Many of today's kids seem to lack a joyous, spontaneous relationship to their own bodies.  Years ago we had to reign in many of our kids from their overly confident desire of taking on physical challenges beyond their abilities.  One of the favorite activities was setting up obstacle courses where the kids would roll over large exercise balls and stacked up meditation cushions.  We'd have to keep a very close eye on even our youngest kids since most of them would be attempting to keep up with the their older classmates.  And, all of the children would be enthusiastically lobbying for making the obstacles higher and higher.  Many of the kids could float over stacks of cushions nearly as tall as they were.  Yes, we also had children who were physically timid yet they were few.  Today we rarely set up such an obstacle course and when we do the challenges are far less demanding.  Many of the kids are fearful and overly concerned about embarrassing themselves.

I am so proud of our dojo community!  In the past 9 months we have made donations to three service organizations:

Last December we donated an overflowing barrel of new toys and food to a local grass roots community organization called Viola Blythe Community Center.  We have been participating in their "Annual Holiday Food and Toy Drive" for something like 15 years.

Also last December in one week's time we collected almost 100 pairs of shoes to donate to Soles4Souls - a charity that provides shoes to adults and children in need.

Check it out: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7127776n

www.soles4souls.org

And just yesterday we dropped off 81 pairs of glasses to support to the Lions Club Eye Glass Recycling Program.

Posted by Skys Sensei.

It's been a while since I cruised through our dojo's reviews on Yelp.com.  Wow... if you click on "(34 Filtered)" which you will find right above the bold heading - "About This Business", you will be taken to a page listing 34 wonderful reviews!  Every time I check out our reviews my heart gets deeply touched and I feel so grateful to be a part of this amazing community!

Here's a review by Linda T. from San Jose posted on 3/15/11.  Thank you Linda!

My son has been taking classes here for over a year now and thoroughly enjoys it.  It's the first organized group activity that he has truly enjoyed and stayed with longer than a year.  There are so many wonderful qualities about this dojo (school) that it's hard to know where to start.  Sunny Sensei truly lives up to his name and is a very warm and caring instructor.  He makes the kids feel at ease but at the same time has high expectations of them.  The instructors carefully monitor the students and recommend them for testing only when they are ready, not according to an arbitrary time table, thus ensuring success and confidence-building.  There is also a great team spirit here and older students are encouraged to attend the younger kids' classes to help them train.  All belt levels are expected to help newcomers.  I could go on & on, but want to share one last thing that happened a few months after my son started his Aikido training.  He was riding his skateboard and I was walking the dog behind him when he hit a crack in the sidewalk. The skateboard came to a sudden stop as the front wheels caught and he went flying onto the asphalt.  In one of those moments where time seems to slow down, he executed a nice little roll, head over heels, just like in class, and got up completely unscathed!  In that moment, I knew his training was well worth the time and money!

Posted by Skys Sensei.

Yikes... the weeks and months fly by! I haven't posted since March.

Sadly, we have lost our wonderful dojo photographer, Jason Tsuyemura.  After six or seven years of volunteering his skills and time, he has decided to take a break.  I could never find the words to really thank him enough for his stellar service to our community!  Now I'm asking parents to send me photos that they have taken at our events.  The photos posted here were sent from Tanya Berardini .  Thank you Tanya!

All of the children really stepped up and navigated great tests.  Each one shined brightly in his / her very special way!

Congratulations on your promotions:

• Smruthi Balajee / white belt + one stripe.
• Daniel Berardini / white belt + one stripe.
• Vina Nguyen / white belt + 2 stripes.
• Chloe Retika / orange belt + one stripe.

Posted by Skys Sensei.