New You Tube Channel

Shoshin Aikdio of Montreal has a new YouTube.com channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/shoshinaikido

We'll be uploading a short video per week.

Stage de Pâques - Christian Tissier

Just got back from a week long seminar in Paris with Christian Tissier Shihan. Four hours of training per day, with many of his senior students, and other aikidoists from all over the world. I can't recommend this seminar enough. Each day started at 9:30 with 100s of bokken suburi, followed by paired weapons practice until 10:30. Taijitsu went from 10:30 until noon. From noon to 2:30pm there was a break for lunch, and then we trained again until 4pm. We were both lucky and unlucky this year with the Volcano leaving a deficit of about 100 students. There were at least 150 already on the mat, which was quite crowded. I can't imagine what it must be like in a normal year. The three of us that went all got quite a lot from the seminar, and hopefully we will remember enough to share at the dojo over the coming weeks. I'm feeling a bit jet-lagged at the moment, but if I manage to get out of bed early enough, I'll be at the dojo in the morning. This workshop was quite a bit different than the previous seminars I have attended with Tissier sensei. It seemed that with so many people already on the same page as him, he didn't have to spend as much time explaining and so we trained much more than we do when he comes here to Montreal. I'm definitely looking forward to the next chance I get to train with him and his students. Thanks to everyone for helping us out while we were in Paris. If you are ever in Montreal, you know who to call.

New Seminar Announcement Mailing List

Our current seminar announcement mailing list is a big huge hack, that only *mostly* works. Currently add/removal of members has to be done manually, and there is no auto-handling of bounces. In order to be sure that only people who really want our announcements get them, I'm moving us to an actual mailling list package instead of the hacked together PHP code that I wrote which is currently doing the job. Soonish I will send out one last email to the old list, letting people know that they will need to sign up to the new one if they want to continue getting announcements. If you'd like to get a head start, you can sign up on our website (http://www.aikidomontreal.com) or follow the link below:

http://eepurl.com/sU-n

Off to France (hopefully)

Assuming the volcano lets us, a group of us from Shoshin are heading to France to attend Christian Tissier's "Stage de Pâque" just outside of Paris. Though the seminar started this morning, since all air-traffic into and out of France has been canceled as a precaution following the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull (say that one time... ha) in Iceland, we are hoping to make it for class tomorrow afternoon. Wish us luck!

Endo Shihan Seminar Recap

3 Days in Toronto followed by another 3 in Montreal, for a total of 6 days training with Endo Shihan. The focus of the seminar was very much on feeling, timing, and connection. As always Endo Shihan was an awesome presence on the mat, training with almost everyone who was at the seminar. I got to watch, and take ukemi for a 1st kyu test in Toronto, which was quite an honor for me (Thanks Paul).

Many thanks to the Naka-Ima crew, as well as Karl and the Shoshin bunch for making this seminar possible. I'm already looking forward to the next time I get a chance to train with Endo Shihan. And of course, a big thank you to Dan for translating, and Endo himself for coming and sharing his Aikido and knowledge of Japanese culture with us.

Congratulations On Kyu Testing

Pedro - 3rd Kyu
Noah - 2nd Kyu

Both were really nice tests!

Jean-Rene Leduc - Workshop

We're hosting a one day workshop with Jean-Rene Leduc, 6th dan, tomorrow (Wed Jan. 13th 2010) at Shoshin.

$20.00 at the door, from 6pm - 8pm.

Should be a great time, Jene-Rene is lots of fun to train with!