Going to my second home for a seminar

It was a great pleasure to be able to attend the 15th annual seminar held by the Malaysian Aikido Assocation ("MAA"). Having seen the scale of the event and the organization it takes alot of manpower, resources, dedication and perseverance to reach where they are today. Here I would like to offer my congratulations to Low sensei and MAA for a job well done! From a small association that started 15 years ago it has overcome many obstacles and remain united to reach where it is today. It is my hope that aikido the oragnization responsible will also flourish in my country.

This is my second time participating in the MAA seminar and it was good to meet old friends and made new ones. This year I had the pleasure of travelling with my senpai Chiong and his wife Jeon. We attended the sessions and exhanges noted with each other, trying out the techniques taught and had good discussion about what we learn and to bring back to our country.

I had a great time training with the shihans on the mat, who are always so obliging and willing to share. What the shihans and sensei taught had a common theme running through it, which is the importance of keeping connection. Some are very particular about how the attacks are carried out, while others focused on footwork and yet others teaches you how you prepare your mind to train. There was so much to take in and it was just like in Tanabe. I was in aikido heaven.

One thing I must say though about my experience training with the shihan and senseis. Without question they read a student very well having this wealth of experience in training and teaching. So they know to what extent you can take ukemi from them. But what I feel from each and every one of them is the respect and focus they give to their practice partners. That is something I don't get half of the time. You have some who don't really want to train with you because you are a white belter and some who are also white belters also don't really want to train with you because they want to train with a black belter. We bow to each other in seiza before training but the sincerity is not necessarily there.

Another thing also was what Smibert shihan reminded us: we should strive to do exactly what the sensei taught and/or showed us in class as each sensei has his/her own way of doing it. If you just keep to what you have been doing all along, that is all you have. This is for everyone of us!

There are alot more to share but I will save it for another time. This post is looking as if its going on and on and on...

Happy training!

The seminar venue - Wisma OCM


Representatives from Aikidamashii Dojo, Brunei


From left to right: Chiong, Bernie senpai, Phillip sensei and myself.


From left to right: Chiong, Horii shihan (he rocks!), Sandy from Hong Kong and myself


From left to right: Chiong, Imanul Hakim sensei (always so eager to share) from Indonesia and his wife Shanti sensei with myself.


Chiong and I with Kubota shihan ( an unforgettable session with Chew Boon as his uke)


Smibert shihan (thanks for the reminder) and Chiong


With Sato sensei. He acted as interpreter to Kubota shihan and Tsuboi shihan during their session.


With friends from Hong Kong Sandy and Alan sensei


Jemy from Perth. Very nice to train with and very fast with his hands.


With Chew Boon the most popular uke during the seminar.


Chiong and Chew Boon having a bit of fun.