Women's Kokikai Seminar at Aikido Kokikai of NYC

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Yesterday I taught a seminar for women students at Aikido Kokikai of NYC. It was wonderful to work with these strong women who are so enthusiastic about their practice! I felt honored to teach them.

We worked on ways that women can become more responsive and strong partners so they can feel comfortable working with partners of any size and strength.

We also talked about ways to make our aikido practice "our own," for example by finding metaphors and ways to visualize ideas in practice that are more feminine. (My first idea for a feminine metaphor was the fembots from Austin Powers, but we decided this might be too racy for some. OK, it's just a joke, but they did have to have great posture in order to be able to aim correctly!)

Posture was another topic of the seminar, and all of us experienced how small changes in posture can make a big difference in our ability to respond to an attack.

It was fun to practice with a group of women, although essentially I didn't feel there was any difference in teaching aikido for women vs. teaching men. There are certainly no "secret techniques" for women!

So, many thanks to all who put this together, and I hope to see you all again soon on the mat! 

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