Our new home in images

Green garden

Fragrant Citrus flowers

Colorful trees (Judas tree, Cercis siliquastrum)

Home + dojo = Hojo

O'Sensei watering us with knowledge

Endo..rphines and hardened noodles

Check yourself!
Why do you do like you do?
How are you being perceived by your partner?

I have just spent 10 days in Stockholm. First a week-long seminar with Endo Sensei, and then a few days more with the local heroes Jorma Lyly and Jan Nevelius. A whole week of Endo seminar consists of a yudansha part, only for black belts, and then an open weekend seminar. An Endo yudansha seminar is a privilege to attend, since it so rarely happens that you know that you actually will enjoy practicing with each and every one aikidoka present. It is extremely crowded on the mat, but every person in the room is advanced enough to handle such a situation and we all practiced under the highest concentration and commitment.

This kind of intense practice makes you transcend into breathing, feeling, thinking, dreaming and talking about aiki. As we practice, we refine not only our bodies, but our minds, emotions and spirit. This week led me to a metaphor of the refinement of your physical qualities - how another person perceives you when you touch each other.

Most beginners can be compared to unboiled pasta. They are stiff and inflexible, but at the same time very easy to break (their balance). The separate body parts cannot move irrespectively of each other and they often feel reluctance in their bodies for certain movements. They avoid deep contact and fall in a clumsy way as they go down. Then they learn from the teacher that they should relax...

After a while they can do that, and then they become like boiled noodles. Over-boiled noodles to be more precise! Now they learn how to fall softly and follow their partner, but they also move excessively, like the wobbly noodles they are. They do not keep their physical integrity and they show a lot of openings. This is a time where the more advanced aikidokas need to take care to not hurt the "noodles", since they in this stage often are quite ambitious and very enthusiastic due to their newly-discovered flexibility, and they happily let people throw them around although they are not really yet collected enough to always stay safe on their own.

The next phase is the longest one, since it will go on for as long as you keep on practicing aikido. This is when you turn into a metal spring, that gets thicker, tougher and heavier, without ever loosing its elasticity and ability to store energy. If you think of it, it reminds a lot of the physique of a wild animal. This is the quality of a true warrior...

Landed here for 5 minutes

Jan Nevelius has been here again and we have had five days filled with wonderful aikido revelations. He also visited Tivon one day, as well as our own little hojo, which was an honor. What happened there will stay there, but it did involve aikido, yes. The result from everything is that we have a lot of new material to work on, mostly in our own dojo, where we are more free to express what we want for ourselves.

On Wednesday I go for my annual February vacation in Sweden, which will span over four packed weeks, in Malmö, Stockholm and Västervik. I will manage family, friends, as well as a week with Endo Sensei.

My new job has somewhat eliminated my efforts to keep a steady pace on this blog, and my boss would probably be happy to know that. Nevertheless, I am not planning to shut it down just yet, since we are living in interesting times here in the Middle East.

Review of our move...

My guardian angel, Goshen

More than 10 days without any post and I do feel that I have neglected the writing, but for a good reason. Moving takes time and energy, and on top of that we have both been working full time. Destiny was however working in our favor, and our dear friends, the Jaeger's, had a visit planned since months back. Then all of a sudden it happened that we needed to move over new year, and "chick chack", we were blessed with the greatest support, both practically and spiritually, in the middle of all the mess.

We have moved to another neighborhood in Tivon, obviously a very nice one, if you ask the ones who know. We have a nice garden with great potential, and we are only 100 m from a descent into a wonderful wadi. That is also what I value the most, garden and the closeness to nature. We moved on the 30th of December and when we woke up on new years eve, me and the Jaeger girls went straight out into the garden and started raking leaves, completely procrastinating the kitchen than needed a basic unpacking to be able to handle the little come-together that we had planned to welcome the new year. Yoram came back from some errand and told me in his softest fashion that maybe there were more important things than leaves, right there and then, upon which I hissed at him a bit, but then went in and rolled up my sleeves. As it ought to be, since I would not have wanted him to arrange the kitchen under any circumstances.

The TV is according to my wishes squeezed into the smallest room, and the largest living room we are turning into a permanent hojo = home + dojo! But the hojo part is of course a joint desire! We came over some used, but decent, white tatamis and we have already laid out some of the mats on the floor. We will decorate the room in a dojo kind-of fashion, but the room will also serve as a cozy corner, with lots of pillows and blankets for good moments between aikido practices. On Tuesday evening we made our first aikido moves in the room, a completely spontaneous moment with the kids. We taught them to roll and me and Yoram threw each other in a few strong tenchinage's. When we started we were cold (houses here are freezing in the winter time), but after a few rolls, all of us took off the warmest clothes. Immediately, I had the idea that tatamis in the whole house would heat up the whole house... ;) Then we made dinner. This is the spontaneity that I have been dreaming about for so long, having the aikido as a closely integrated part of your life, enabling you to practice whenever you want, however you want, in addition to the scheduled practices.

The garden was not completely enclosed by a fence when we moved in, and that was one of the things that we needed to fix, since having the dogs in the garden will enable me to work full days without taking them out for a pee. However, some of the parts of the fencing area turned out to be more difficult than others, with heavy vegetation and other stuff, so the security of the fence is growing gradually. Goshen is not the problem, Barak is. Goshen showed already during the first few days, that she would stay in the unfenced garden as we left in the car, while Barak was leashed to a tree in the back yard. Goshen accepted, went back to him and came out and greeted us as we returned. Barak, on the other hand, turned out to be more difficult to contain, as we expected. He is after all a male, with intact balls (although they right now hang on a very loose thread), and he has the "vagabond gene". He wants to roam the neighborhood, and hadn't it been for his notorious prey drive on cats, then I would not mind if he took his tours ones in a while. He is of no danger for humans or dogs, but the cats should watch out. In the garden, his focus is on finding the weak spots in the fence, and we keep closing them. I think that this weekend we will close the last one, by cutting down a big bush and extending the grid fence in its place.

So, we are busy settling, exploring, decorating and placing our scent on the place. On February 2 I leave to Sweden for four weeks, and when I get back, the spring is here. I cannot wait to really dig my fingers down in the garden...

Aikido vs horse riding

I started riding horses when I was six years old and that has very much influenced who I am. Not only did it shape my personality, but it has also helped developing my motor skills and balance. I was born with a less than average sense of balance and I did not walk before the age of one and a half. Besides that, I have a visual defect that prevents me from seeing our world in three dimensions, which makes my ability to evaluate distance somewhat impaired. Both these skills improved remarkably due to all my time spent in the saddle as a young child. My balance sharpened, and I learned to judge distances in my own peculiar way, good enough for the things that I wanted to do, but not until this day can I catch a ball flying towards me in the air. Luckily, I am not the least interested in ball sports.

About ten years ago I stepped into an aikido dojo for the first time. During my most intense aikido years, I was pretty much gone from riding horses, for practical reasons. I was living in the city, studying full time, with no time to go riding somewhere. Aikido, however, had in many ways the same beneficial effects on me like the horse riding. My balance improved, and my sense of depth was constantly challenged through every attack that came flying in the air, hand or weapon. Not until I was back in the saddle again, did I fully comprehend how the two practices go hand in hand, but also complement each other.

Previously, I could feel a bit "rusty" after not riding for a while, but now when I started riding again with the aikido in my system, it was like I had never been away. The aikido also turned out to bring more quietness to my riding, and a better posture. Now, as I regularly exercise both activities, they constitute a continuous positive spiral of influence on each other.

Both aikido and horse riding is a cooperation between two individuals, where you create something beautiful and/or demanding together. In aikido this includes two humans, while in horse riding a human and a horse is interacting. What constitutes the major difference is that during horse riding it is the responsibility of the human to make sure that the horse understands what we are doing. In aikido, the responsibility is equally divided between the two partners. What unifies the two art forms is the marvellous sensation of melting together as one, minimising the signals and cues to the point where there is nothing more than pure ki flowing through the two beings, allowing them to perform their dance effortlessly. Both riding and aikido can look very powerful, but correctly performed there are no hard encounters between the two bodies.

Just as it takes patience and love to teach a horse to understand cues and to perform the exercises you want him to do, the same goes for aikido. I am convinced that a warm and caring environment, characterised by trust and joy, will make the aikidokas grow more efficiently. That is probably a provocative idea for some, since we after all are talking about a martial art, with the fundamental element of serious combat. Nevertheless, I think that an early introduction of confidence and trust, is a great way to start. There is no way around the battles with your ego anyway during the different difficult steps on the path of the aiki. This journey through crisis - revelation - transformation also happens for a horse rider. There are no short cuts, only hours and hours of practice, humbleness and an open (and empty) mind. That is the only way you can truly tune in with your partner (human or equine). When you start reaching those splits of a second moments when you feel that not only your bodies, but also your minds, unite as one, then you know that you are on the right path. In a way, also riding is nothing more than AI KI DO - the path to harmony through the energy of life.

Married to a 3:d dan aikidoka

Me, about to attack Yoram with a bokken

During Sukkot weekend Seki Sensei came and gave his annual seminar in Israel. I was only there the second, and the last, out of four days. Yoram was about to take his sandan, and two full seminars, as well as a sandan grade, was too expensive for us, so I stepped aside. Seki is not one of my primary teachers anyway, so I did not mind. I took on having the kids those two days instead, so that we would have more days alone after Sukkot.

We had prepared before the seminar, of course, but continued also during the seminar, especially with the weapon part. Seki does not care much about weapons, so the weapons play a minimal and formal part of the graduation. Nevertheless, we wanted a great performance, and I shared many of the tricks that I have learned during the years with Stefan Stenudd. We, as well as Yoram's teacher were under the impression that he would have to show defence against knife and sword, but the day before the test we realised that he would also do defence against stick, so we worked in some jodori techniques in the last minute. Not optimal, but what to do?

Yoram used Assi as his first uke, and me for the weapons, and then Omer joined in for the taninzugake. Yoram did an excellent test, far better than on any of his pre-tests at home. There was another guy doing his sandan test besides Yoram and someone compared the two couples like seeing two butterflies dancing beside two wrestling elephants.

As I was watching the nidan graduations, I saw once more that to keep pace with the people around here it is time for me to do a nidan test not too soon from now. However, this was not the place, nor the time. I want to do it in Sweden, under my own teachers, but those tests are different, with higher demands on the performance, longer tests, and a larger curriculum. A different approach, simply. There are pros and cons with both.

Although I once said that I will never do a test in connection to Lillsved, that is now what seems like the most reasonable option, considering the practical circumstances. I just hope that Stefan could be there too. Maybe he will. Anyway, it is time to get serious. Jan will be here in a few months and then I am up for some feedback on my preparations.

Day by day

A second terror attack in two days. It is pretty clear that there are strong opponents against any kind of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and I am sure we have not seen the end of that. On the other hand, the Jewish settler bullies promise to continue building on their settlements and outposts as a mere answer to the terror attacks. This is how peace talks are shattered, and it is not the first time. It is a pattern. I just hope that there will not be another terror wave within Israeli territory.

I wish that leftist pro-Palestinians in Sweden and other European countries would realise that supporting the Palestinian resistance movement is not any more about achieving peace and a sovereign state for the Palestinian people. Hailing Hamas, equals supporting a fascistic and ultra-nationalistic regime whose ultimate goal is to eliminate Israel and to create a totalitarian, theocratic state that will oppress women, as well as persecuting anyone who will not abide to their mediaeval moral standards. Sometimes I wonder what drug dazed the minds of these notorious Israel-haters.

Speaking of drugs, I have previously tried to illustrate with words how it is to live in this intense region, where life is embraced like every day was the last one, for valid reasons! Lately I have seen several persons refer to it like the whole population being on drugs. Michael Totten have published some interesting interviews with people who have extensive experience from both Israel and Lebanon that pictures the parallel universes that seem to exist within a nation. The bright side is that most people choose life in this environment of dark forces of terror, oppressing power and continuous war.

A night-club in the Lebanese capital Beirut has made a commercial that expresses this contrast in a fascinating, but at the same time disturbing way. Lebanon is much more polarised than Israel, but Beirut is still in many ways comparable to Tel Aviv, where people dance their heads off although bombs can start dropping any minute.

We have aikido friends in Lebanon. I wish that we one day can take the car and drive straight up to Beirut and join for a freeing aikido session. First we need to withdraw from the drugs. However, the heaviest addicts have to be dealt with first, and that is people like Ahmadinejad, Nasrallah, Haniyeh and Meshal, who seem to go on a mix of crack, meth and PCP.

Sweden in images

I find it hard to put words on our Sweden trip right now, but these pictures can speak for themselves...

Hot weather

Special places

Me and my Magnum Gold

Love

The first kiss ever... ;o)

Aiki wedding

Serenity

Heavenly flavours

Celebration

Wonderful aikido

Swedish night sky

Last day in Sweden

Tomorrow we are returning to Israel, and the emotions are ambivalent as usual. I wish I could pick and choose between elements of both places and combine them into a personal utopia. My aiki suitcase is filled to the brim with new material and inspiration and I look forward to bring it home to the Israeli aikidokas. I just wish I could have put some particular persons in that suitcase too. And my parents.

Giving aikido class in Tel Aviv

Monday has become the day for our weekly visit to Miles Kessler's Integral Aikido Dojo in Tel Aviv. This Monday I was at home with the dogs during the day and took the bus in the afternoon, since the bus came first. It is always the million dollar question of the day whether the sherut or the bus comes first. I am always hoping for the sherut, since it is cheaper and faster, but when the bus comes first I have to take it, because I cannot trust the sherut frequency enough to be sure to be on time in Tel Aviv.

Miles has an urban meditation retreat in the dojo this week with the Buddhist monk Sayadaw Vivekananda. Vivekananda is a charismatic man with a powerful presence. I met him also last week and we immediately started to chit-chat again, together with Yoram who had also just arrived from work. The monk suddenly asked "So, what's new?", upon which we thought ourselves obliged to give some recent deep revelation or introspective discovery, but instead we suddenly found ourselves discussing news in general, and the economical crisis in particular. We all agreed to that the crisis has been build up by the crediting culture we live in. Consumption is a subject all by itself, and it will not solely make us happy, but the big problem is when people (and companies and banks and nations) consume from fictive money. That is a negative spiral, whereas consuming "real" money will cause the positive spiral that will make the overall economy grow. We concluded that right now they are planning another rescue package, which will merely take the crisis deeper into the abyss. Yoram was honestly surprised that a Buddhist monk was so well-oriented in earthly things, but Miles explained that he actually reads the newspaper every day. It was almost a bit comical how we talked about him as something other than a common human being.

With the full schedule in the dojo, Miles needed to breathe a bit, so he asked me to give the first class. I focused on some basic exercises to build up confidence for the free high falls and everybody seemed to enjoy it very much, and several also told me so after the class.

I really find the uke role the most intriguing part of aikido, and the ukemi in particular. I believe that the more mobile and free you are, the better you can take care of yourself with any partner. I also believe that resisting a technique is not a good strategy unless you are the strongest man on Earth. Not only will there always be someone stronger than you, but the tension that resistance creates will inevitable cause a disruption in the flow of the ki. Instead I promote absorbing and accepting the technique that you receive, since this will have you back on your legs faster again and ready to provide a new attack. This does not mean that you need to be light as a feather! You can put a lot of weight in and move ponderously, as long as the ki keeps moving and the heaviness comes from the centre and not from the limbs.

This freedom of movement, but also the "right" quality of heaviness, are built through a growing sense of confidence in your body, as well as hours and hours of practice on these particular things. I have myself been taught many good exercises to work on this and I shared some of those things with the aikidokas this evening. It was an honour and a great pleasure that Miles trusted me with his students yet another time. He is truly a teacher in control of his ego, who gladly shares his space for others to express themselves. I am so happy to have him as a friend.

Integral Aikido

Me and Daniel in an aiki jam

with Miles in the background

In a way you might say that this is all thanks to Daniel, who wanted to visit Miles Kessler's new dojo Integral Aikido in Tel Aviv (Facebook page), but now I have been there for practice twice, and Yoram one time, and both of us are overwhelmed with positive emotions and intend to attend classes there on a weekly basis. Not that I never practiced with Miles before. We have met on the mat several times, during seminars and when we went to Bethlehem, and I have been in his new dojo numerous times. I have just not practised there or taken a class for Miles. I guess you can say that I have been a bit too lazy and convenient up until now to join.

It all started with Daniel and me deciding to visit the Integral dojo together last Thursday evening, for what would be one regular class and one "aiki jam". From what I have seen so far (and felt) I knew that Miles was carrying around some unique qualities as an aikidoka and teacher, with a unique approach to his students, same as also my Swedish teachers posses, where the teaching is interactive, detailed and highly personal. During the first class he showed many excellent exercises to advance body awareness, confidence, posture and centre, and both Daniel and me were quite astonished over how well his students move. Miles has only been in Israel for five years, which means that most of his students are mudansha, i.e. white-belts. I cannot wait to see these ones as they start reaching shodan level. They will kick some ass, for sure!

Before the second half of the class Miles asked me if I wanted to show some exercises for learning soft high-falls, so I took over the class for the last half hour. Everybody falls very confidently and smoothly over the hip, but they have not done so much free high-falls yet, so I showed how you successively can build up for high-falls on kokyunage, kotegaeshi and tenchinage. That was pretty many things squeezed into 30 minutes and some of them looked a bit shocked, but I wanted to deliver a taste of the exercises you can do to work on these things. With the foundation they already have, most of them could immediately take high ukemi with only a hand as a reference point and I was thrilled to work with them.

Then the aiki jam. This is a concept that Miles developed to bring the aikido beyond technique, form and frameworks, i.e. to kill the Buddha. Lights were dimmed and incense was lit, and we meditated shortly in a ring before we started. Ambient music floated in the background and we moved around freely, trying to clear our minds and create a contact with the partner that was in a constant flow, beyond any desire to apply any technique. As time went by, the music became successively more intense, bringing also more intensity into the practice, and suddenly we found ourselves doing jiyuwaza, with applied techniques, but definitely with a more liberated mind. We also did some randori (several attackers), and I was amazed how confidently everybody handled the randori. To wrap up the class, the music brought us back to a slow and meditative atmosphere and we finished of where we started, with subtle-contact movement, without techniques or throws. Amazing evening!

When I came home the next day I bombarded Yoram with my experiences to the point where he agreed to join me the next time. The next time became already yesterday. Yoram was in Tel Aviv working, and I came in there with a sherut in the afternoon. Miles gave two classes this evening, one regular class and one advanced (from 3 kyu). This time the focus was more on kata forms and applications and I must say that I feel very much at home in his aikido. Miles is brought up in the Iwama tradition and practised for many years with Saito Sensei. However, Miles' aikido is much more dynamic, soft and less codified than the Iwama-style I have previously encountered. It is clear that he has reached the stage where he is no longer a slave under one particular teacher, or system, but instead he is creating his own aikido, inspired from many teachers, as well as his students. One thing I do see, though, is a fair amount of Christian Tissier stuff, and I am sure that Miles himself would agree on this.

I was enchanted once more, and Yoram dreamt about aikido all night after this evening, so it is pretty safe to say that we will make the effort to attend his classes on a regular basis, although it is 90 km from home and we arrived at home about 23.30 in the evening last night.

Aikido and BBQ with Daniel

Yesterday our aikidoka friend Daniel visited us here in Tivon. The aikido class for the day was given by me and therefore it was extra fun with a visitor on the mat. The class was moved up to lunch-time instead of in the evening since it was a holiday eve. The class was loads of fun and I had them trying out some tricky things besides a lot of useful aiki exercises. After class we played around for a while and it was so great having someone that really knows how to throw me confidently. Daniel is able to express a lot of power in the high iriminage without loosing his sensibility and I was lyrical, since I don't really have anyone here that can do that just yet.

Maybe he did not use THIS much power, but almost... ;)

In the afternoon we had a BBQ in the Pecan grove and we grilled pargiot (de-boned chicken legs) and Samir's ktzitzot (meatballs). Besides that I had made a pita dough and we brought the sagg (or taboon), which is like a wok but upside down, on which you bake the pitot. On a sagg you make thin taboon bread, typical for e.g. the Druze. The first piece of dough that Yoram put on the sagg was however not thin and it became a disaster. Don't ask me why he did that, since he has used a sagg a thousand times, but maybe you can look at the picture in educational purpose, like a "do and don't". The dough was anyway excellent, made from whole-wheat and fresh yeast. We stayed until the sun went down, climbed up to Alexander Zaïd to see the sunset and then we kept on at home in the evening, talking and sipping single malt whisky. Life it great!

The sagg with one bad pita and one good pita

The cosmic order of things

The quest for aiki is also an inevitable path towards humbleness. No one aikidoka is as good when self-reflected, as the beginner who has practised for a year or two. If not sooner, many stumble into their first aikido crisis when they receive their first dan grade and the desirable black belt. They wake up the next morning and discover that nothing really changed, on the contrary, the journey has merely begun. The more advanced you get, your skills become more fine-tuned, and the progress will appear more subtle and far-fetched. The longer you have practised, the more there is left to learn.

Around previously mentioned stages of megalomania, some aikidokas get consumed by the desire to become teachers themselves, and without too much introspection on whether they really have something to offer, they just blindly thrive in the centre of attention. They build their own dojo, but have nothing substantial to fill it with. Jorma Lyly once explained to me how there is a cosmic order in how things like these develop. An old Buddhist proverb says "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear". Well, in aikido the other way around is more suitable "When the teacher is ready, the students will appear". Anything else is just being self-absorbed.

It was with this in mind that I accepted Anati's offer to give the lesson yesterday in our dojo. I have never aspired to become a teacher. It never appealed to me in that way. After I moved to Israel was the first time that I realised that I had something to offer, but up until now I have only been at everyone's service on the side, helping out with the soft high falls and other bits and pieces that they wanted, but I was never up front, leading the practice. Now Anati wanted me to share some of the things that I had experienced during my weeks in Sweden, with Endo Sensei, Jorma/Jan, but also Stefan. We had a wonderful practice and I just went in there and did my own thing. It is not the first time that I lead an aikido practice, but it never felt as natural and right as it did yesterday with these people.

After the practice everybody was thrilled over the interesting exercises we had done and the approach that I had, and then Anati suddenly said "I have this crazy idea". Last time she said that it resulted in our morning practices in her garden, but now her idea was instead to let me give some lessons, not every week (we have only two lessons per week at the moment), but nevertheless on a regular basis, to give them as she said "some Swedish aikido". Surprised and humble, I welcomed her idea. Maybe Jorma was right when he said that I have started to build something "over there", but I would rather say that I am merging together with something already existing, bringing inspiration to something that is already splendid.

The "Shihan party"

I am so happy that I joined the party for Stefan yesterday. It exceeded my expectations and we had so much fun. We got to see a fire performance outside and then Anders Ljungar-Chapelon played two marvellous pieces by André Jolivet. We also enjoyed a variety of excellent foods brought by everybody and the meal was devoured accompanied by one of Stefans absolute favourite musicians, Joakim Thåström, on a very high volume. Several persons gave emotional speeches and we all felt a strong connection to each other. We then had a music quiz which was anything but serious and after that we started the karaoke machine. What happened in that room will stay in that room, but I can say that boundaries where broken and timidity was eliminated. When we had emptied the karaoke repertoire we continued in a cappella, singing things like Thåström, Lou Reed and dirty old English lyrics. Time flew and me who planned to just stop by for a few hours suddenly discovered that it was one a clock in the morning and we had laughed and loved for 7 hours. I was filled with joy and energy when I went home for my last nights sleep in Sweden.

Stefan is my first aikido teacher and we have been through both ups and downs in our long relationship, strong-minded as we both are, but my respect for him is enormous, not only as an aikido teacher but also as a friend and fellow thinker. Many are the long discussions we have shared over a dinner after practice and that is one of the things I also miss when I am no longer in Malmö. His role as my aikido teacher is also very much fundamental for who I am when I step in to a dojo today. His approach to his students is very unique, shared with merely a few other teachers. Being his student means enjoying a committed personal guidance, getting constant feedback and support that helps you shaping your aikido in the most fruitful way. No matter where in the world I am, or which other teachers I might train with, Stefan will always be my Shihan and a big part of me will always belong with him and the rest of the beautiful people in his dojo.

Effective aikido session

Today was unfortunately the only aikido practice with Stefan Stenudd that I succeeded to squeeze in to my tight Malmö schedule. When I go to Stockholm I basically have aikido there and nothing else, while in Malmö I have a whole other realm of friends and family and also paper work to tend to. Anyhow, my first aikido teacher and dear newly-appointed Shihan sucked the most out of it and used me as uke for the whole 90 minutes class. A true honour and loads of fun.

Tonight there is a party in Stefans honour to celebrate his title and at first I had decided that my last evening in Sweden had to be dedicated to my parents, but they did not want to hear anything of it, and since we had a very early meal consisting of madly amounts of sushi, I am soon off to join the Shihan party for a few hours after all. I hope that the Shihan does not reach to read my blog before that... ;)

From Poshholm to Ramalmö

Time to leave the Swedish capital for this time. After 11 days of intense aikido practice, several times each day, I now feel stuffed to the brim, and I think that both body and mind will do good with some rest. Things need to digest and the sabra aikidokas will have plenty of fruitful things to ingest when I will be back.

I will take the night bus to Malmö, which is pretty convenient with free Wi-Fi and stuff, so I guess that I will be a bit busy with that until it is time for some hours sleep, tucked in with my big winter jacket.

In Stockholm Jewish people are still pretty safe, but in Malmö even the mayor has taken his protective hand away nowadays, alas, returning to Malmö means removing any item that shows some bond to Judaism or Israel unless you are up for a discussion about it. It happens to me all the time in Malmö, with all kinds of acquaintances, and I think that it is a tragedy and quite pathetic that so many people have become to duped by the subliminal anti-Semitic messages in media and the cultural life in general. Anyway, I found a cute pin with a Swedish flag crossed with an Israeli one, so I got one for myself and one for Yoram. I think I will keep it on my bag in Malmö just to defy! Why subdue to such low standards?

Had enough of winter now

Helgeandsholmen seen from Riksbron

I have not yet digested the Endo seminar enough to give a deeper review, and maybe that will have to wait for a while. Anyway, it is over and we now do some nice practices with Jorma every day to "reset" the aiki. A large seminar is always fun, but the day-to-day practice with Jorma is always what makes the greatest impact on me. Maybe simply because it is more personal. All in all, I am stuffed with useful things to bring home to the dojo in Israel and I hope that I will be able to inspire my friends there.

The temperature is constantly several degrees below zero here and I am walking around admiring all the frost on the trees, but to be honest I feel pretty satisfied with winter now, after two weeks. I guess I will just have to bare with another two weeks of heavy layers of clothes and static hair under the toque, before I return to the "Swedish summer" home in the Israeli winter. Today I also did my customary raid in the souvenir shops from Drottninggatan and down to Gamla Stan and I came home with two bags of blue-and-yellow things for me and my beloved Israeli Sweden-supporters. Expatriates are clearly nuts.

Crazy expatriates' paradise

Quick notice from the aiki dimension

We did not do one kata form during the whole seminar. Only aiki and contact exercises and free waza. Endo Sensei was in a very good mood in spite that he needed a root canal on the first day of the seminar. This kind of practice is what makes the aikidokas soft, aware and sensible. If you only teach techniques, there will always be stiff people on the mat. More about that later. Tonight the open weekend seminar starts and tomorrow we will see some nice dan gradings. Now I need a short afternoon nap. I could easily get used to living this life; aikido, coffee, food, sleep, coffee, aikido, beer, sleep, aikido, food, coffee, aikido, sleep, coffee, aikido... All impregnated with great joy and loads of love...

Endo Sensei in Stockholm

Endo Sensei seminar in Stockholm has started and it feels great to be back in the epicentre, with all my dear aikido friends from all over the world. I have not seen them since in July. Three days of Yudansha seminar, and then an open weekend seminar. I will be caught up in aiki heaven during these days, therefore not much blogging. There will probably be a review after...

Winter wonderland

My flight went smoothly. Also security. Yoram always follows me through the first security check to alleviate the interrogation. "How long have you known each other?" "Do you know anyone that your boyfriend does not know?" How do you answer that? "No, he did not let me leave the house alone for 8 months." or "Yeah, I know a bunch of Palestinians on the West Bank." I guess that they would prefer to hear the former, while the latter is more close to the truth. "Did you pack your luggage yourself?" "Did anyone ask you to bring a package on their account?" "Yeah, there was this Arab guy I met..." Duh...

In Malmö the snow keeps on falling and I feel blessed to come home to a real winter. I had to scrape the windows on the car and I skidded around on the streets. Other than that things are the same. I drank my coffee at Kaffebar and the owner Samir was so happy to see me that he almost cried. I had brought him a nice Misbaha (Islamic prayer beads) made of volcanic stone that I bought in Daliyat al-Karmel. It will be a lot of hanging at Kaffebar during my time in Malmö.

I was about to go to aikido with Stefan Stenudd tonight but it is snowing so hard that I cannot even see my car anymore, so the Shihan will have to wait for my attendance until after my visit further up North.