Inaugural Bondi Beach Dojo Aikido Gasshuku - Blue Mountains
Around 5am on Saturday 18th June 2005, members of the AKI Bondi Beach Dojo began stirring from their beds and making their sleepy way to the beach. By 6am, we had piled 2 days worth of people, mats, food and dogi into 4 cars and were on our way to the Blue Mountains for what would be our first ever dojo gasshuku. We were very excited!
Aside from the usual crew of Bondi diehards, we were very fortunate to be joined by several special guests from other AKI dojo who regularly support our club through special training events and the occasional public holiday keiko. All up there were 12 of us, making for a very intimate and special weekend.
We arrived at our mountain dojo around 8am and began setting up our mats. It was an incredibly beautiful space with a tall ceiling, a log fire and big windows that looked out onto native bushland - an absolutely perfect space in which to train.
We trained for three hours before lunch in the nearby kitchen. Having filled our bellies, some of us chose to retire to bed and catch some shut eye to the dulcet tunes of Snoop Doggy Dog (how can you sleep like that Dom?!). Others opted for a bushwalk in the winter sun where they enjoyed stunning views of the nearby Jenolan range.
Following the afternoon's keiko, each of us gave a 3 minute enbu which was videoed for later study (see photo gallery). Then it was off for a hot shower and out the door for dinner. We had a booked a Japanese restaurant in my hometown of Leura where we feasted on udon, soba, tenpura, sushi, teriyaki and of course hot sake! And no meal would have been complete without maccha icecream!
It had been a long day so most headed straight back to the log fire and watched footage of the day's training as well as of videos of Takeda Sensei from the previous month's training in Japan. A small band of us though had caught wind of the fact that it was Rina's birthday the next day so we went off in search of a cake. The next morning at 5:30am, we burst into the women's dorm armed with a black forest cake, sparklers, party whistles and a very off-key rendition of 'Happy Birthday'. A few seconds earlier and the surprise would have been on us! (gomen ne Rina-chan!).
Twenty minutes later, the fire was going and we were back on the mat for a very playful asageiko before sunrise. We had a leisurely breakfast of miso and birthday cake before the morning's training and a second round of demonstrations after which Rina gave everybody 10 birthday nage before being subdued by a surprise group attack!
Our first dojo gasshuku was a truly magical and unforgettable weekend that was over all too soon! The atmosphere throughout the camp was fantastic with everyone, regardless of level or experience, totally throwing themselves into the training and giving generously of their spirit and energy. It was a joy to hang out and share food, jokes and stories and I think it will be a long time before I can get that particular image that Ralph shared out of my mind!
Special thanks to all those who came and trained hard, and to our friends - Julia - for showing us this beautiful space - and Malcom - for making us feel welcome and sharing it with us. Here's to many more opportunities to connect and explore like this!
- Berin Mackenzie
Participants' impressions
Well, what a place to have a gasshuku, in the Blue Mountains, in the bush, in a building that felt like a dojo the moment we entered it.
And what an experience to have the training build on itself over two days, to feel expansive movements refine and condense into tighter and tighter expressions of ukemi...
And off the mat, moments of hilarity, moments of exhaustion and just plain hanging out in a beautiful place...
Should be more of it.
- Peter Baillie
It takes a gifted person to manifest into existence an inaugural dojo gasshuku in a beautiful Japanese-style bush setting, have us getting up at 5:30 two days in a row in the freezing cold, and fill the whole weekend with fun, enthusiasm and great training. One of Berin's gifts is that of imagery; some of my favorites are the "giant frog palm" and the "patting of the cat you don't really like". Imagery does revive some disaffected parts of my brain so I get a better idea of where are the mysterious lines and how to feel the center of the movement.
Over breakfast on Sunday, as some people were deploring the lack of new female students joining the dojo, someone came up with a powerful imagery that might solve the problem... More will be revealed at the next Bondi Beach Gasshuku... not to be missed!
- Genevieve Autret
The first gasshuku of our dojo at Bondi Beach was also my very first
gasshuku and it was a great experience! The spirit within our small group was pleasingly energetic, warm and
open minded. It was great to train with everybody in the group since all of
us were highly motivated and gave all their energy.
I enjoyed every minute of the two days - the training itself and the
demonstrations (as well as watching and analysing them on video in the evening),
sharing jokes and stories while having breakfast, lunch and dinner, chopping
wood for the fireplace and also the couple of hours resting or sleeping at
this peaceful place in the woods of Katoomba. I also was happy that there
was still some time to explore the vicinity (thanks Paul for giving
me a lift to the Three Sisters and thanks George and David for joining
us!) and for celebrating Rina's birthday at 5:30 in the morning... :-)
It was a great and inspiring weekend for me and I guess for all of us and
I am very grateful that I was invited to participate! The gasshuku was
very well planned and executed by Berin and his training was wonderfully
instructive and enjoyable as always. I hope there are many more gasshuku to come and I hope I will have the
opportunity to participate again before I finally head back to Germany!
- Ralf Weinand
It was great to get on the mat again for a couple of days of solid training. The setting in the hills was awesome - serene, and spectacular - and it allowed everyone there to fully relax, throw themselves into the training, and to have a laugh both on and off the mat.
The training itself reinforced the feeling we had been following on the recent Japan trip, and allowed us to continue exploring our aiki through some intense study. Warming up was always interesting when ones knees needed a little extra prompting in the cold. Thankfully, some innovative warm-ups made the task easy, and added a lot of fun and variety to our time on the mat. Training with a log fire also made for a different experience - all we needed was some snow to top it off! Maybe next year...
Thanks to Berin for the great job of organising and leading the weekend with his endless enthusiasm and commitment. Thanks also to everyone else who attended for the great training, patience and commitment. Looking forward to the next one.
- George Kamencak
This was my first gasshuku. Beforehand, I had only my imagination of what it might be like and I must admit what I imagined wasn't all that comforting. I managed to conjure up a huge dollop of aches and pains, a sizable level of exhaustion and quite a dose of feeling out of my depth, being only new to this intriguing martial art. On top of that my mind fabricated the additional discomfort of getting to bed too late and awaking too early in the cold of the Blue Mountains.
Well, that creation of my mind's eye was but a skeleton without flesh, blood or heart.
The reality of the gasshuku was in fact far far more whole and more complete than the simple etchings of my mind. The training was challenging yet extremely satisfying and caused me to return home with a sense that I have finally begun the aikido journey. The bush location was serene - away from the normal hustle and bustle of every day life and delighted the senses - and because of that, the two days we spent together training, eating, drinking and being merry was wildly more rewarding than my obviously unwild imagination could've ever come up with.
I'm glad that I was a part of such an outstanding gasshuku, and that my premature imagination was so incomplete.
What a magnificent inaugural gasshuku for the Bondi Beach dojo!
- Peter Love
In June, our still young dojo celebrated another milestone - our first dojo gasshuku. And what better place to have a winter gasshuku than in the Blue Mountains! Well at least we missed the snow by a couple of daysE
The gasshuku was a great occasion to build on the lessons we had learnt in Japan in May and to share these with our kohai. This was the first gasshuku that I'd been to where we lived and ate together for the entire weekend and it certainly provided many opportunities to share the spirit of Aikido together. I was reminded how rare it is these days to be part of a group with authentic friendship and so little egotism. Those friendships were strengthened by the intensive training and we're already looking forward to next winter's gasshuku.
- Paul McKey
I'm not sure what to thank Berin for first - the incredible weekend of training in the Blue Mountains or for making me wake up at 4.45 am in the bitter winter cold on a Saturday morning! (As soon as I can I'm moving straight to Bondi!) Regardless of the time, it was truly a magnificent weekend away - definitely what an Aikido gasshuku should be like, even though this was the first gasshuku I've ever been a part of! Everything just felt so right, perfect even.
This gasshuku has helped me experience Aikido on a level that one simply cannot hope to find in any normal keiko. When Berin told us that he was going to work us to the point of exhaustion he wasn't kidding! It is something that I will remember and cherish for a long time to come. And while the bruises will fade, and the scars will heal, I'll always remember that horribly wonderful sensation of my back and shoulders feeling raw, sore, battered and bruised after a long and excellent day of training. Like a vivid image burnt into the deepest recesses of my mind, I'll always remember mentioning to Berin how sore my entire body felt, to which he cooly replied "Welcome to gasshuku."
Every aspect of the gasshuku was everything I could have hoped for. To the training, the food, and just being with everybody while strengthening existing friendships and making new ones all together! The stories and jokes were also great. Not only did we have lots of good laughs, we've also devised a new advertising campaign to draw a few people to the art and hopefully persuade them to join! That image of Ralf swinging his bokuto around will be with me for a very long time to come. I'll never look at him again in the same way!
So thank you Berin for what was an amazingly magical weekend of Aikido. You have shown me and I'm sure plenty of other people how beautiful, extensive and powerful the Way is and I simply can't wait for our next gasshuku!
- Dave Wang (High School Student)
When I look back on our first dojo gasshuku, I think about endless keiko, painful atogeiko and waking up at 5am in the freezing cold. But I also think about all that I got out of this gasshuku. It was everything I could have hoped for and probably even more. It was my first gasshuku and I'm proud to have been part of it. It was an experience like no other and I hope that I will never forget this.
No normal keiko could have ever helped me as much as this gasshuku to learn more about Aikido. The enbu was an amazing experience and has helped me to understand the connection between uke and nage. And even though atogeiko was rather challenging, it has helped me a lot with being a better uke. All those hours of training were a lot of fun and a great experience. Working 'til the point of exhaustion was definitely worth it.
But even off the mat, it was a lot of fun. Spending time with old and new friends, sharing stories and making jokes while eating lunch in front of the oven, was just amazing.
I hope I will never forget this gasshuku, especially because it was the first gasshuku of our dojo. It was just amazing to be able to train with so many skilled and experienced Aikido practitioners throughout the weekend. Every day brought new techniques, experiences and memories. I'm not quite sure how to thank everybody for helping me out when I wasn't sure about a technique and helping me understand the true meaning of Aikido. I hope that I will be a part of our next dojo gasshuku as well.
Thank you very much Berin and everybody else.
- Dom Schleuter (High School Student)
Thank you for the fantastic weekend gasshuku in a beautiful place in Blue Mountains. I really enjoyed your classes sharing many interesting Aikido aspects you have and you have demonstrated to us beautifully. I was also impressed to see that Bondi Beach Dojo is expanding with good energy and the atmosphere was great. I really enjoyed training with everyone at this gasshuku. It was also fun outside of the mat, making breakfast and lunch together and chatting and joking around the fire place. I also had a wonderful birthday with your big surprise in the early morning at 5:30am before (I was fully ready for) asageiko which I will never forget! Thank you for inviting me to your first gasshuku.
- Rina Abe (AKI Balmain)
Rina and I both had a good time at your gasshuku in the Blue Mountains. The feeling among the group was very nice and we felt happy to be accepted as part of it. The setting was beautiful too, and although it wasn't as cold as I thought it might be, it was certainly cold enough to make me feel those little pains just that much more. While not as physically exhausting as other gasshuku, it was mentally and technically demanding. I hope we can bring back an aspect or a feeling, and integrate it into our regular training. Thank you for your teaching and for inviting us.
- Simon Wongyouwai (AKI Balmain)
What a (re)treat! Thank you, Bondi Beach Dojo for inviting me to join you for your gasshuku. It was a wonderful weekend of early starts, mountain weather, challenging training and convivial company. Heaven!
What a gem of a venue! Precisely half way between our two dojo but a million miles away from the world - perfect for intense concentration on training (and train we did, as this was the best way to stay warm). Berin led us in a variety of exercises and techniques exploring line and centre. Some of the Aikido I saw took my breath away in its beauty and delicacy.
However it wasn't all work with the communal living offering opportunities to get to know each other better. Shared meals in the dining hall and at the restaurant, and watching Aikido videos well into the night are part of some wonderful memories of the weekend.
I feel very honoured to have been a part of the inaugural Bondi Beach Dojo gasshuku. I look forward to being able to revisit this special place and share in the wonderful training with the Bondi Beach branch of my Aikido family tree.
- Fiona Hawke (AKI Orange)
Inaugural Bondi Beach Dojo Gasshuku 2005
(L-R, front row: Genevieve Autret, Peter Baillie, Berin Mackenzie, Fiona Hawke, Simon Wongyouwai; back row: David Wang, George Kamencak, Paul Mckey, Peter Love, Dominic Schlueter, Ralf Weinand, Rina Abe)
|