Dojo Announcements

Congratulations to Heather von Rohr, promoted to 1st kyu;

Congratulations to Roo Ells, promoted to 3rd kyu;

And congratulations to Sean MacNintch who took his Buddhist precepts and now has the new name Joshin!

Take something you do daily: washing the dishes, folding laundry, making a cup of coffee- something of this nature.

Try and simply be with the activity you are doing: do your task without planning, judging, reviewing the day, thinking of what you will do afterwards. Very quietly allow yourself to do whatever you are doing at hand. If thoughts come, see them and let them go. Don't follow any thought.

If this is possible, begin observing how your body is while doing whatever it is you are engaged in. Try to see where tension is not necessary. Try to do whatever is at hand with the most simple and effective body movement.

Keep trying to do this, day after day.

Congratulations to Damien Scott, promoted to Sandan in January 2025!

Congratulations to Ryan Tuozzolo, promoted to nikyu on February 1st, 2025!

A note from Sensei:

"There have been an increasingly number of people in the dojo that do not power off their phones.  This leads to the buzzing of texts and calls during aikido class and zazen.  I have also walked in on people texting on their phones.  I am asking all of you, to please stop doing this and power off your phone before entering the dojo! Our dojo is meant to be a reminder of what the world could be - a place that values silence.  

If a phone goes off again in class, or in zazen, I will simply stop the class and we will clean up for the day.  

If you need someone to contact you, i.e. there is a difficult situation outside— simply leave your phone on up front, or give them the dojo number.

Thank you for respecting my wishes in this.

-Ryūgan"