Dear parents and students,

Welcome back to the Dojo! No, it isn't a mistake on the website listing. It's been a year since the last official e-Newsletter. It is amazing how a year can just whiz by. I welcome all our new students, parents, and families. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need clarification about anything pertaining to Aikido and our dojo.

It truly is good to be back in the dojo. This year, my focus is to ensure that students rediscover and improve on taking good ukemi. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough, if students are to remain safe when practising in any dojo, workshop, or seminar. It is a fundamental skill that used to be drilled at least for the first two years of a beginner student's life. This seemingly mundane pre-requisite to actually practising even the first basic technique served to ground the student in being able to learn self-preservation during practice while fine-tuning one's alertness, flexibility, and sensitivity - apart from ensuring a student's sincerity and commitment to learning the art.

As we journey through another magical autumn season, watching the world around us turn golden brown, we also enter into a season of festivals. The first will occur on the weekend of September 29 and 30 where no Friday or Saturday classes have been scheduled. This is because the Bert Richman Building will be used to store all the lanterns and props for the Moon Festival on Saturday, September 30. If you have nothing planned on that Saturday, spend the afternoon creating your own lantern, and share in the full moon celebrations that will go on through the evening.

The following weekend, no classes have been scheduled again for Saturday, October 7. This is due to the long Thanksgiving weekend. Saturday students and parents, please take note that the recreation centre has not scheduled classes over long weekends for a few years now, due to the frequent dip in attendance because families typically go away over long weekends. So, you are not missing out in fees, and it isn't a discrepancy.

Information for the Autumn classes are already up on our website under "Notices".  Please remember to register ahead as under Saanich policy, students who are not registered are not allowed to attend classes due to insurance liabilities. Perhaps consider signing up for the year-long programme. 

Please visit our website (or FaceBook pages) and check our Notices for information and updates. To keep our database current, please inform us if you have a change of address, new email, or new contact numbers. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

For your convenience, here is a calendar you can print and put up on the fridge.

Here's to a most excellent, enriching, and meaningful year of practice!

See you in the Dojo!

With peace and harmony,
Rafael Oei Sensei
Ueshiba Aikido Victoria
© Ueshiba Aikido Victoria – OWH Industries: Sep 2017.