Blogosphere and GFC Changes

Hello to all my dear readers! I found it strange that for several months I had no GFC follower, so I started doing some research. During holiday I had a bit more time to read about blogging and I was preparing another giveaway when I suddenly realized that GFC has been discontinued this spring. So this just made me aware of how important it is to keep up with news. Some blogs had massive GFC readership which was built up with lots of efforts. Everyone has to adapt to changes and also try to preview the upcoming shifts. There has also been a communication problem here from Google's side, because I don't remember getting any notification about this change coming...maybe it went to my spam or was written in the usual official format nobody really reads. Instead I would have used some sort of warning in the widget itself, or something similar.

But back to Beauty and Aikido,  I am not sure if my friends from GFC can see my posts any more and I am still working on ways to transfer you guys to some other platform, Goolge + or Facebook. This is rather troublesome, so I still need to do some research. You can also sign up for the free newsletter that I have or follow me in Google Reader via the RSS feed which has fortunately not been touched.

So in fact this is an invitation for everyone reading this post and who has been following only through GFC to join me on the following links:

Silvia Pebble on Google+

Beauty and Aikido on Google+

Beauty and Aikido on Facebook

Beauty and Aikido RSS Feed

Daily Tweets

Training Notes on Tumblr.

Beauty and Aikido Free Newsletter

If you know any way I can mass export my GFC friends, please let me know in a comment. Would love to hear from other bloggers about the way they bridged this change!

AIKI TREND XMAS

-A guest post by Anne Marie from AIKI TREND 

Aiki Trend was launched in 2010 by Aikido lovers who admire the beauty of the art of Aikido. Aiki Trend wants to transmit this beauty in an innovative but classy way, offering our fellow Aikidoka an elegant way to express their passion for this art. Aiki Trends' objective is to transmit beauty within the refinement of its pieces. Our pieces are generally inspired by the movements of circularity which are a fundamental part of this fascinating art. Aiki Trend's jewelry is inspired in the basic concepts of Aikido: an art that promotes peace, love and harmony. It is made with top of the quality Peruvian silver in 925/950 purity. Aiki Trend has just launched its new collection, with many new products lined up for you this coming year 2013. Please come and visit our page @ www.aikitrend.com this holiday season!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Travel Boots

These boots are made for travel, so that's just what they'll do! :) Yep. I bought some travel boots now before Christmas. I will be travelling a lot visiting my parents and then also spending the New Year's Eve in another town. So I will be travelling a lot. And there is nothing I hate more then having cold feet, so this was the perfect solution. These comfy sporty Fila boots will accompany me on the road. Here are some pictures for you to get an idea of what they look like.

4th Kyu Preparation - Salami Slice Approach IV

Source: www.aikidocity.com

I cannot estimate any more when I will be taking this exam unfortunately. It has happened that I did not attend the winter training camp from various reasons. Then I just received a mail that in the next camp, only those can take an exam who have participated on the winter camp, so there go my hopes out the window. But the salami slice approach continues.

The topic of this post will be kote gaeshi. For the 4th kyu exam you have to execute it from aihanmi katatedori, katatedori, shomenuchi and yokomenuchi. However I am pretty sure that our Sensei will be asking for kotegaeshis executed from a number of other attacks, too. What we did this week we paired up in groups of three and ukes could attack the way they wanted. Tori had to execute techniques, as always it had to be nage waza and not osae waza, that is you had to perform a throw and not a pin. I did not do well with the shoulder and elbow grabs, so I need to practice that. Not too many videos found on elbow and shoulder grabs, so I will just have to stick with my training and pay more attention.

 Let's see how Monsieur Tissier does it from aihanmi katatedori.

And some footage from one of our summer camps:

Thanks for reading this post and stay tuned for some more. The winter holidays are approaching which sort of slowed down my posting pace, but there will be some more posts. I will not be doing any Christmas giveaway, but stay tuned for the 2 year anniversary of my blog in January. I am already planning something for you guys!!! To make sure you will be notified, become a follower of this blog by joining the GFC community on the left hand side. 

Don't forget to follow me for training notes on Tumblr. I post training notes at least twice a week!