Swap with Saku

This video is about my post wiht Saku Chan! <3<3 <3 She also blogged about our swap. You can read her post here. Should you be interested in doing a swap with me, get in contact with me! This was the first one I ever did. I relly enjoyed it and am looking forward to have other ones also. Some of the products like the facial clensing kit are in my daily routine already. The CK lip balm in on my office table and I apply it every day, so I think swaps are a nice way to feel closer to your blogger friends.

GIVEAWAY! One Year of Beauty and Aikido Blog

Hi Everyone!

I would like to thank everyone who has been following my blog in the past year. I would also especially like to thank to those who commented and got engaged with this blog and what it is all about. 

Check out the video where I am presenting the 2 PRIZES: 1 BEAUTY PACKAGE and 1 AIKIDO PACKAGE.

And now the prizes in pictures also:

THE BEAUTY PACKAGE

BEAUTY PACKAGE

BEAUTY PACKAGE

BEAUTY PACKAGE

THE AIKIDO PACKAGE

AIKIDO PACKAGE

AIKIDO PACKAGE

AIKIDO PACKAGE

So these are the items I am giving away. You can enter easily by using the form here-under.

Hope you enjoy this giveaway and good luck!


Please perform both mandatory steps in order to qualify as a winner. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Aikido Summer Training Camp 2011

I love to fly during the aikinage. I can't wait to meet my friends on the next training. This is all the effect of the summer training camp. We had such a wonderful summertime together with a lot of training and a lot of fun. So I really feel like posting this group photo of us. I hope we will build even stronger friendships and become really good aikidoka.

2011 Aikikai Aikido Summer Training Camp in Szantód

There is still a lot of work we need to do on our website. It is actually my boyfriend and I with the help of a senpai (the cute girl with a hakama on Sensei's right) who are redesigning it. We also have to look for a better dojo for the future that would attract more practitioners. But these will all come in time.

What we have already is a neat Facebook page! 

Feel free to check it out and like it. I have also posted some pictures from the training camp there.

Silver Toe Ring ♬SALE♬

Hi all! Well yeah, even aikidoka wear jewelry!

(◡‿◡❀)

I have been thinking a lot of making an online shop, but until then I need some experience. I am thinking more in jewelry and small gadgets like a ladybird USB key and other kawaii stuff. As a start I am experimenting with a Hungarian auctioning site called Vatera.hu

Here is what we are talking about

Beauty and Aikido ©

If you are in Hungary and interested in my auctions please check out the first one on the following links:

 You can get the ring for starting from just 1 HUF and place a bid (licit) HERE
You can get one of the more than 15 rings for the price of 600 HUF  HERE

Aikattention! Don't forget to take your jewelry off though before stepping on the mat. It might injure either yourself or your partners. Be on the safe side!

925 Ezüst Lábgyűrű

 LÁBGYŰRŰK 

ÚJ! Bontatlan
Cuki kis ezüst lábgyűrűk.

Tökéletes kiegészítő a nyári ruházathoz.

Masszív, jól állítható, hullámos mintázattal.
Ára csupán 600 Ft.

Élvezd a nyarat trendin!

For what do you shop online? Feel free to share in a comment!

Basic Terms you Need to Know to Survive Aikido

Your head is filled with all sorts of new words you cannot put into order? 

You are not sure if someone is being rude to you or just explaining a technique? 

Here is your rescue! 

I have already talked about the huge amount of new words you learn when starting aikido in a previous post. Here is now a lexicon that can make your life easier. All the terms an average aikidoka would need in and out of dojo from Aiki-Doh!-ka to Zanshin. This is the creation of the inventive and humorous Kevin Love with illustrations by Jon Oaker. They have kindly sent me a copy in the PDF format to review. I am pretty sure that I will go through it again and again and laugh a lot. Because yes, finally, this is a humorous interpretation of aikido terms, and a more laid back and informal approach to aikido. 

© Copyright 2008 by Kevin Love and Jon Oaker
All Rights Reserved

So you might be wondering what Aiki-Doh!-ka is. If the picture was not expressive enough, here is one of the brief but to the point definitions you can find in the Lexicon:

Aiki-Doh!-ka: A clumsy Aikidoka who can usually be found in the opposite stance necessary to perform a technique, holding his Bokken upside down, etc.  They are often Aiki-Broke-a as well, and sometimes wear a medical alert bracelet.

I would like to add that this is a definition and that any similarity to reality is purely coincidence. However, each aikidoka out there has at some point taken some pain killers or used some sort of cream to make the pain go away. Therefore the definition hereunder:

Aiki-Dope-a:  All Aikidoka  for at least the first  three months of training. 

I remember someone telling me they call pain killers aiki-candy. Furthermore, pain can be inflicted by spaces you would never have suspected they could. I am pretty sure all aikidokas out there have performed at some point a toe nage, see definition hereunder and picture for reference.

© Copyright 2008 by Kevin Love and Jon Oaker
All Rights Reserved

Toe Nage: Any kind of a throw effected when you catch your toe in a crack between mats, even if you throw yourself.  With practice, the expletive that comes out of your mouth can be disguised as a Kiai.

 

After a while the aiki-something-ka combinations can become a bit boring but the authors made sure to include some fun concepts with unexpected meanings to keep the reader entertained as the example above or this following innovative view on Sensei:

Sensei:  The person at the front of the Dojo who is always interrupting your practice and telling you what to do.

Remember that this is a Lexicon. Nobody reads a Lexicon from beginning to the end. It is a book that you keep on your shelf or Kindle that you can take in your hand again and again and have fun with. And you can also learn new concepts with this book. The authors sure have a lot of fun, but there are a lot of witty definitions also. 

Atari: O Sensei’s home planet.

So I went out there and looked up what Atari means and got the following information:

There is a stickiness that uke must strive for in order to feel the ki of nage. The connecting point where uke and nage meet is the atari point. Only by maintaining this point can center and ki be transmitted to one another. This is not to say that this point is fixed or static. It can move up and down your body, it can be maintained with the hands, arms, shoulders, hips, even the head. This connection point shifts and moves during practice and it keeps the two as one unified body.

There are also aikido reinterpretations of concepts you never thought you would look up in a Lexicon:

Ears:  Located strategically on the sides of your head to block Yokomen Uchi, Bokken strikes, etc.

So yame everyone! Seiza and Mokuso!

Mokuso: Close your eyes: concentrate.  While you are doing this, Sensei is making faces at you.

 and

 Relax: Advice often given by Sensei.  Hard to do when people aretrying to pummel, stomp, or bonk you over the head with a Bokken.

© Copyright 2008 by Kevin Love and Jon Oaker
All Rights Reserved

I am pretty sure this short post has risen your interest for this great book. If you also enjoy the funny side of aikido you have the following options to grab yourself a copy:

You can buy the book as a PDF file to download.

here

You can also have a print-on-demand book on Lulu.com

Black and White Paperback Version

Color Paperback Version

You can find it also as Kindle eBook

Kindle (UK)

Kindle (US)

Kindle (DE)

Make sure you also visit the site website of these goofy aikidokas. They are fooling around on Facebook also.