The Warrior's Path

I have been dreaming for a long time to get some theoretical knowledge of the history of martial arts. Half a year ago I found a whole study line and was seriously considering to apply for a 3 year BA program which was focusing on aikido and martial arts. But it has been discontinued. Then this opportunity came. I just saw a post that you can win a 2 month course about martial arts. All I had to do was answer to an easy question:

What is the literal meaning of Sensei?

Answer: "person born before another"

So I just hit the right answer submitted and a few days later, before going to bed, I was checking my e-mail with sleepy eyes. An e-mail came noticing me that I won one of the free admissions to the two month course. I was so happy, just jumping and singing!

So today I am soon heading to the third Seminar. So far we discussed a lot of the historical background and I am hoping we are soon getting to the martial arts part. The main teacher is Szabó Balázs whom I have presented to you in a previous post. I will be getting back with posts that sum up the contents of each course, so if you are interested please stay tuned!

Japanese Days and Manga Self

I know that everyone is supposed to be their own self, but there is this Japanese chick inside of me that sometimes wants to come to the surface and be cute. So the best place for that is a Japanese cultural event, right. I was invited in the last August weekend to such an event. I had a lot of fun and tried out everything. In the big conference room there were movies, martial arts presentations, dancing and singing.

This is the makeup I was wearing for the day. I was using just tinted moisturizer by L'Oreal, NYC eyelash curler and the Maybelline Rocket mascara that I totally love. On top of that some 100% pure organic blush that I love. And that was it. Oh, and I bought a set of cute bow hairpins. Two of them resemble my ombred hair I think (you can see those on the table)

I listened to presentations and I also played karuta and ate some sushi. The guy at the sushi counter asked me whether I have ever eaten any sushi...then he looked at my tee and he smiled. I said I did eat... I really became keen on karuta also, so I bought a pack of them and started learning the poems called Hyakunin Isshu. Not that I understand a lot of it, but I can read Hiragana, so that helps a lot! So beware, some posts might come about karuta! I also bought a tatami on which I will be able to play it. So excited!!!

I also danced on one of those dancing video games. Then I got my manga portrait taken. It was a lot of fun! Do you think it resembles me? The portrait was done by Lainess. You can check her DevianArt profile here. I think she is quite talented.

The History of Aikido: About Jujitsu and Aikido (Hungarian)

I have decided to post these two videos for my Hungarian speaking readers, because I know from the stats that there is many of you out there :D I also attended the first lecture, but I could not make it to the second. Great that they taped it and I was able to listen to it at home.

Balazs is a great and eloquent presenter who has a lot of knowledge about aikido. He also teaches aikido at the same dojo where I train but on different days and times.

A Dress for a Special Occasion: Wine Tasting

Every lady needs that special dresses for that special occasions. Your best friend gets married, there is a cocktail party to attend, the company organizes a Christmas Party and the list can go on and on. Once you get the invite, you usually realize you have nothing to wear. Even if you have something from last year it might not fit your present style, the trends, season or what not. So then you start running around to look for that special dress that fits you. I know, been there, done that. On the last week before the Christmas Party I usually start running like crazy for the perfect dress and shoes. And I get really exhausted and frustrated. So this year I decided to look around the internet and check what is available, long before it started. This time I am looking for a dress for a wine tasting and I found this website called Dress First. They have lots of dressed and accessories there and a very good filtering system on the left hand side. You can sort by categories and you can also narrow it down to color, price, season and what not. I knew for sure the color, but am not sure about the material and the cut, so I filtered for burgundy. These two dresses are the runners up for me: 

Source: Dress First

Source: Dress First

I chose this color because I think my skin has a warm undertone. I always get compliments if I wear colors like red or burgundy. I also think that burgundy is a really nice fall color that makes me think of wine tasting. I guess I would pick the second dress which is a less dressy one as the wine tasting will be more like an informal event where we will just taste some wines and chitchat with our colleagues. But on the website you can pick from a large range: from absolutely dressy wedding or ball garments and accessories, to simple clean cut cocktail dresses.  

From September on: 4th KYU!

Beauty and Aikido ©

Guess what! I finally took the chance and took the 4th kyu exam. It was not easy, but I felt like I did my best. Sensei's comment was that I did not do my best at all, that I did way better on trainings. Probably the anxiety in the exam situation brought this about. There were parts I liked, and parts I was struggling with, but in the end I made it. After the exam I felt a huge rush of endorphins through my whole body and a huge happiness that I had the guts to do it. I had to...two years passed by since my last exam. Sensei commented on that, too. He also said that I got the 4th kyu, with his indulgence, but he is giving it to me only from September on. Until then I have to correct the mistakes he pointed out and do better and better. He also said that I should be taking the exams more regularly. From now on, I have promised to myself to persevere and never abandon this path. 

Reina's Transformation

Beauty and Aikido ©

As you may already know, I was on a training camp for a whole week. Lots of training, kyu exam but also lots of fun with nice people, grilling, swimming in lake Balaton and last but not least, some styling. Our lovely Reina has been transformed from a cute little girl into an even cuter young lady. I think she really liked the end result. However she found that it took a bit too long and that she could not incorporate the whole makeup and hair session into her daily routine.

Special thanks to Mesu and Jazmin who have collaborated and actually taken the initiative of this quick transformation. 

Biomechanics and Aikido

Beauty and Aikido ©

Reader Advisory: Beware as I am getting really scientific in this post :) 

A PE teacher with physics background made a great experiment

He has proven through an experiment that students who understand the mechanics of Aikido perform a lot better the various techniques. Also using aikido in teaching mechanics appeared to be a much more effective approach then the conventional ones. I really believe that learning through experimenting is really important. The principles from physics were learned easier though experimenting with aikido, but also your aikido can get better if you understand its mechanics. However you can only get better if you keep on trying and experimenting. And this is a really interesting path you can try out by reading about it or talking to friends who have a background in physics. You also need to keep open and eager to learn more and more. So I am offering you a new opportunity to learn more about aikido. Here you can find the entire article about the research:

http://aikidoforbeginners.blogspot.com/2011/09/teaching-aikido-using-biomechanics.html

If you read it, let me know about your feed-backs. Would be really interested what you think! Were you convinced or do you think it is just another of those weird experiments from which one has no gains?

Planning to Teach Aikido?

It could be also an interesting article for those who at some point want to teach aikido. I am sure that one can not only perform but also explain a technique much better if he or she fully understands how the technique works.