Skip to main content

Posts

"A New Year's Resolution without Resolve is Laziness (and You Know It)!" - By: Tyra Leesman

If you've recently made your New Year's resolutions for 2018, congrats! You've made the first step toward bettering your life. Unless, of course, you made those resolutions without the resolve to complete them. I'm not talking about "I'll give it a shot!" or even "I'll give it my BEST shot!". Resolve  means you want   to reach your goal, you have a plan  to reach your goal, and you actually make the effort  to reach your goal. It's the trifecta or no-fecta! You won't lose that weight by WISHING for it hard enough. But you know that. The problem with humans is that we know what to do, we just don't know how to make ourselves do it. We spend billions of dollars a year on industries that promise us success. Gym memberships, supplements, nicotine patches, personal finance classes... There seem to be a million ways to get yourself motivated (if you have the cash) and popping a pill or pinning an inspirational quote on Pinterest s
Recent posts

"The Tipping Point" by: Sensei Freeman

"Pipopipette " is the original name of a game we all played as children, created by a French man name d  Édouard Lucas . Some people call it the Dots and Boxes game, some call it Connecting the Dots. The objective of the game is to connect four dots to create a box, at which point one signs their initials into the box to claim it. At the end of the game, whoever has the most boxes wins. Remember that? If we imagine this flat piece of paper as a 3-D dot matrix for a moment, we can make an entire room - an entire world - as a matrix of single points, connected by space and time. When dealing with Aikido techniques, one must always try to understand the most efficient route to dealing with the matrix of the world, and even deeper than this, human architectural alignment within the world, and the individual alignment of the human himself. This is the most efficient way of taking the balance of our uke, continuously studying it so that you become the most efficient expression

We Now Have An Interim Space

We now have an interim space! GET YOUR TRAINING FACE ON! Classes resume in this next week at regular time on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday - in the basement of the old dojo at 7403 Manchester Rd. (in the Kickboxing / MMA downstairs training space - Senpai will have key). Tues: 7am-8:30am (adult), 5pm-6pm (kids), 6pm-8pm (adult) Thurs: 7am-8:30am (adult), 5pm-6pm (kids), 6pm-8pm (adult) Sat: 8am-10am (adult), 10am-12pm (kids) Now is not the time to take a break. Now is not the time to let your training fizzle out... Now is the time to hit the mat and tear it up! NOW is the time to be the strongest dojo family we can be - with or without a building of our own, we are THREE RIVERS! Your dojo needs you! If TRA (or Sensei) has ever impacted you, changed your life, made a difference in who you (or your kids) are, comforted you without questions or judgement, moved your boxes, paid for lunch, let you throw because it just wasn't a good day... the time has come that you can

8 Amazing Benefits Children Gain From Martial Arts

Transcribed and adapted from a video produced by “World of Martial Arts Television” People often view the Martial Arts as a violence fueling activity that makes children more aggressive.  Well, nothing could be further from the truth.  The Martial Arts does prepare the child for the violent nature of society, yes, that much is obvious.  But there is a far deeper benefit from training in the martial arts. 1. Increased self discipline This is one of the most underestimated parts of martial arts is that they deliver so much value in life .  Teach kids the power of self-discipline and they will be able to succeed when faced with adversity and they will become a champion in life . 2. Improved Social Skills/Make Friends For Life Every drill, or game or throw requires children to work in co-operation .  The child learns that they improve by working with their peers and this is a valuable lesson in real life.  This leads to greater connection and friendships that will last

Three Rivers Aikido Dojo is MOVING!

Three Rivers Aikido Dojo has been in St. Louis for nearly 30 years. We once trained on Manchester Rd. (for about 22 years) and when the building was sold, we moved to a smaller interim dojo on Clayton.  We at TRA are so proud to announce that after three long years in a cramped third floor space, we are moving to a bigger place! Our final day of training in the interim dojo will be October 30th, 2017 - this is a test day, so don't forget to drop by and support your fellow students! While renovations at the new dojo are underway, students will train anywhere they can find a senpai to work with, and we are looking for a more official place to hold training in the meantime. Our Clayton dojo building is being renovated as well, so if anyone knows a good gymnasium or dojo we could use (at an affordable cost), please contact the dojo secretary or Sensei! As renovations get more involved in the coming weeks, Three Rivers asks that its students put forth a commitment of at least

"Excerpt: Aesthetic vs. Function" - By: Sensei Elliot Freeman (2009)

As a teacher of Aikido for over thirty-five years, I am always amazed at what experiences individual students take away from their dojo. I have noticed that depending on the age, gender and outlook of any particular pupil, each student walks away from each teacher and/or class with clearly different lessons, even though they all attended the same class. Whether we are observing O Sensei’s archived films, reading his writings or appreciating his calligraphy, the one constant element that all Aikido students experience is, a very compassionate yet powerful teaching.  One without the other would be looked at by traditional Japanese aesthetics to be completely decadent, if not as useless as a Japanese sword that cannot cut.  Even if a samurai sword had hundreds of hours of labor pored into it, (even if it would have the most beautiful  tsugata  (shape),  hada  (folding patterns),  hamon  (tempered edge), with all of the  tsunegashi ,  ashi  and other subtle beauty marks that a connoisseur

"To Not Train is Not Good" - by Senpai John Aughey (May 2017)

The tl;dr version is, the phrase "I have to train" or "I must train" spoken in Japanese is said, "to not train is not good."  Think about that.  The phrase has the same meaning, but a very different connotation. Conjugating Japanese verbs is relatively easy. to go - iku いく to go (polite) - ikimasu いきます to not go - ikimasen いきません then suddenly... have to go - ikanakutewaikemasen  いかなくてはいけません Boy, that escalated quickly!  I had to consult with Japanese speakers to decipher that one.  What this translates to literally is, "to not go is not good" or "if I do not go it is not good".  This double negative becomes an affirmative providing a sense of urgency to the mandate. So to conjugate a word for to train or to practice becomes 稽古 to train - keikosuru けいこする to train (polite) - keikoimasu けいこ します to not train - keikoimasen けいこ しまん must train - keikoshinakutewaikemasen けいこしなくてはいけません Or literally, &