Sensei Andrew Vickery
I first started Ki Aikido in 1992 at Clifton Club in Bristol. The teacher, Sensei Robert Iles, was a fellow workmate, who has became one of my best life long friends.
When I started I’d never heard of Aikido or Ki but I went down to watch anyway. This was probably two years after first initially asking my teacher about Aikido!
Over the years of regular practise, (a lot of which was me getting a private lesson in the works car park) and many gradings, I eventually achieved my black belt. It was described to me as “having completed my apprenticeship and now the real practise starts”. Little did I know my journey was only really just starting. It was a couple of years after this that my teacher asked me if I would like to become his assistant. This was a great honour and, obviously, I accepted.
Being assistant meant being in front of the class for demonstration and eventually taking lessons when needed. This was a steep learning curve but it increased my confidence no end.
The next logical step was to open my own club, which I did in 1997. This again was a learning curve, and still is. It’s something I still very much enjoy to this day. I’m lucky enough to have quite a few students who’ve been practising with me for twenty plus years and who I consider to be good friends. We enjoy time together in the dojo and outside of it too, with regular social functions and an annual camping trip, with a different activity each year.
If I was forced to sum up what I’d achieved from my years of practising Ki Aikido I could do it in just one word, confidence. Confidence to stand up in front of people and talk. Confidence to have an opinion in my daily life and be prepared to stick to it, even when in the minority. It’s just one word but it changed my daily life so positively.
Everybody who practises any art will have their own idea of what they would like to achieve from it, although in my own personal experience and that of others I’ve taught, this usually changes the longer we practise. They also have their own opinions on how well it works. Although we practise as a club, we all are on our own individual journey.
Below are some personal insights and thoughts from our club members and there is a great variance in the articles, which goes to show how much of a personal journey we are all taking.
As I have now passed my 30th year since I first stepped on the mat, aged 12, I reflect upon this milestone and the winding journey that so many of us take in this art; to have a break in practice, but to return again. Why is it that we return after many months or years, when in so many other areas of life, the thought of going back to something, seems a backward step, or simply too hard? Would we lose face or not wish to see those once our juniors, now overtake us?
Much of that comes down to one’s ego and it so crucial to Aikido and daily life that we leave that behind. Ego has no place in the dojo. We are all beginners, and we are all here to learn, often learning the most from junior grades.
This attitude makes it easier to step back on the mat after a break. To make that call or send that email to the teacher to ask if you can attend their club. And when you do, the feeling is welcoming, ki is flowing and the purpose is clear again. The feeling of never-ending learning and discovery, the little breakthroughs when we finally stop trying and an exercise works, the calmness we feel and the friends we make. And of course, the support and patience from our teachers and fellow students is integral to making sure Aikido is a constant in our lives, on and off the mat.
Roy
Over the years of practice Aikido has given me many things, both on and off the mat. Not least different ways to view and deal with life’s stresses and challenges, especially the “8 ways” exercise and the ease with which I accept what’s happened, although that’s not to say I don’t want to course correct! It’s also a great way to exercise the body as well as the mind with a regular weekly practice helping keep those aches and pains at bay. And for me personally at my club, I’ve many friendships spanning over 20 years where we’ve all sought to keep that sometimes elusive calmness!
Paul
It’s hard to judge how you’ve changed through Aikido. A technique can be refined going from just not working, to clashy, to acceptable but needs improvement, a lifelong task. There are gradings to know you are making progress but mentally it’s more difficult. Ki breathing and Ki meditation have certainly helped me, in general and specific situations. I find you see more changes in others than yourself.
In particular one student came with his friend and was so painfully shy he didn’t look up from the floor and hardly said hello. I was assistant at the time and so paired up with him for his first class. Gradually over time he began to stand up right, look you in the eye and smile. His friend stopped coming but he continued on his own. He went through the grades becoming more confident until he passed his Dan grade, a major achievement. Then he was uke for the very next Dan Grading, even though still not as confident as others, you wouldn’t have thought he was the same person who started. I’m sure there were other things in his life that helped him change but Aikido was definitely one of the major ones. As far as I’m aware he does not practice anymore but whenever I think of him I can’t help thinking just wow at his progress. Whenever anyone asks me about what Aikido can do for you he pops into my mind.
Janet
After I tried to defend myself from being hit with a stick, by blocking with my hand and subsequently suffering a broken metacarpal, I decided that I needed to study how to defend myself. I was unsure whether to take up kickboxing or Aikido. After much deliberation I decided upon Aikido because I was drawn to the circular redirection nature of it. After a couple of false starts with different Aikido classes, I eventually found a Ki Federation class that I could attend. I was relieved to find that there was no pressure on me or necessity of doing gradings and so quite happily settled into classes. I enjoyed the exploration and development of Ki through the different holds and exercises and the enthusiasm and knowledge of the other members of the club. My Sensei offered me the opportunity to attend my first grading multiple times but I declined, being quite happy to just attend classes, but apparently they were not as optional as I had presumed. I eventually had to do one. Each and every grading has been a source of much anxiety, but they have encouraged me to study to a level I probably wouldn’t have without their motivation and they have increased my confidence.
Hans
I first heard the word ‘aikido’ in 1967: a girl I knew told me she was learning self-defence at these Aikido classes at the MAC (Midlands Arts Centre) in Birmingham.
That planted a seed that then took a couple of decades to ripen, which happened when I got together with Helen in Bristol, in September 1987. She’d been doing Ki Aikido (Aikido using mind-and-body coordination) for a couple of years and was going three and sometimes four times a week, which I thought was a bit bonkers. But she invited me to come along to a class to see what it was all about, which I did.
That was the start of my involvement with Ki Aikido, beginning with Sensei Bob Iles. Soon after I started practising at his club, he told us that before he moved on to Aikido, he used to do Karate and he’d always been baffled by how one or two guys there consistently managed to read his mind in any attack and thus get the better of him. They never tried to explain it, and they probably didn’t even realise what it was they had, or where it came from. But he said it was when he started practising Ki Aikido that he realised it was the ki that they were unconsciously tapping into, as an almost inevitable result of practising hard for years and years. He said that was the clincher for him in choosing to go with Aikido.
When I heard this I thought, right, I’ll have some of that. And here I still am.
Rich
Well here goes my journey into Ki Aikido.
It started in December 1997 and was about to change my life and has continued to do so from then on.
While at work I had heard of two fellow drivers who practice a martial art and that they are both Senseis. I need to also acknowledge that one is also the other’s student.
I respect their privacy so no names given but I would like to add that they are two of the most important people to me that I know.
I made enquiries of when and where the practice night was and I went along to that Tuesday night lesson. Life took a big change in direction from then on. Yes I was hooked by this art and wanting to be able to do what the higher grade students showed what they were able to do.
Time moved on and as all new students knew, along would come the first grading.
Can I remember everything? Will I get it right? I did!! Nerves were helped as I was one of 22 going for yellow belt at a compact dojo!
More time, area courses and a couple of gradings came along and that it was about then that my family members acknowledged that I wanted this to work out and that what ever Ki Aikido is, that it was bringing positive changes in me and to keep practicing (a saying I have got to hear a lot ever since, usually from Sensei !).
Now moving on and coming up to to my 2nd Dan work and life changes were having a growing impact on my practice, but I didn’t and haven’t given up and don’t intent to either
Over the years of practise I have learnt, but not always realised at the time, I have changed in my approach to what and who are around me.
When on the mat and it’s not been a good lesson you’ve probably learnt more than you think! So for me Ki Aikido is, and will always be, a big part of my life.
I would just like to say a big thank you to the two Senseis mentioned above and to all the students I have practiced with for me to achieve and be granted the grade I have.
Keep practicing!!!
Steve
My Ki Aikido journey has been inconsistent. My first class was more years ago than I care to remember, a taster that provided the spark of interest but fell foul of ‘life getting in the way’ and so it was a few more years before I found another club and started studying regularly. After another couple of years, and a few Kyu gradings, life got in the way again which led to a longer hiatus.
But the pull was still there…
When I restarted (again) I fell into the Bristol Patchway Club run by Sensei Andy Vickery. At the time I joined the club the lowest grade on the mat was 3rd Dan which was a little daunting, and to be honest that has been a double edged sword ever since. I am sure my practice is sometimes enhanced by the higher grades around me but, for them to ‘wind it down’ to practice at my grade has been their own challenge I’m sure. Nevertheless, despite everything I’m looking towards a 1st Dan grading at some point next year, so something must be going right!
Phil
My friend had already shown me unbendable arm a few weeks before, but this is my first time in a dojo, at least since judo as a child.
On the mat, a student walks to the front, kneels and reads out loud…
The One Point in the Lower Abdomen.
The Universe is a limitless circle with a limitless radius…
We bow again together, the teacher at the front. I try to copy the warm-up exercises, they’re not much like anything I’ve done before. I’m feeling self-conscious, as I wave my arms in front of me.
…this condensed becomes the One Point in the lower abdomen which is the centre of the Universe…
Failing to follow the changing exercises with our wrists, but now with a partner, bowing again, trying to remember what the teacher demonstrated. For no apparent good reason, I’m losing my balance and slowly moving head first towards the mat.
…Let us concentrate our mind on this One Point and become one with and send our Ki constantly to the Universe”
After, I buy my friend a drink in the bar, he asked if I enjoyed it. I cannot remember my answer, but I thought I might try again the following week.
I did go back – the ki development exercises (waving my arms ) now seem a bit easier after a few years; I’m still thinking about One Point in the lower abdomen.
Reminiscences from members of the Bristol Patchway Ki Aikido Club.