On Saturday 26 September 2026, Edinburgh Ki Aikido Club hosted a seminar with Sensei O’Connell. It was well attended, with representatives from every club in Scotland. Sensei Flynn gave close support throughout and took the grading. As always, Sensei O’Connell was inspiring to learn from.
He opened with the unbendable arm. It is one of the first things any student of Aikido learns, yet it holds the essence of Aikido movement.
What I took away is that the unbendable arm maintains your sphere of influence and keeps any attack at an arm’s length you can control. The same applies in everyday life. Other people’s ill-intentioned words and actions can only hurt us if we let them break through our own calmness and steadiness.
We also studied Shihonage. Sensei O’Connell taught it by breaking it into its components: falling, and guiding the uke to fall. During one demonstration, he showed a more advanced partner who was working with me that it did not matter that I was not following my own momentum when they applied the final hand movement. That did not mean they could not execute the throw. They needed to use my own energy against me, wherever I happened to place it. It was a lesson in meeting a partner where they are rather than where you expect them to be.
Four Edinburgh Ki Aikido members graded: Jess, George, Stan and Susan. One graded for yellow, one for green, and two for blue belts. Three members from Lochaber Aikido Club also graded. I proudly watched them and learned from them, and congratulations to all of them.
Sensei Docherty, founder of Edinburgh Ki Aikido, injured himself playing squash several weeks earlier and could not take part fully. With the support of his partner Zenash and many others who helped on the day, he still made sure we were well looked after at the tea breaks and the longer lunch break.
I first came across Aikido about three years before joining Edinburgh Ki Aikido on Mother’s Day, at the end of March 2025. A copy of The Spirit of Aikido by Kisshomaru Ueshiba found its way into my hands. After trying a few other Aikido clubs in Edinburgh, I felt at home at Sensei Docherty’s club straight away.
This was my second seminar with Sensei O’Connell in Scotland, and I left in awe of him again, as I did the first time. I promised him and Sensei Flynn that I would visit their club in Paisley as a guest. I made the same promise in February 2026, but this time I will keep it. As a mother in my forties, I now practise Aikido as a spiritual path alongside my nine-year-old son. He was part of the club’s inaugural junior class in January 2026 and earned his yellow stripe with confidence on 23rd September, the same week as the seminar. I have not graded yet, as I did not feel ready until this seminar. Sensei O’Connell told me I am ready, so I have no more excuses.
Dr. Ndali Liita Cairney
Edinburgh Ki Aikido Club