A few weeks ago David Lynch Sensei announced the ‘End of an era’ as he is resigning from regular Aikido instruction after over 50years of practice and teaching. Fortunately for all of us, this is only limited to ‘regular’ teaching so far, and so David will still be running workshops, informal classes and teaching and practicing in other ways.

For me, almost every email exchange I have with David also counts amongst these otherwise ways of teaching. So fittingly, in an email related to this era ending David wrote to me that he feels like he needs to shed his skins every decade or so and considers this end also a new beginning in this way. What is so instructive and inspirational for me about the great example that David once again gives, is not simply that he is shedding his skin, but that he is still doing that after all these year and at what some would say is going towards an old-ish age (I’m treading very carefully here as you can tell.. ;)). With this shedding of skin however, any concern one could have about age is effectively undone, as David comes out the other side without any crust and calcification so to speak. Out comes something new and fresh, yet with the calm and wisdom of past struggles, practice, trials and errors.

Just like for David, it is also the end of one and the beginning of another era for our dojo. There are many ways that change can come about, from variations of cocooning to gradual, sometimes almost unnoticeable alterations. Most often it is also not either of these, but both of them combined with any number of variations along this spectrum. The latter is certainly true in our case. To explain how this is so, let my start right at the top and say that from here on out we will continue under the NEW NAME..

Calm and Storm – Martial Arts

Over the next few weeks, you will find us changing to our new name in all the places you can usually find us across the web, from here, through fb and other social media, etc. Naturally, there will also be a new website (two in fact!), but as opposed to going into full cocooning and then doing a mega-launch, branding campaign, blah-di-blah as is often done, we will take a more gradual approach here and go bit by bit. Actually, this is a lot more representative of our process without scaling for the pretence of glossy-finishes and shiny products. And in addition to that, it will give us however time we need to do everything without undue pressure, allow for plenty of time to fiddle around and change – a process that should never stop anyway – and on top of that, will effectively make you part of the process, in ways that might still be difficult to foresee. And finally, it is also much more representative of the fact that this is not a change that results from ‘discarding the old’, but rather of continuing along our path.

So as far as websites are concerned, this website will stay up and running for another moment with its current url, and parallel to it, you will be to follow the development and changes on our new page as we go on..

Calm and Storm – Martial Arts

Next to this, but for the moment a bit more of a personal project and website of my own that still requires some cocooning and on which I will be putting forth some of my thoughts and practices that are leaning a little more overtly to all things healthcare and are thus ‘a little less martial’. Very broadly speaking, this will include a lot of my findings and materials from my doctoral thesis that I am currently in the process of writing-up (yes, still.. and before you do so, be aware that asking about reasons for this will see us return to martial modes of conversation very quickly..), as well as a range of other ‘stuff’. With that being said, in case the obvious synonymity of the terms isn’t glaring enough, I should emphasise that the separation is not a strict one by any means, but rather a description of two sides of the same coin. Really, the seemingly contradictory world of healthcare and the world of conflict always have been and still are closely, if not inseparably related, and this will continue to be an important link. But more on that some other time and I hope you bear with me, as progress here will likely be a bit slower. You can nonetheless check-in on occasion and see how I am going with and on..

Motion and Stillness – Movement Health

To stay with all things tentative, we will explain what we mean when we talk about the obvious themes of calm, storm, motion, and stillness, as well as what else lies behind their emphasis and the accompanying change in due course and in all likelihood on their respective sites. So practice some patience and enjoy YOUR FIRST FREE LESSON (good marketing etiquette dictates that one write this in UPPER CASE.. … ..) that could loosely be classified somewhere amongst ‘calm’ 😉 Can you feel it wash all your worries away? Or is it beginning to stir up an uncontrollable storm of wrath inside of you? Well, rest assured, you will be fine either way, it’s pretty normal to feel both on occasion..

Moving on on this wave of wisdom and wordplay, there is one theme that is less obvious than the above four but actually at very the center of all of them and at the center of everything you will find at Calm & Storm, as well as at Motion & Stillness. It is noting but the age old evergreen connection that you can find in any ‘&’, ‘and’ or otherwise conjunction. Once again keeping it tentative, we will get to more detail about what we specifically mean by this come time and place. To get this discussion up and running a bit, here are a few ways in which connection can, does and will find its expression in what we do:

The first is another little change, or rather addition, apart from the new website(s), that is, our new class format that will kick off with a dedicated regular class from 2nd February 2016 onwards and that we will (tentatively) call..

Calm and Storm Lab Sessions

Every Tuesday morning from 7-8am

Roughly speaking, Calm & Storm Lab Sessions will be a time and space for broad, open exploration, experimentation and practice across, but also beyond the martial arts, schools, styles, groups, organisations and other narrow (by-)definitions. But again, more about that later.. no surprises there 😉

Already part of the Lab Sessions and undoubtedly one of the most outstanding expressions of connection are connections to other people, places, practice, ‘and more..’. This year’s kick-off for this most special kind of connection, and specifically of the new sort, was made just when I had the brief chance to visit the team of GNK Core on my stopover in Seoul/Incheon, Korea, en route to Europe. On really short notice due to me contacting them literally only a day in advance, Ka Beom Seok, HK Gong, and Sunim Kim of GNK Core agreed to meet and train with me on the one evening that I’ve just had in Seoul. Even if only briefly, it was really cool to meet all three of them and I am really grateful that they took the time and even especially booked a space for us to train in on the evening, before going out to finish off the evening with some really good bibimbap, kimchi, ‘and more..’

To give you some background about the source of this connection, Ka Beom and I have been loosely connected through various channels relating to our shared appreciation and practice of Aunkai. So, with the numbers of people involved in Aunkai still being fairly overseeable around the world it is fairly easy to pinpoint who does Aunkai wherever one might go or be at any given time. Put this together with the right amount of obsession, and you get 2hrs of practice in between a late night arrival and early morning departure amongst a handful of people who have never met in person. It’s certainly a special kind of lucky to be able to connect, and more importantly yet, make new friends in this way, so big thanks to the universe once again!

Further along the chain of connection, Ka Beom and HK combine their knowledge and skills, working as a team in what they offer under the banner of GNK Core. From the brief time I have had with them and Sunim, I can certainly say there you will find both skill and knowledge here. Both G and K are very sensitive and fine-tuned in their work, bodily perception, and instruction, as they bring together and combine their experience from Yoga, Kyokushin Karate and Aunkai. Both of them have a clear ‘knack’ for detail in the right place and take time and attention to aspects of body use that can easily be forgotten and overlooked. Not surprisingly, the result of this attention to detail is a calm kind of clarity and precision about their movements that fits perfect with their friendly personalities.

And guess what broader theme we worked on during those two hours of training? Yep, connection of course. Who would have guessed, right!?

A great way to spend time for sure, so once again, thank you very much Ka Beom and HK of GNK Core! And a special thanks goes to Sunim, an equally friendly, open and light-hearted friend of GnK who also trains with them and took the time to join and translate for us – thank you so much Sunim!! J I hope, no actually – I’m sure! – that we will all see each other and train together again soon, briefly or at length, in Korea, NZ, or elsewhere and am looking forward to it! If you find yourself in Seoul/Incheon and want to get some quality training in, get in touch with GNK Core and I am sure that they will quickly get back to you! Apart from their website, you can of course also easily find them on the usual suspects, facebook and youtube.