One of my junior instructors led the first class today, which gave me a chance to take a couple of photos of a class in our new location. Here you can see her leading students in warm-up exercises:
And here, she is helping a student learn a form:
The new space has a smooth, padded floor which is a little bit of a challenge for those of us used to balancing on hardwood flooring. But the extra cushioning will allow us to add new techniques to our repertoire safely, and the large training space gives us all plenty of room to move.
In this photo of another student, you can see a framed portrait of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, in the background. Several of my younger students were curious about who “the man in the pictures” that the Aikido of Tucson school has on display is. After sharing some information about Morihei Ueshiba with them, I asked my students to examine the Chayon-Ryu Lineage Chart and do a little research on some of the people who have influenced our own martial arts system. I look forward to hearing about what they learn.
Hint to students: If you’ve misplaced the copy of the chart I gave you, you can click the link above (or this one)to see it again!