Author: Nate Weed

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March 2021 Aikido Olympia COVID-19 Update

COVID-19 rates are starting to decrease to levels we experienced last summer (generally pretty good) and many people are getting vaccinated (more than 2.5 million vaccines have been provided in Washington). These welcome changes are allowing more movement, more gathering, and more training than we’ve seen in over a year.

On March 22nd, our state will move to phase 3 of the Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery. This invites gyms and fitness centers (which includes martial arts) to hold classes with 50% occupancy. Masking and social distancing will still be required but this will allow us to be flexible with our class sizes. Additionally, the the state released a new COVID-19 guidance document that applies to “contact martial arts”. This guidance allows indoor “team practices” for high risk sports (which includes martial arts)…  https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/COVID19%20Sporting%20Activities%20Guidance.pdf , and for additional information please see the Washington State Department of Health website at https://www.doh.wa.gov. 

Beginning April 1, 2021, Aikido Olympia will begin offering a class for people comfortable throwing each other again. The plan is to start with one class per week where we’ll return to techniques that have limited and brief contact and work from there. Aikido Olympia continues to encourage everyone to make good decisions for themselves, their families and the community. And, Aikido Olympia will continue to follow stringent symptom screening, social distancing, masking, and personal and environmental hygiene practices to keep everyone safe. In addition, our Aikido Olympia instructors want to emphasize our expectations that people not attend classes if they feel ill or even a “little off”.

By Nate Weed

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Governor Announces COVID-19 Closures November 2020

You may have seen or heard the latest COVID-19 news from the Governor…

Beginning Monday night at midnight, several closures will take effect. These include closing gyms and fitness facilities for the next four weeks (until December 14th). The restrictions include:

1. No indoor social gatherings with people outside one’s household.

2. No outdoor gatherings with more than five people from outside the household.

3. Gyms and fitness facilities will be closed to indoor activity. Outdoor fitness classes can happen, but they’re limited by the outdoor gathering restriction…

These latest restrictions require us to suspend Aikido Olympia classes for the next several weeks. On behalf of the board of directors, we are disappointed in this closure and also recognize it as an opportuntity to deepen our personal practices.

I’ve attached a short video that describes the situation here:

We will be communicating our intentions and providing updates regularly, and appreciate the support and ki’ai you all bring to our dojo.

Be safe and be well,

Nate Weed

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Aikido Olympia COVID-19 Update: November 2020

As I’m sure all of you are aware, the COVID-19 pandemic continues and as we enter into the fall, we are seeing case counts rising in Thurston County. At Aikido Olympia, we are continuing to follow our stringent symptom screening, social distancing, masking, and personal and environmental hygiene practices to keep everyone safe. 


I know that everyone has a different body and we each need to do what will be most appropriate for us, just as we do in class. That said, we are holding classes regularly and are continuing to learn how we might be able to provide some ‘asynchronous learning opportunities’ through some recorded videos that might support those of you choosing to train at home for the time being.


Additionally, the Aikido Olympia Board of Directors and our dojo community are grateful for the generous support that many have provided and continue to provide through this trying experience. 


If people in Olympia or Thurston county begin spreading COVID-19 between themselves, county health officials may ask that we suspend classes for a period of time and we will communicate this to all of you if that needs to happen. For more information please see the Washington State Department of Health website at https://www.doh.wa.gov.


We are all part of the whole and, individually, we all need to do our part to help keep others safe and healthy. 

By Nate Weed

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Aikido In Daily Life: November 2020

We come to our dojo to train so that we’re better able to apply the principles of aikido in our daily lives.

Fear is a fascinating aspect of being human. We all experience fear from one time to the next, we are all mentally and emotionally wired to react to fear quickly using several deeply ingrained strategies (fight, flight, or freeze), and we are all predisposed to accept fear as ‘real.’ However, fear is not tangible, it is not quantifiable, it is mostly a thought. Fear is also deeply connected to our egos, designed to protect us from discomfort and suffering. Training in Aikido helps us relate to fear in healthier and more productive ways. Our training also helps us better know our egos and gives us the skills to continually file our egos back down. 


When we experience fear, it is an emotional experience. It is also an opportunity to make some choices about how we want to present in that situation. Through our Aikido training, we learn to more quickly find our centers, relax, and extend our energy into the situation. The alternative is to this approach is to think about it and consider what could happen and begin to take measures to protect ourselves from the threat by holding our breaths, tensing our bodies, and contracting our energy toward ourselves. Although seductive, this approach closes us to the experience, lowers our responsiveness, and limits our creativity.

Through the thousands of punches and grabs directed at our bodies, through the thousands of falls and rolls that we take to avoid injury at the last second of an attack, and through the practice of following the energy of a threat, we become more capable of accepting fear and working with it more effectively. These are physical threats that we practice with in the dojo and as our practice is to unify our mind, body, and sprit, we should also take time to reflect on how the Aikido response to fear can be applied to threats that aren’t physical. Because regardless of the source of fear much of the response needs to address our fundamental human conditioning to ‘protect ourselves’ rather than blend with the energy of the experience. 

By Nate Weed

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Aikido Olympia Schedule: November 2020

  • Monday 6:30 – 7:30 – Zazen – Erica
  • Tuesday and Thursday 5:30 – 6:20 – Kids’ class – Erica and Amy
  • Tuesday and Thursday 6:30 – 7:20 – Beginner’s class – Brandon
  • Tuesday 7:30 – 8:20 – Focus on ukemi and movement – Marcel
  • Thursday 7:30 – 8:20 – Jyo Kata training – Erica
  • Saturday 8:00 – 9:30 – Meditation and weapons – Nate 
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Veteran’s Day 2020

Veteran’s Day – November 11, 2020

In the Japanese martial tradition that evolved into Aikido, the Samurai hold a distinct relevance. The Samurai or Bushi were the ruling class of warriors in ancient Japan. Arguably, the Bushi were the most disciplined, well trained, and well-equipped warriors in history. However, the word Bushi means ‘to serve.’ Service in the same way that all veterans have served and how our country’s own veterans have served. This service should never go unforgotten and on Veteran’s Day we have the opportunity to remind ourselves to never forget. As one now famous U.S. Navy veteran once said so well: 


“When you say ‘Never forget’ to a veteran, you are implying that, as an American, you are in it with them… connected together as grateful fellow Americans who will never forget the sacrifices made by veterans past and present.”


In our martial arts tradition we work to erode the idea of us and them. We learn that we are not separate from each other and that through our commitment to each other we become better people. So, take it from 3,000 years of martial arts tradition or take it from a modern warrior whose credentials cannot be dismissed… Never forget!


To never forget is recognizing that 3,000 innocent lives were wrongfully taken in the attacks of 9/11/2001. To never forget is taking a moment to reflect on the fact that over 1.3 million service members have lost their lives and more than 1.5 million have been wounded since the inception of our country. To never forget is acknowledging that while time marches on, memorials erected, and people move on with their lives, thousands of families, first responders, and service members continue to experience long-term medical and psychological effects that result from their experiences or the experiences of those they care about, in service to others.  To never forget is to remember what brings us together as a country and to see the good in each other. To never forget is recognizing that it’s our responsibility, as martial artists in this tradition, to dedicate ourselves to serving others. And, to never forget is remembering that we are all in this together. 


In our dojo, we have people who grew up in military homes, we have people who have served our communities as teachers, we have people who have served as first responders, we have people who have served by helping others in many ways, and we have people who have served in the military through many conflicts around the world. Our practice, like the Bushi before us, is to serve and, in service, we experience being in this together.

By Nate Weed

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Aikido Olympia COVID-19 Update: October 2020

Currently, Thurston County is experiencing less disease transmission than many other coun- ties in our state and is in Phase 3 of the Governor’s Safe Start process. In this phase, Aikido Olympia can operate at 50% capacity as long as we are following the health and cleaning protocols we established earlier this year.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Aikido Olympia has adjusted our training approach to meet the Governor’s “Safe Start Guidelines” and we continue to hold regular classes. Since July, we have resumed an almost full schedule with classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as Saturday mornings. We have required everyone training to self-assess for any symptoms, monitor their temperatures, wear masks whenever they are at the dojo, and pay close attention to hand hygiene. In many ways, this additional effort is training in Aikido – how do we best maintain harmony with our community during a pandemic?

We have also spent more time focusing on the katas, ukemi, bokken, jyo, and seated medi- tation. This shift in focus is having a positive impact on both the ki’ai of the dojo and the fun- damental skills that we practice in all of the arts of Aikido.

Many of us have heard the story of Hirata Sensei’s first year of teaching in the United States where he did not have any students to train with. To keep his Aikido strong and to continue developing his ki’ai, he trained with the bokken. One practice that has become rather leg- endary was that he would hold his bokken, while standing in hanmi, and breathe for 20 min- utes. When he returned to Japan, his cohort of training partners were expecting his Aikido to have suffered but they all found that his ki’ai was stronger and his Aikido was better. Training in this COVID- 19 world is challenging but we have his example to follow (and we do have people to train with).

From our experience so far, this seems to work well for everyone who is training regularly, and when it’s appropriate to re-integrate the physical contact into our training these funda- mentals will shine through our techniques.

By Nate Weed

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Aikido In Daily Life: October 2020

We come to our dojo to train so that we’re better able to apply the principles of Aikido in our daily lives.

The nation and our Governor have talked about the importance of ‘social distancing’ so we can slow the spread of this coronavirus. I’ve noticed in my walks around the neigh- borhood that many people are applying this principle to not just physical spacing, but also mental spacing. People will avert their eyes, and not greet you even if you are across the street. Perhaps ‘social distancing’ can be reworked to be ‘physical distanc- ing, what we Aikido-ka (practitioners of Aikido) call Maai (間合) – the proper spacing with our partners, with others in the class, and with the dojo space itself.

Maai consists of two characters – Ma and Ai.

Ma (間). This Japanese kanji 間 graphically combines 門 “door” and 日 “sun.” It is a Ja- panese word which can be roughly translated as “gap,” “space,” or “pause.” In Ja- panese, ma, the word for space, suggests both physical space and time/space. It is best described as an “awareness of place,” the simultaneous awareness of form and non-form deriving from an intensification of vision” (the 180 degree vision discussed of- ten in our classes.)

合Ai – Isn’t it interesting that the word Maai includes ‘Ai,’ as in Ai-ki-do? We say that Ai represents integration, a meeting, to align with others, harmony. What a great idea for

our spatial distancing, with love and harmony for others. This is the true meaning of our practice.

How can you apply your Aikido training to this concept of ‘distancing,’ Maai? First, be centered and extend your positive energy – our Ki. Walk from your center majestically, as Maruyama Sensei has said in the second verse of his motto. And most importantly, SMILE! Make eye contact with others. They will feel your energy and positivity and will feel better, even if they don’t know what is happening. This is one way to apply your practice in daily life!

By Jim West

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Aikido in Daily Life: November 2019

We come to our dojo to train so that we’re better able to apply the principles of aikido in our daily lives...

A way of thinking about and growing awareness… 

Anyone who’s practiced regularly at Aikido Olympia has heard that one of the key benefits to our practice is expanding our awareness. For many of us, this comes as we become more relaxed, become more present in our activities, and as we apply our 180 degree vision more often in our daily lives. Some of us find our awareness stretching as we become more empathetic and in tune with other people. And, a few feel their awareness expand as they simply sit and calm their minds. 

All of these strategies help us grow, as we proceed along the path of being in harmony with the energy of the universe, and it’s not necessary to add anything extra. That said, an occasional question to ourselves can sometimes help us get back on track when we’ve been drawn into one of the many situations that constrict our awareness. One such question is “have I considered both the yin and yang of this thing/thought/event?” 

All energies are continuously flowing and we know that the wave forms for these energies have two modes, a yin and a yang. It’s not really necessary to know that yin is the dark, cool, female, absorbing aspect while yang is the bright, warm, male, projecting aspect. What’s more important is to know that the two aspects create wholeness together. Therefore, when our mind and our flow get stuck, asking ourselves if we’ve considered both the yin and the yang aspects of the situation can help us re-engage our awareness. And, the more we learn to re-engage our awareness when we’re stuck, the more that awareness can grow.

By Nate Weed

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Aikido Olympia Fees and Finances (Updated)

Last month I wrote that Aikido Olympia will be dividing the annual maintenance fee into a January installment and a July installment. The Board of Directors has had further discussions about this approach and we’ve decided that this is perhaps a bit too complicated to implement easily. So, we’re going back to the previous approach of asking everyone to pay the initial maintenance fee when they join our dojo and every January thereafter ($60 adults and $40 youth & students). 

The board also recognizes that some people who join later in the year (October-December) may feel that they receive little value in this and we want to provide them with a standard lightweight gi when they join to offset the months of the year when they weren’t yet members.

By Nate Weed