Garden of the Spring Wind Dojo

Upcoming demo: Harvest Health, Wellness & Safety Fair

bluebabe — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:31:05 +0000

The dojo will put on an aikido and iaido showcase at CFCC’s Harvest Health, Wellness & Safety Fair on Wed, Oct 19, from 10am-1pm. Admission to the fair is free, and there will be several vendors there so it should be fun! See you there!

Details-
Date: Oct 19, 2011
Time: Demo time 10am-1pm, Fair will be open from 9am- 1pm
Location: Cape Fear Community College Schwartz Center, 610 N. Front St., Wilmington, NC, 28401

Donation to Japan Red Cross for tsunami victims

bluebabe — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:28:50 +0000

Senseis Keith and Deborah McDuffie has announced that they will donate 100% of any new student’s monthly fee to the Japan Red Cross in aid of the tsunami victims for the month of April. If you were thinking of trying out aikido or iaido, now’s a good time as any!

Aikido/Iaido Open House April 2, Saturday

bluebabe — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:15:38 +0000

The dojo will host an Open House showcasing iaido and aikido displays on Saturday April 2, 1-3.30pm. Displays include (but not limited to) live blade cutting of bamboo mats, randori with drumming accompaniment, iaido kata and aikido demos. We welcome audience participation at the end of the program. Please see the ‘About’ page for dojo address and directions. This event is FREE and open to all.

Photos from Aniwave

bluebabe — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:37:19 +0000

It was interesting indeed to conduct a demonstration in front of a bunch of costumed superheroes and characters, and then to have them try out some of the aikido techniques. It was fun though.

Aikido and Iaido Demo at Aniwave

bluebabe — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:05:06 +0000

We’ll be at Aniwave this Saturday from 10.30am-12.30pm conducting a demo at the downtown Convention Center. We’ll have audience participation in the last half hour to 45min, so do swing by. Entrance to Aniwave is $7 at the door, and there are lots of cool stuff happening too, including cosplay contests, tea ceremony demos, and anime screenings. See you there!

Health and Wellness Fair @CFCC Oct 20th

bluebabe — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:34:32 +0000

The dojo will have a booth at the Cape Fear Community College Harvest Health, Wellness & Safety Fair, Oct 20th, at the Schwartz Center downtown. The fair will take place from 10am-2pm, and lots of vendors will be there! We will have periodic demonstrations of aikido and iaido, and will be happy to talk to anyone and answer your questions. The event is free and open to all.

Iaido- Cutting Bamboo

bluebabe — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:54:15 +0000

Just put together this video of cutting practice. Enjoy!

Cutting bamboo- Iaido

bluebabe — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:45:59 +0000

Sensei Keith found some big bamboo stems and we had some fun practicing our cutting on them. Videos coming soon.

Accessible Recreation Day April 16th

bluebabe — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:15:40 +0000

Once again, members of the Garden Spring Wind Dojo will be at the Student Recreation Center at UNCW on Friday, April 16th to demonstrate aikido techniques for participants in wheelchairs. If you’ve never been, it’s a very hands-on, engaging and interesting time, so come on down! Lots of accessible activities on hand for individuals with various disabilities, including hand-cycling, rockwall climbing, African dance, basketball and lots more. Aikido will run from 1.45-2.30pm.

Shame on those yobs attacking defenseless old people!

bluebabe — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:26:02 +0000

Well, maybe not so defenseless. A retiree in UK has developed self-defense classes for the elderly, and in one case, using the walking stick as a defense tool. Kevin Garwood, 61, runs 3 2-hr classes each week for the princely sum of £3 per class. Some nice moves in the video linked below.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/7408503/Walking-stick-self-defence-a-demonstration.html