Notes from the Mat

This week, I am visiting Da Nang for a short trip filled with a variety of activities.

My main purpose here is to teach four self-defense sessions at a summer camp organized by Pacific Links Foundation. In my classes, I share practical skills on how to protect your head when falling and how to free yourself when someone grabs your wrist.

During my stay, I am also joining the keiko at Aioikai Aikido Da Nang Dojo, led by Ueki Masato Sensei. It is an international dojo where you can practice with people from many different countries. I am also fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Dariusz Sensei, the dojo cho of Busetsukan Dojo in Hanoi.

Moreover, during the last week of my stay, I will have the opportunity to participate in the Aioikai Aikido Da Nang Seminar 2026 with Etsuji Horii Shihan (7th Dan).

I feel grateful for all of these opportunities and will do my best to keep myself in good physical condition so that I can continue learning and practicing.

My sensei and I have just finished a one-month Aikido course at an international Australian school.It seems like a short time. However, I learned a lot during this month.

The school gave us great support. The school set up foam mats for training and prepared Aikido gi for all the students. I thought it might be uncomfortable because we trained on an indoor basketball court. You know, it is summer and very hot. But thanks to the architecture and the good ventilation system with big fans, it was actually a very comfortable place to practice.

We came to the school twice a week. Each day lasted three hours, with three classes for different age groups. The youngest group was 6–7 years old, the second was 8–10, and the oldest was 10–12.

The biggest thing I learned during this month was patience.
The kids were so energetic and smart. The first thing we did in every session was not teaching techniques it was rolling up their sleeves and folding their pant legs because the uniforms were much bigger than them.

The martial arts teacher may look serious and dignified in a gi, but before class we were kneeling down to their height, helping each child wear their uniform properly. I also learned how to guide them to line up their shoes. Their heels had to touch the edge of the foam mats , with the toes pointing outward. It is a small Japanese habit, but it teaches respect from the moment you step onto the mat. Even the way of teaching these small things is something I had to learn.

During this course, I also reviewed the basic techniques that every beginner learns, especially ukemi. While watching my sensei teach, I realized I had been doing some parts of my ukemi incorrectly, and now I have a chance to fix them. Of course, I was uke not only for my sensei but also for the younger kohai during practice.

Between each session, we had about ten minutes to rest. Those ten minutes became valuable time for me and my sensei to talk. We discussed what I had observed from the children, talked about Aikido, and even shared thoughts about how to live with other people.

I used to dream of becoming an uchi-deshi in Japan.But now I realize I have already experienced part of that role. By following my sensei to different classes, helping her teach students from difficult backgrounds as well as children growing up in more comfortable environments, I have been learning what it really means to support a teacher.

Looking back, this month was never only about teaching Aikido.
It was about learning how to take care of people before teaching them, learning patience, correcting my own basics, and understanding that sometimes the greatest lessons happen during the ten-minute breaks between classes.

SG, June 26th 2026

On August 28th, 2026, I had a chance to visit and practice Aikido at YMCA KL Aikido Club. The club is located inside YMCA Kuala Lumpur, 95 Jalan Padang Belia, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. The dojo cho is Raymond Kwok Sensei.

As I came to Malaysia for a conference, I also wanted to make this trip meaningful for myself by joining a keiko at a local Aikido dojo. Luckily, I stayed at the campus of Universiti Malaya, where I could easily take a Grab to the dojo. I had contacted Sensei about a month before my trip, and he kindly helped me navigate the address and even warned me about the traffic jam around the time I planned to come.

I arrived about one and a half hours early. I walked around to find a place to change into my gi, then went outside to buy an electrolyte drink. After that, I sat quietly in the public area on the first floor. Malaysia was extremely hot during this season. Even around 6:30 PM, the sky was still blue with soft sunlight.

KL YMCA Aikido practices in the Lotus Room, the last room at the end of the hallway on the ground floor. I met Raymond Kwok Sensei and two of his students at the YMCA reception, and we had a short conversation. Looking back, I think arriving early was one of my best decisions because it gave me time to talk with Sensei before keiko started.

We began practice with some warm-up exercises that helped me relax my body. That moment made me miss Japan very much because of the feeling and style of practice. Raymond Kwok Sensei’s movements also reminded me of several Japanese teachers I had met during my trip to Japan two years ago.
He taught us many techniques. Some were similar to what I had practiced before, while others were slightly different. I tried to relax my shoulders and focus on the connection of energy and movement.

Joining keiko in different dojos and countries has become a way for me to let go of fear. It also teaches me how to learn and unlearn — to put down my ego and discover new aspects of Aikido.

I felt relaxed in this dojo. Sometimes, when an uke made mistakes during practice, Raymond Kwok Sensei would come over and carefully demonstrate the technique again. Occasionally he looked a little strict, but I tried not to be affected by his emotions. Instead, I returned my attention to practice and reminded myself to keep relaxing my body.

We practiced from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM. Outside, heavy rain began to fall, and water flooded the entrance of the dojo. Raymond Kwok Sensei jokingly told me, “You will remember us because of this flood.” In my mind, I thought it felt just like Ho Chi Minh City after heavy rain, when the streets become like a swimming pool. But honestly, I think I will remember him even more because of his humor and kindness.

At the end of keiko, we took a group photo, and Sensei gave me the dojo magazine from 2019 — the last edition before COVID-19. I was so happy. In return, I gave him a special gift that I had brought from Aiki Shrine, and I also gave the senpai some coconut candy that I had brought from Vietnam.

We said goodbye and hoped to see each other again soon. Because of the rain, I returned directly to my accommodation. I ate a cup of noodles and reflected on my Aikido journey. Later that night, I read the dojo magazine and recognized the faces of the senpai who had practiced with me earlier that day. It made me appreciate even more that they had gathered there to welcome and practice with me.

I believe that wherever I go, with Aikido, there will always be a place that feels like home.

In remembrance of the Day of Passing (Great Return) of Morihei Ueshiba, O-Sensei, the founder of Aikido — honoring his legacy of peace and harmony.
Look forward to back to Tanabe on Oct 2028.

During my training, I have had a problem with keeping the breath down in my lower abdomen. My teacher often reminds me to keep the breath in the dantian instead of focusing only on the feet with each movement. I am still reflecting on this along my path. Whenever I practice, I try to keep my mind on a point in my lower abdomen.

One day, while teaching the kids, I chose a different exercise for them. I asked them to stand in a circle and observe their breathing together. Standing made it easier for me to manage the little students. It is also a more disciplined posture — they cannot just lie lazily on the mat.

The children stood upright, feet parallel, with the right hand placed on the belly.

When we breathe in, we should feel the belly expand.
When we breathe out, the belly should feel like a ball slowly deflating.

But the kids looked at me with wide eyes.

They said, “My belly doesn’t expand.”

I found it strange, so I began observing them one by one. I stood next to Khang. He took a deep breath in, but his belly stayed flat while his chest expanded. When he breathed out, his belly was still flat and his chest collapsed. Two or three other kids were exactly the same.

At that moment, I suddenly understood why I couldn’t bring my breath down to my lower abdomen.

Even I had been breathing incorrectly.

So that whole day, both teacher and students simply practiced observing the breath.

Learning is a lifelong journey.
And the teacher is also someone who must keep learning.

NHK 1961 AIKIDO Documentary Step back in time with this rare 1961 NHK documentary on Aikido, one of the earliest televised explorations of O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba’s art. Filmed during ...

The class began with seiza, kneeling quietly to practice stillness. Some children had tears running down their cheeks. Their bodies moved from time to time, yet they did not dare complain. Watching them, her heart tightened. For the first time, she truly understood what it means to be a teacher: to love the students deeply, and still remain strict.

She remembered when she was young, her teacher also made the class sit in seiza for a very long time. Some days, everyone sat for nearly an hour just to listen to his teaching. He said:

“Our martial art comes from Japan. There is a tradition of sitting like this while listening. Please practice it well, so that one day, when a Japanese teacher comes, you can sit with stability.”

She remembered the longest time she ever sat in seiza more than two and a half hours on a late autumn, early winter day in Japan. Cold slowly entered her body, the kind of cold felt by someone who had never lived in a cold country. She was tired from a long flight, and her stomach was empty and aching. That was the moment she touched her dream of coming to Japan to study martial arts — a dream that once felt very far away.

The dojo had no heater. Her feet became numb from the cold and from poor blood flow. Sometimes she wanted to sit cross-legged, as some foreign friends suggested, but she stopped herself. Her teachers had taught her that the only posture for observing practice was seiza.

There were moments when she wanted to give up. The foreign friend sitting next to her was sitting cross-legged. She turned and whispered,

“Are we allowed to sit like this?”

He quickly corrected his posture and returned to seiza. She felt a little disappointed, but also happy. She was not alone.

From time to time, she lifted her body slightly to ease her legs. The friend beside her did the same. The strict teacher in the dojo remained serious, yet sometimes a small smile appeared, seeing the clumsiness of two foreign students trying their best to sit still.

The next day, she was allowed to enter the dojo. It felt like a miracle. To be accepted, one normally had to write a letter and have a recommendation from one’s teacher a month in advance. She had only planned to visit the Aiki Shrine in Iwama, but foreign friends gently encouraged her:

“You should ask to practice here.”

Their eyes were warm, after a long conversation about Aikido far from home.

Only after returning home did she slowly understand: the long hours of sitting in seiza were not meant to test the body, but the heart of the person walking the path.

She quietly thanked the strict teachers who walked beside her on the path of martial arts, and of being human. Because of those lessons, she was able to reach her dream of studying martial arts in Japan.

And today, that lesson continues in silence through tear-filled eyes, and small feet that still hold the posture with patience.