Aikido of Bali Hai(Training in Paradise)

From June 15 to June 27 a small group of Aikido of San Jose students, teachers, and family made a trek to the garden island of Kauai for some training and relaxation. IN summer of 2015 I had spent a week there at my daughter's time share and sort of put out what would it be like to take a group for an aikido event to the island. Unexpectedly I got a response so a group of us headed over. We rented 2 houses in Princeville just off Aniini beach. In fact the end of Anini beach became our dojo. WE trekked down a steep incline to a beautiful beach(which meant the return was a steep climb) and trained both in the water (above) but also under the shade of some friendly trees.

It was not a heavy training event. Every other day we spent 2 hours or more at our beach dojo. We concentrated a lot on the staff movements. Hopefully everyone who went now knows the 30(not 31) movement form. We were however able to get into some things it is difficult to get into in a normal dojo setting. One of the things was the aikido cosmology, which I have studied over the course of my years and in recent years have explored in detail with Nadeau sensei.. It is my belief that a true understanding of Osensei's message must include some of this.

While that can get somewhat heavy, hopefully that was balanced out by the beauty of our surroundings and the fun the whole group had. People were able on the non training days to sight see, and  yes, to shop.
Towards the end we made it to Waimeia canyon to the South.

And on my fifth trip to the garden isle I went to my first luau:

So maybe if the universe is willing there will be another Aikido of Bali Hai next year.

The only real downer was watching the Warriors lose games 6 and 7. But in perspective their best player suffered two leg injuries in the opening round and was about 60 % for the last game. The rest of the team had to work extra hard to finish the opening round and the second round. Curry came back and had that fantastic overtime 17 point game winning performance when he should have been eased in. They faced a 3 games to 1 deficit against what was probably their toughest opponent in the playoffs, Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder..And meanwhle Labron and the Cavaliers easily coasted through what one Eastern scribe called 'the junior varsity Eastern Conference'. So the Warriors with a hobbled Curry simply ran out of magic at an understandable time. Kudos to Labron and the Cavaliers. They won it. But hopefully next year there is another Aikido of Bali Hai and we'll be celebrating, along with Kevin Durant now a Warrior, a parade.