Upcoming Opportunites:

June 22nd: Buy tickets now (http://www.theflightdeck.org/workshops.html) to Brandon Sensei's workshop at the Flight Deck in Downtown Oakland! If you cannot afford to pay but are interested in attending, please let us know right away!

Conflict drives change, and participating creatively in that process is central to life on and off stage. Performing artists are ideally suited to learn to do conflict well and help others learn to surface difference as a co-creative opportunity. This is doubly so in those who are committed to working for justice through social action. Come learn to practice nonviolent responses to conflict as though they are an improvisational martial art (Aikido 2.0), and then apply these Martial Nonviolence skills to your work on stage while exploring an opportunity for paid work as a facilitator/instructor in the PeacePractices (.org) project. 

--- Monday, June 20th, 2016

11-12:30pm at UC Berkeley on Sproul Plaza - Weapons: bring bokken and jo 

--- Tuesday

7am - 8am Fundamentals of Aikido 2.0 at Aikido of Berkeley (1514 University Ave, Berkeley) 

This Free Aiki Dojo and Golden Bears Aikido class is perfect for both beginners and advanced adult students.

7pm - 9pm Brandon Sensei's "Perform Peace" workshop at the Flight Deck in Downtown Oakland! (1540 Broadway) See above for details.

--- Thursday

12pm - 1pm Aikido 2.0 into Martial Nonviolence at The Flight Deck (1540 Broadway, Oakland CA). Beginners and advanced adults welcome! Low impact. Recommended attire: flexible street clothes. 

10:30am - 12pm Fundamentals of Aikido for Adults at Aikido of Berkeley (1514 University, Berkeley) with Brandon Sensei or Ricardo Sempai (alternating each week).

1pm - 2pm Fundamentals of Aikido 2.0 (ALL AGES) at Aikido of Berkeley (1514 University, Berkeley)

Children and adults (especially parents!) learn Martial Nonviolence together in this introductory class with Brandon Sensei and Julian Sempai.

We look forward to training with you!

 

P.S. All Golden Bears Aikido classes are Free Aiki Dojo classes, and vice versa. We are a single training community. Brandon Sensei teaches all classes, unless otherwise noted, and also highly recommends (you are always welcome to train in) any class at Aikido of Berkeley. When you train in a class there taught by someone other than Brandon Sensei, please leave a $10-$15 donation in the wooden box on the cabinet near the front door.

---

As always, please follow either of our Twitter feeds for the latest changes, weekly class times, etc. at:

http://twitter.com/freeaiki
http://twitter.com/gobearsaiki

 

As always, no previous experience is necessary.

 

Show up and train no matter what. Please bring a friend.

Pay what you can. If you can't, don't. No kidding.

 

We need your help!

We call on our community to help us grow! Peace Practices needs your help to teach "conflict done well" in the East Bay, at UC Berkeley, Pacific Rim International School, and beyond: locally, nationally, and then internationally.  In order for use to continue, we absolutely must raise funds continuously. If you know someone who is a fundraiser or social entrepreneur who invests in essential projects, please connect them with us. Especially if you are training regularly in Free Aiki Dojo or Golden Bears Aikido classes, please set up an automatic donation for whatever you can afford through Association Building Community at http://abcglobal.net/Free_Aiki_Dojo_Partnership, and thanks!

 

Get your Peace Practices gi -- both lightweight and heavyweight!

It will help to support the Peace Practices project if you purchase our custom gi. In addition to the basic karate-style gi for kids and adults, we also offer a high quality gi top for adults (no white pants included) that is long enough to work well under a hakama (see me in mine above). Find it in the store here

 

Please click here for our petition to support aikido at UC Berkeley  and forward this link to your networks with a note explaining why it is important to you.

 

Please share your Google Calendar with [email protected] so we can coordinate and plan together, but always email [email protected] because it goes to everybody who needs to see it and will get you a much faster response.

 

If you didn't receive this through freeaiki@ or [email protected], you will soon receive an notice of being added to our email lists to receive weekly notice of classes. Please make sure you have become a member by checking your status.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/goldenbearsaikidoclub
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/freeaiki

 

Our Google Groups are mostly about weekly announcements. If you would like to be on the inside of the logistics email loop where the decisions are made about class scheduling, special events, and the future of our training community in general, please email my executive assistant at [email protected] and she will add you to the development list: [email protected].

If you haven't checked out the Golden Bears Aikido Facebook Group yet, by all means go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/GoldenBearsAikido/

Some maps for locations:
http://berkeley.edu/map/maps/CD56.html
Free Aiki Dojo (hosted by Aikido of Berkeley)
1514 University Ave
Berkeley, CA 94703

Brandon Sensei