To the FreeAiki and Golden Bears Community,

It is with both great sadness for Brandon Sensei's departure and deep appreciation for all of the continuing support that Kayla Sensei provides in allowing Peace Practices to continue at Aikido of Berkeley that I will officially begin teaching the Saturday 12-1pm All-Ages class. From now on the class will be held twice a month on the 1st & 3rd Saturdays, beginning with my first class this coming Saturday August 4th. In rare cases, this class may need to be rescheduled or canceled as my schedule permits, and these updates will be sent out primarily via the [email protected] email as well as via Brandon's 'FreeAiki' mailing list which will also send one training schedule a month confirming the dates of the two classes. If you would like to be put on either of these mailing lists to receive updates about the All-Ages class, or if you would like to contact me with any questions about the class, you can send me an email anytime ([email protected]).

As regulars of this class are no doubt well aware, Brandon Sensei's Peace Practices classes are quite unique among aikido classes and bring many new and exciting elements into the fold of the traditional aikido class. It is my pleasure to continue this class much as Brandon has taught it in the past, and all of the usual Peace Practices elements that you may be used to such as the incorporation of Language not just into our movements and techniques, but into the formal etiquette of the class at large will remain the same. My hope is that every class will begin much as Brandon Sensei's do, posing questions before class like 'What techniques are you working on?' and 'Is there anything in particular you'd like to do today?'. I am striving to strike a balance between having the class working together on common exercises and techniques, while giving room for and highlighting different themes and elements appropriate for each person's level and goals in the class, especially those related to the support of the younger/newer students and teaching in general.