Boulder Ki Aikido Martial Arts

09/29/2025

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09/25/2025

Boulder Ki Aikido enjoyed a wonderful evening of testing last night! Congratulations to all our recent Shokyu, 5th kyu and 4th kyu examinees! Everyone did great!

09/10/2025

The Eastern Ki Federation is a branch of the International Ki Society with HQ in Japan (https://shinshintoitsuaikido.org/english/). To find a dojo in your ar...

09/05/2025

Happy Labor Day. For this week's , let's explore the connection between our work, our purpose, and what it means to be human.

In Japanese, there is a distinction between kojin (個人), an individual seen as a single unit, and ningen (人間), a human being defined by the space between themselves and others. To be ningen, to be a human being, is to exist in relationship.

The farmer works not just for themselves, but to nourish the community. The teacher guides a student not just for a lesson, but to build our shared future. The nurse cares for a patient not just as a task, but to support our collective health. This is the work that transforms us from separate kojin into a connected community.

Our training is a collective effort guided by the shared purpose of mutual growth and development. This shared labor in the dojo is our direct practice of becoming ningen—together.

This Labor Day, we honor every form of work that contributes to our collective wellbeing. May we all find a shared purpose in what we do, extending our Ki and building the connections that make our world, and ourselves, better.

08/21/2025

Kitei Taigi with Doetsch-Kidder Sensei and Poppele Sensei back in 2004!

The Eastern Ki Federation is a branch of the International Ki Society with HQ in Japan (https://ki-society.com/). To find a Dojo in your area, please visit h...

08/19/2025

Let's review "Keep One Point" on this "Technical Tuesday."

Keep One Point is a quick and easy to remember, but remember it is much longer in Japanese: 臍下の一点に心をしずめ統一する (Seikanoitten ni kokoro o shizume tōitsu suru). I like to say, "Calmly realize the original and natural oneness of mind and body at the One Point in the lower abdomen."

For more, continue reading here: https://lvka.beehiiv.com/p/keep-one-point

07/29/2025

Final Morning. Final Breath. Eternal Presence.
This morning, beneath the rising light at Hei-Sei-Ji — The Place of Peace, we gathered one last time.

A private group, invited not by status, but by sincerity.
Stone Sensei led us—quietly, firmly—into stillness.

There was no ceremony. No fanfare.

Just breath.

Just presence.

Just the sound of life returning to its rhythm.

In the hush of this sacred space—
originally built in Nagoya, Japan in 1984,
gifted by the Tsuzuki family, painstakingly disassembled into over 2,400 pieces, and carried across oceans through the Panama Canal to find new life at Furman University—
we sat.

A temple reborn.
A practice remembered.
A path renewed.

The Place of Peace did what it was meant to do—
it breathed with us.

And in those still moments,
I realized the essence of Ki Breathing isn’t to add anything…
it’s to remove everything in the way.

Stone Sensei, thank you for guiding us home to ourselves.
To those who walked into that quiet room this morning—
we will never breathe the same way again.

This was more than training.

It was a return.

07/29/2025

Several members of Boulder Ki Aikido had the tremendous privilege of traveling to the 2025 International Ki Aikido Conference this past weekend in Greenville, SC.

We are thankful to Eastern Ki Federation for hosting Shinichi Tohei Sensei and giving so many Ki Aikidoka the opportunity to train with him directly.

"When ki is flowing, you can use your mind freely and clearly"

07/17/2025

Greetings friends of Boulder Ki Aikido! We are passing on a message from some beloved members of our BKA family.

One of our longtime students (along with their father and sibling) were all born with a rare disease called Ectodermal Dysplasia. This is the inability to sweat and for two of the family members it meant being born without most of their teeth.

Below is a direct message from their mama!

"The medically necessary treatment is not covered by medical insurance. We’ve been advocating with Congress for several years now to get a Federal Law passed to provide medically necessary treatments for children and adults born with craniofacial congenital anomalies (no teeth, eye problems, ear problems, cleft palates etc).

The Bill is called the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act. It has been introduced in this 119th Congress. We have until Jan 3rd, 2027 to get it passed. Today is our virtual advocacy day and we are asking friends and family to reach out to their congress person to support the Bill. We have a tool that only takes 2 minutes. If you are willing, please use the link below and share your support with the bill.

https://nfed.org/get-involved/advocate/elsa/ #/

Feel free to share with friends and family and colleagues (and social media)!

For those on this email in Colorado’s Joe Neguse district- he has signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill. Feel free to send him a thank you note and ask him to get his colleagues to sign-on."

Thank you in advance for supporting and sharing!

~BKA family and friends

  Next Steps Now that you have contacted your legislator, we have lots of great information on how to meet your legislators close to home. Peruse our

07/16/2025

07/08/2025

Touch / Hold
(触れる、Fureru)

I had the opportunity to enjoy Indian curry at a restaurant with someone from India. He ate using his hand, without using a spoon or fork. In Indian food culture, it is common to eat [directly] using your hand. You get to feel the texture and temperature of the ingredients directly when using your hand, and I believe that enjoying the food with all five senses turns a meal into a richer experience.

On a whim, I decided to imitate them and tried to eat curry and rice with my hand at home. I was a little hesitant at first, but I did see that the sensation I experienced was surprisingly different. Apparently, eating with one's hand has the effect of sharpening the senses. It does not lead to eating too fast, and chewing well produces sufficient saliva.

It is probably a natural behavior for living creatures to touch with their hands first and feel what they are about to put into their mouth. In our modern world, we no longer need to do what is natural to living creatures, and perhaps our senses may have become dulled as a result.

When I teach Shinshin Toitsu Aikido in college classes, an interesting phenomenon happens. Students practice techniques in pairs, but at first, they feel distant from each other and are reluctant to form pairs. However, once they physically come into contact with their partner and start practicing, they quickly open up and become comfortable with each other.

Touching (or holding) is an element that deepens communication and bonding. Touching (and holding) allows ki to flow freely [between partners]. That is probably why we shake hands and hug.

Touching/Holding also allows us to instantly understand what kind of person the other person is. This, too, is probably a natural behavior of living creatures. ...
–Shinichi Tohei Sensei

➡️ Excerpt from the blog of Shinichi Tohei Sensei. Translated by Mayumi Case Sensei, edited by David Shaner Sensei, photo by Sophia Rottmann

Ki-Aikido Dojo Ljubljana
https://www.108.si/kiaikido

#合氣道

07/06/2025

Taigi 2 demonstrated by our Komon - Kobori Sensei.

We're looking forward to training with him in person in Colorado in October.