from Lydia Martî Fleury
April 2019
Last weekend we, at the Berlin School of Aikido (Aikidoschule Berlin – Zentrum für Kommunikation und Bewegung), had the pleasure and honor to host Kayla Feder Sensei for her first Aikido spring seminar in Berlin. Kayla Sensei created a beautiful and intimate atmosphere and we enjoyed lots of quality time together on and off the mats.
Sensei evoked the elements of fire, water, earth and air paying special attention to the element of water descending and cleansing our bodies (misogi) in order to be able to unite the energy of both partners into a common flow. The exercises proposed by Sensei Kayla Feder were designed to allow us to explore the effect these elements have in the development of our technique, leading us to takemusu aiki, the spontaneous emergence of multiple flowing techniques.
Kayla Sensei reminded us of the importance of certain gestures, prayers and rituals, as taught by the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, which predispose us energetically for the execution of our techniques in a proper mindset and adequate attitude.
During the seminar there was a general atmosphere of cooperation and mutual support, all participants were open to experiment and engage in the exercises Kayla Feder Sensei proposed.
We would like to thank all participants for accepting our invitation and for their willingness to share this beautiful and special space of communication and exercise. We hope the seminar was constructive and enriching for everybody and look forward to seeing you all next time.
Specially we would like to thank Kayla Feder Sensei for having accepted our invitation, establishing a bridge for our mutual Aikido communities to get to know each other and for fruitful exchange in the future. Thank you Sensei for your generosity, openness, engagement, empathy and sensitivity with each and every participant, helping everybody explore on their own level.