We use the exclamation, "yeeeh", that deep, throaty sound to signal a job well done.

We use "hai", an actual word in Japanese meaning "yes", not only to answer yes but to call class to order or attention.

But the sound that seems to evoke the most energy and power in aikido is the "thwack", the sound of our mat.

My mother turned to my husband Gregory and said with a confused look on her face, "What is that "thwacking" sound?" Gregory and my mother were sitting on the couch in the dojo. They were here along with a few of my friends to watch me receive my black belt. My mother had never been to the dojo before. She was taking in all the new sights and sounds of a dojo and trying to process them all at once. Gregory calmly replied, "It's the sound of many hands slapping."

Later my mother would comment that the "thwacking" sound, even though she couldn't place it at first, seemed to be everywhere and some how powerfully important to our practice.

"Can you turn the sound up? Yeah, that's better! It's nice to hear the mat." Fellow aikidoka Les Weiner made this request this during our last round of test prep for winter camp. A group of us were gathered around the television to watch test prep videos. This idea of "mat sound" appealed to me and sparked my imagination. So I added Les' comment in my aikido notes that night.

I asked Les a few days later why he wanted the sound turned up on the video. Why was sound so important after all we don't really talk during demonstration? Why did he like to hear the mat? He replied, "My adrenaline starts flowing, the feeling of power, it brings my center alive." What a great aikido image, "it brings my center alive"!

The sound of the mat, the "thwacking", its constant murmur, this is our dojo background music. This "thwacking" sound has an energy and a power all it own.

Do you ever notice yourself "looking" for the sound of the mat as you approach the dojo? How do you feel if you don't hear it?

Do you ever slap the mat a little harder than necessary? Why?

Does all this mat sound bring your center alive?

In January there was testing in the childrens class. Congratulations to all on your new ranks.

(Ki testing, from left to right: Jim Sensei, Kevin, Alex and Nick. All tested for 10B kyu-yellow belt with stripe.)

Test Prep - Open to blue belts and up, whether testing at camp or not: 2/3-8:00 pm, 2/7-7:00 pm, 2/17-8:00 pm, 2/21-7:00 pm, 3/3-8:00 pm
Black Belt Forum - February 10, 8:00 pm
Winter Dojo Party - February 19, see posters in the dojo for more details
Winter Camp - March 11-13, Lawrenceville, NJ, registration forms now available in the dojo
Summer Camp - July 14-17, Villa Nova, PA, watch the bulletin board for more details