20/09/2025
In spring, Brian Nicholson - a friend of me, Thorsten, who started this group - asked me to support and co-host classes in Owen Sound, Harmony Centre.
WHO IS BRIAN?
A) IN HIS OWN WORDS
I started practicing aikido in 2012 under James Constable in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and through him Collins Smith (Shihan) of Bermuda. Since then, I have practiced at a wide variety of different dojos across Canada, the US, the UK, Europe, and Africa, though most of my practice is still through Sensei Constable. As well as the physical confidence, flexibility, fitness and focus that aikido gives me, it has many other aspects that I appreciate: conflict resolution, non-violence, resilience, and (not least) its social aspect. It is a great way to meet and learn about people in an accepting, non-judgemental, non-competitive atmosphere, and there are dojos almost everywhere.
In this fall 10-week session in Owen Sound, I’d like to help introduce aikido to as many people as possible in the Grey-Bruce area, and hopefully help create a core group of practitioners that are interested in continuing to learn together!
B) IN MY WORDS
Brian found me through this FB page in 2018, I believe. Since then, he comes out regularly to practice, whenever he resides in Owen Sound. Often we practiced just the two of us, or we were joined by others. Brian became a welcome family friend. Interestingly, our Aikido upbringings are quite complementary - Brian enjoys my principle-based, experimental style. I enjoy Brian's clear technique. We both enjoy sitting back and leave "the teacher's space" to the other... as we both love being students of the art. I rarely had shared practice driven so little by ego, so much by love for the art. By offering classes together, we want to take our efforts to another level... confident that we will both learn something.
