Dear Aiki Extensions Supporter -

Please consider posting this message on your dojo notice board or otherwise sharing with colleagues, along with your contact info. This message can also be found online at this link (http://www.aiki-extensions.org/newdecade.pdf), if that is an easier way for you to share.

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On behalf of Aiki Extensions, I would like to extend the greetings of the season - of the recent past: the festival of lights, of the winter solstice, and of the yuletide - and greetings of the immediate future: the birth of the next decade.

Greetings, in particular, to all of you who believe aikido can help improve the world we share. Greetings to those who would rather imagine the world as it should be, and then work to realize that vision, or support those already on the front lines wielding the practical wisdom and strategic insight of aikido to make the world better than it was . . .

Greetings to the heros already making a difference, and to all of those who just might have such a hero inside themselves ready to come out.

° Heros like Paul Linden - who uses aiki-principles as an award-winning somatic educator for victims of abuse (http://www.being-in-movement.com/)

° Heros like Jamie Zimron begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting - who uses aikido as the foundation for peace efforts in Israel and the West Bank (http://www.aikidomideastpeace.info/)

° Heros like Bill Leicht begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting - who as coordinator of AE's Peace Dojos International weaves martial arts schools of many styles together to work more effectively for peace. (http://aikiext.org/Projects/Peace_Dojos), who developed the original Bronx Peace Dojo and who helped found Peace Dojo Lua Branca in Columbia. (http://urbanvisions.us/)

° Heros like Jose Bueno Marinho - who established an aikido program for kids in the favela slums of Sao Paulo, Brazil

(http://www.aiki-extensions.org/projectsBrazil.asp)

° Heros like Brandon WilliamsCraig - who wields aiki-principles in his work networking community-builders (http://bdwc.net)

° Heros like Charles Colten begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting - who is implementing an aikido-in-the-schools curriculum for K-12 education (www.aikidointheschools.com)

° Heros like Tekele Tesfaye - the first yudansha in Ethiopia, who runs a multi-ethnic aikido and circus arts program for kids in the villages and refugee centers, where they put on shows of acrobatics and aikido to draw attention prior to distributing AIDS education material. (http://www.aiki-extensions.org/projectsAwassa.asp)

These people, and many other like them, are as close as most of us will get to a knight in shining armor. Each of these has embarked on their own quest, and they are all inspired by O Sensei's particular and powerful code of chivalry. Each is taking their understanding of aikido out of the dojo and into a non-traditional environment - an elementary classroom, a physical therapy clinic, an after-school program, a business consultancy, a psychology practice, a youth-violence prevention program, a recording studio, a police academy, etc.

Your dojo probably has someone who belongs on this list - and Aiki Extensions would like to hear about it.

Please email us about them (info@aiki-extensions.org), or give their information to any Aiki Extensions member (such as the one who posted this letter). We need to know about them because it is our mission to be the Round Table bringing all these aiki-knights together, providing them with support, and encouraging them to continue on their respective quests.

If you would like to know more about earning your way onto a list like this - join as at www.Aiki-Extensions.org.

If you want to help us continue to support all of this aiki-inspired activity - your tax-deductible contributions can be made online here:

(http://www.aiki-extensions.org/waysdonate.asp).

Yours,

Robert Kent begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting, President

Aiki Extensions Inc.

www.aiki-extensions.org

650.365.6432

Aiki Extensions is a nonprofit network of aikido practitioners who take aiki principles off the mat and into the world in areas like youth violence prevention, K-12 conflict-resolution curricula, business consulting, psychotherapy, and Israeli/Palestinian peace programs.

Labels: aiki, aikiextensions, honmen, professional