School Offer Martial Arts with a Twist: No Pain!

Castle Rock's newest martial arts school will put its students on the defensive. Aikido has no punching or kicking. The point is to deflect an attack without harming the attacker.
Jeff and Miho Albright opened the Castle Rock Aikido March 25th with a free class and demonstration. The couple is subleasing space from Omega Gymnastics for their school or dojo. Unlike other martial arts, aikido is practiced on a springboard floor.

"Aikido is particularly aerobic," said Sean Hannon, a student and marketing director of the Castle Rock Aikido. "You're up and down a lot."The springboard floor cushions falls.
Aikido, literally translated, means "the way of harmonious spirit," according to the Castle Rock Aikido Club. Aikido students defend themselves by moving in the same direction as an attacker while applying pressure to vulnerable joints to establish control. Police officers use the same technique to subdue suspects.

Beginning aikido students learn how to fall in a safe manner and how to follow the pressure being applied by their opponents. If students don't follow the pressure, limbs would snap; however, aikido has an unusually low injury rate for a martial art."I think the most serious injury we've had is a pulled muscle," Jeff Albright said.

Jeff Albright is a third-degree black belt in aikido. He picked up the art during a stay in Japan during college. After college, he went back to Japan to teach English and train in aikido. Two weeks after he arrived, he met Miho. Ten months later, they were married. Miho Albright began training in aikido two weeks before their wedding. She's now about to receive her second-degree black belt.

Aikido plays a big part in the Albrights' marriage. "I think our communication has improved tremendously over the years because of aikido," Jeff Albright said. Hannon agreed aikido classes could benefit relationships. "I think aikido improves communication skills because it's based on resolving conflict," he said. "You're not fighting force with force."

Aikido students' movements are fluid, almost dance-like. To an untrained observer, the art resembles a carefully choreographed sequence in a martial arts film but without violence.
The Albrights wear hakamas - large, loose pants that were traditionally worn to obscure the martial artists' feet and stance. Their students aren't required to wear a uniform and athletic clothing is sufficient.

Aikido is a relatively new martial art with its influence seeded in World War II. Following the war, the Japanese were seeking a martial art that wasn't focused on injuring the opponent. Morihei Ueshiba developed aikido to bring peace and harmony to martial artists, Jeff Albright said.

The Castle Rock Aikido is affiliated with aikido's founding family in Japan, and the Albrights often travel to Japan to train. Their students learn some commonly used Japanese words as both Jeff and Miho Albright are fluent in the language.

The couple hopes to have 100 students within 12 months. They would eventually like to build a Japanese cultural center in Castle Rock. Jeff Albright is a chiropractor and Japanese acupuncturist, and he hopes to one day have all his trades under one roof.
For now, the Albrights will expand their classes when Omega Gymnastics moves to a larger building in about eight weeks.

Classes are offered at 8:15 p.m. Wednesdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays, but the Albrights plan to offer several classes a week once they are in their new space. They are also considering offering a class specifically for stay-at-home moms while an Omega Gymnastics instructor teaches a class for their little ones.

Anyone is invited to observe the classes, and the Albrights encourage "people who think they may be too old" to give aikido a shot.

For more information on the Castle Rock Aikido, call 720-221-3665 or visit www.CRaikido.com.

This article was originally published in the Casle Rock News Press April 5, 2007 and was written by Jess Burskirk.