Boh at night: knocking down the stars

Brad LarsonShintaidoLeave a Comment

Last month, during the Perseid meteor shower, I decided to take my boh out to the lake at night to do a practice called “knocking down the stars.”  Basically, as I understand it, you raise the boh in tenso (vertically overhead) and slowly begin making circles in the sky with the end of the boh. And so it goes…five minutes, … Read More

Group exercise: gazelles at the lake

Brad LarsonShintaidoLeave a Comment

Tonight we focused on one of my favorite group exercises: “gazelle.”  With six of us forming a herd (flock?) of gazelles, we took turns leading the group forward, back, diagonal, back.  Running around as a group, being aware of our partners’ directions, responding quickly to changes in direction by the lead gazelle.  Always being aware of the center our our … Read More

Extending our reach: cutting the sky

Brad LarsonFeatured Posts, ShintaidoLeave a Comment

Last week, we continued our exploration of the boh — what it feels like to work with it and some simple movements to warm up with. One theme we started to explore was “cutting.” Cutting is one of the basic themes in Shintaido, and you can do it a number of ways: with the boh, with the bokutoh (wooden sword), … Read More

Our first class: handling the boh

Brad LarsonShintaido, UncategorizedLeave a Comment

Our first practice, by the lake, shade and breeze, on the longest day of the year.  Not a bad start!… Today we focused in our class on a few themes we’ll be visiting throughout the course: 1) handling the boh — what does it feel like? What momentum does it have? How do different bohs feel different?  2) using the … Read More

20 years later, I’m teaching a class…

Brad LarsonShintaidoLeave a Comment

After twenty some years of practice, I’m happy to be teaching an introductory class to Shintaido boh staff.  Shintaido is an exercise/martial art developed in Japan from traditional martial arts, though focuses more on group activities, personal expression, and connection to nature. This new 8 week course will focus on exercise with the 6 foot boh (which will be provided) … Read More