Dojo Profile: Goldstream Aikikai in Victoria, British Columbia

Welcome to a new Biran Online feature, the dojo profile. We'll be looking at both new and established Birankai dojos and helping to introduce them to the community at large.

I'm proud to inaugurate this feature by introducing Maggie Kay Sensei, who holds the rank of sandan fukushidoin. Kay Sensei has been a welcoming and vibrant presence in the Birankai community for more than decade, beloved for her dedication, warmth and grit. For those who knew her in San Diego, she was also notable for her yearning for her native Canadian Northwest. She returned to Victoria, British Columbia, in 2004 and last year opened Goldstream Aikikai with her partner, Jody Eastman. -L.Klein

How did your dojo get its name?

I picked the name Goldstream Aikikai because of our recent purchase of a home on just over an acre of land adjacent to a well-known provincial park called Goldstream Park. I figured if a home could double as a dojo from time to time,we'd never be out of a space to train.

What is the area like?

As I mentioned, our dojo runs out of two locations. When Jody and I purchased our home, we decided to make the basement into a training space. I purchased 10 tatami out of my savings and we set them up. The ceiling is too low for weapons,but we have a nice large flat space outside that can be used for weapons training. We have run intensives and a small friendship seminar out of this space and it seems to work well with a small group.

Our home is in a very rural forested area next to Goldstream Provincial park, which is a popular tourist site due to the salmon run in the late fall and excellent camping in the summer. Our neighbors are few and far between,most of them holding large parcels of land purchased in the 1970s.

Given as its difficult to attract students to such a venue,we conduct our regular classes out of a local community school called Shoreline Community school. We practice out of the band room there four times a week. Space is very cheap here, so I can afford to start small. The school is in a crossroads neighborhood: very close to the Navy base, not too far from downtown. A lot of hotels and malls close by; right close to the water. It's kind of right smack in the middle of a bunch of different districts.

When did you open?

We had our opening seminar and ceremony May 9 and 10, 2008, although really I was running the dojo by myself by Sept. 2007. On May 10, we had the support of Eshu Martin, the head of the Victoria Zen Centre. He led us in chant of the Heart Sutra. After that we had a by-donation practice. The next day we had a seminar taught by Daniel Kempling, Hilary Dawson--who was my first Aikido instructor--Garry Blaine and myself. This was all held at the University of Victoria,which was appropriate given it was the place I started Aikido.

What are your mats like?

At our home we have 10 good judo tatami which stay down permanently. At our main location we have 24 pieces of covered ethofoam which velcro together. Each piece is about 8 feet by 3 feet. They take about 10 minutes to set up with two people. These were kindly donated by the University of Victoria dojo. They were no longer finding a use for them having accumulated many mats over the years. Funny,these were the very mats that I started Aikido on.

What is your background in Aikido?

I started training at University of Victoria in Jan 1993. I started beginners classes with my boyfriend at the time. My first instructor was Hilary Dawson who still runs the UVic dojo. I don't know what it was,but I became hooked right away. Something grabbed me.

At the time we were living in a little one-bedroom cabin in the woods with no hot running water. Neither of us drove. We would ride our bikes to the bus stop and commute one hour into town (Victoria) to train at UVic. They had classes three times a week. All the dojos in town were under the Canadian Aikido Federation, under the supervision of Kawahara Shihan. At the time there were about four dojos in Victoria. I believe there are more CAF dojos now. I began to "dojo hop" to try to train as much as possible.

I believe it was a summer camp in 1994 when someone told me about Chiba Sensei. I was going to visit San Diego to visit my sister who had moved there. They told me I ought to look up San Diego Aikikai. I was fifth kyu and terrified but I went. I was blown away by the dojo (Fairmount Avenue location).I was amazed by the ukemi. One thing that really struck me for some reason was Chiba Sensei calling in a beginner who had been injured to perform a moxa treatment on her shoulder. Something about the personal care he gave to each student really impressed me. Chiba Sensei came and corrected me on a nikkyo,and I was really scared but he was quite gentle (at the time). That's also when I met Daniel Kempling, who was kenshusei at the time. He was quite warm to me as I was from his hometown.

That visit planted a seed. I knew I had to go train there. In October of 1996, I moved to San Diego to live with my sister and train with Chiba Sensei. I joined the kenshusei program in Jan 1997 and remained in and out of the kenshusei program until March 2004, when I returned home to Victoria.

Why did you stick with Aikido?

When I began Aikido, it's hard to say what grabbed me. I definitely wasn't good at it. Art and music came easy and I hadn't stuck with either of those. I had quit high school five times and never finished, so I wasn't disciplined. Perhaps it was because I wasn't good at it--perhaps it was because I craved the discipline. My parents divorced when I was 14 or so and my Dad left. There was really no structure in my home after 14. Maybe I was looking for the structure.

When I came to San Diego,there were many times when I wanted to leave. The kenshusei program challenged me on many levels. I'd never trained so hard in my life, slept so little,been so emotionally raw. Partly,I was embarrassed to go home, going back with my tail between my legs. Also, I'd taken a leap:I got American citizenship through my mother's birth. I gave up my home, left my relationship. I came across the border with $3000 U.S. and all my possessions determined to see it through. I knew there was some medicine for my soul in the whole experience and I was trusting the process.

At the heart of it all, I have to say that Aikido is like a love relationship:You fall in love at first and get swept off your feet. It turns you inside out and upside down and you lose your sense of who you are. It breaks you down,you want to leave,maybe you do,maybe you can't .It beats the hell out of you .But you find you are changing. Sometimes you can't stand who you are becoming and sometimes who you are becoming shakes your soul with joy.

And still, layer after layer, you begin to see a different relationship with who you are and your relationship to others and how you all connect. And then quietly,there is another falling in love. Maybe not as intense in its highs or lows as at first. But you begin to see more unfolding and it opens your heart more each time inexplicably.

Who have been your most influential teachers?

Well, of course Chiba Sensei has been the most profound influence. Seven and a half years of training in his dojo certainly transformed who I am in a very fundamental way. I hold a lot of gratitude in my heart towards him for the person I have become. And Mrs. Chiba, who made sure I knew what I needed to know about the dojo and took such good care of all of us.

Hugo.

Also Daniel Kempling who mentored me as a brother would both on my visits back to Victoria and guided me towards running a dojo myself. And of course Hilary Dawson,for introducing me to Aikido and still supporting me today.

What made you decide to open your own dojo?

I didn't really consciously decide to open my own dojo at first. Just before Summer Camp 2007, Daniel Kempling approached me about taking over Pacific Coast Aikikai in time as he got ready to make some life changes. I said I'd be prepared. He warned me that the dojo might need a new home soon, that I may want to keep my eye out. When we returned from summer camp, Jody and I got back just in time for the last class and closing ceremony at the old dojo. Over the summer the remaining student body trained out of a local karate school. I taught as Daniel was away.

I found us a space at a place called Royal Roads University for September and obtained the mats from UVic. This location was about a 30-minute drive from the former. But this made sense as Jody and I were living in the area. When Daniel returned from his time away, it became clear that my full-time teaching responsibilities were to continue.

Between the change in location and the change in instructors, the membership rapidly declined. At first this was difficult for me and I took it rather personally. Now I see what a blessing it was to be given the opportunity to start essentially from scratch. New dojo, new name.

I found the space at Shoreline School as it was affordable: I was unable to take on out-of-pocket expenses to support a waning membership. I began building. This time last year there were three of us on the mats. Now we have 10. Only three of us are from the original school. One has returned and I hope we'll have more return.

What do you like/dislike about being an Aikido instructor?

I find it very rich watching people progress. When they have little breakthroughs. I love it if I can touch people's hearts and make them realize that they are an integral part of a community and that this is their home. As I said before, I compare training to falling in love every day. I learn more about myself and training through watching my students. I start wanting to explore deeper into the basics all the time. I find myself more deeply fascinated with the art. I find it fascinating how much we reveal through our body language.

What is difficult?Not being able to be a student as much. Not taking ukemi as much because you're watching all the time or giving others space to train. Having to be sure that someone is there to at least supervise even if you feel unwell. Not being sure about taking time off because you don't want to affect retention of new students.

In terms of how it fits into my life and work, that's always been a balancing act. Currently I work 9-5 at a local spa. This is my stable source of income. Sometimes they are forgiving about my schedule,but as they work by appointment it occasionally happens that this creates a crunch in my schedule to try to get to the dojo a half-hour before class starts to set up. I am working towards my own home business so I can have more control of the hours I work. Fortunately, my partner Jody and I both train so there is no time conflict there. Only our personal time can be hard to schedule. We are certainly both committed to either Aikido or work six days a week at this point. At this point we don't have kids so we don't need to balance that aspect out right now.

How do you promote your dojo?

In terms of promoting our dojo,we have been lucky. The school where we practice runs community activities and they publish a newsletter listing our program .I run introductory programs every six weeks or so. Although initial enrollment is usually no higher than five,it is five more people to expose. We've had roughly a 50 percent retention rate, which is enough to slowly build. After people are finished the program I invite them to join the dojo.

I also found that holding three-hour intensives twice a week in the summer (when we lose access to the school) with Zazen, weapons and body arts and an informal lunch at the end seemed to really stimulate and build the core group .

What would people find surprising about your dojo?

I'm not sure. Perhaps that we have two locations? Maybe that there seem to be a lot of tattooed people with interesting haircolors in my dojo? Or maybe that the core group is taking tango lessons together--and I can really relate it to Aikido ..it helps me teach!