Aikido East

The Woodstock dojo was an old wooden barn with bare sheet-rocked walls, an open ceiling with high rafters, where bats and birds lived, barn windows un-trimmed, two large barn doors that slid open and a kamiza that was unadorned. The changing 'rooms' were any space found behind tractors and barn equipment with no bathroom. Winter temperatures turned our dojo into a walk-in freezer where the canvas-covered mats filled with tire chips and foam became a sliding hard surface like that of a frozen lake. Our breath was quite visible in the frigid air as we practiced and trained and it all felt great! When we would open the barn doors in good weather and hear the running water while sitting before class, it was like being in a martial art paradise.

When I moved back to the east coast in 1989 I chose Woodstock, NY instead of returning to live in Manhattan where I started my aikido training. I was extremely happy to be reunited with a senior teacher of the New York Aikikai, Harvey Konigsberg Sensei, who was now the chief instructor of his own dojo in the Catskill Mountains.

I had no cash to pay for mat dues and Konigsberg sensei offered to trade my carpentry skills for mat dues. In time the kamiza was framed out, all the windows were trimmed out, a weapons rack installed and name board put up. Through the next 20 years the Woodstock Dojo was expanded and refined with the help of its members who were carpenters, gardeners and designers. It was the members' efforts that helped shape the beautiful dojo into what it is today.

As the dojo grew and seminars with Yamada sensei and Sugano sensei were scheduled on a regular basis, word got around of the Woodstock dojo's infamous table spread offered at the seminar dinners and genuine hospitality.

The respect and admiration paid to Konigsberg Sensei from the aikido community covers great distances and many dojos for almost 40 years. The Woodstock Aikido dojo reflects his spirit, creativity, warmth, humor and vision. A master painter as well, Konigsberg Sensei is at home in the artist colony in the mountains. Konigsberg sensei teaches with the vigor that the barn space and the surrounding mountain elements infuse in him.

In celebrating the 20th anniversary of Woodstock Aikido this October 19th-21st with Yamada Sensei, Konigsberg Sensei is to be honored for creating art, aikido and a warm and humorous place to practice in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

Congratulations Harvey Sensei!

Ron Rubio, a former dancer and/choreographer in New York City and an aikidoka for 22 years is the author of the upcoming book: "Mind/Body Techniques for Asperger's Syndrome- Way of the Pathfinder"- Jessica Kingsley Publishers- January 2008

The 20th Anniversary of the Woodstock Aikido

October 19th -21st 2007 with Yamada Sensei