HeyJaredLia Suzuki’s Virtual Dojo
Weekly reflections on Aikido, movement, and practice—on and off the mat.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 12
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- Sep 22, 2026
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- Jul 7, 2026
Latest episodes
What Self-Development in Aikido Really Demands (opens the original)
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When I survey new students about why they came to Aikido, the most common answers are self-development, discipline, focus, managing anxiety, self-defense, and fitness. After thirty years of teaching, I'd say they're right about what they're looking for. They just don't yet know what it's actually going to require from them. In this episode I get into why self-development isn't a skill you complete, it's a quality that develops gradually, the way a child grows taller without anyone noticing day t
What a Dojo Reveals Before Training Even Begins (opens the original)
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In forty-five years of Aikido, I've walked into hundreds of dojos around the world, and you can tell a great deal about how people train before anyone sets foot on the mat. I remember being invited to teach at one dojo where a beautiful photo of sensei was leaned against a crash mat, half hidden, and the mat itself was dirty. At another, the host running late meant nobody was surprised, because apparently that wasn't unusual. In this episode I get into what I actually watch for before class even
Why Aikido Plateaus Are a Sign of Progress (opens the original)
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I've been teaching Aikido for over thirty years, and I've watched hundreds of students hit the same wall at roughly the same point in their training. I had one student, second kyu or first kyu at the time, who suddenly stopped wanting my suggestions and made excuses whenever I offered a fix. It turned out something personal was going on. He was stuck on that plateau for about six months, and then he came back. In this episode I get into why a plateau isn't a lack of progress, it's progress that
What Yamaguchi Sensei Taught Me About Presence (opens the original)
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I was sitting in a coffee shop in Japan with Yamaguchi Sensei and a small group of his students, right after training. I was maybe shodan or nidan at most, and this wasn't even my main teacher, but I was blown away by how he ran that conversation, and by how much it mirrored the way he moved on the mat. In this episode I get into what I noticed about the way he led without dominating, the Zanshin I felt in that conversation itself, and why Zanshin isn't stillness or a pose, it's active, sustaine
Why Your Aikido Feels Worse After a Seminar (opens the original)
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Every serious practitioner has had this experience: you come home from a seminar confused, your technique feels worse than when you left, and you can't fully explain what you spent three days doing. I had a student come back and tell me, half joking, that he knew nothing anymore. I told him that was great, now he could relearn and rebuild. In this episode I get into what a seminar actually does to your nervous system, why feeling confused afterward usually means something actually got in, and wh
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