West Coast Aikido Martial Arts Academy

  Since 1993 we have been helping people in Perth's Northern Suburbs acquire practical self-defence skills, improve their lives and get physically fit. West Coast Aikido Martial Arts Academy has trained thousands of people in Perth’s Northern Suburbs our amazing Martial Art. Simply put, training in Yoseikan Aikido will improve all areas of your life. Regardless of your age, your fitness level or any physical limitations you may have, we can help you learn our amazing martial art, improve your life, and teach you a great way to live. Aikido training will enable you to defend yourself or your loved ones, overcome fear, gain confidence and get fighting fit.  You will reduce stress, improve your fitness, become more self-disciplined, have greater focus, awareness, confidence, elevated self-esteem and get more out of life! Aikido is a traditional martial art that is practiced by millions of people of all ages throughout the world. Many practice Aikido as a form of nonviolent self-defence, but many also train in Aikido for the mental and spiritual benefits that it provides. At West Coast Aikido Martial Arts Academy Perth, we are dedicated to helping you acquire practical self-defence skills whilst reducing stress, and getting into the best shape of your life! We offer classes for Women and Men, Children, Youth, Teens, Adults and Seniors. Celebrating Over 25 Years Of Excellence In Martial Arts, Self-defence And Fitness In Perth’s Northern Suburbs https://www.wcaikido.com   

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Perseverance – The Art of Never Giving Up

A fundamental core value of our martial art is Perseverance (Never giving up). Why is it important? Perseverance is a key ingredient for you to be successful in life. It means being determined to work hard regardless of any odds or obstacles that may exist. It is to relentlessly pursue your goals and be firm on completing your tasks and not giving up. https://youtu.be/tv_BRDJyi50 Good morning. Just wanted to post a short video on perseverance. What it means to us in the martial arts world but also in life as well. Perseverance actually comes from a Latin word called perseverant… let me wrap my tongue around this… “perseverantia”, which literally means to abide by something strictly and I think basically it means not giving up; having the tenacity to push through and complete a task no matter what that is. So, you set yourself a goal and you try and complete that goal to the best of your ability. I think that's what perseverance is all about. Unfortunately, these days, I think people give up way too easily. They start things, particularly with martial arts, they come down with high expectations of joining up and starting on the Aikido journey, but unfortunately, and maybe they don't set their goals correctly or are realistic enough in the goals that they set, but they quickly learn that it's not an easy journey and that it does take a lot to stick on the path and try and achieve those goals. I've got many, many students who are still with me after a number of years training with me, and I've been teaching since 1993 as some of you know, and despite all, you know, many, many ups and downs I've had; probably more downs than ups actually; I've still managed to persevere through those obstacles and continue on with my training and my teaching and running the school, and as I said before, many of my students, my senior students some have been with me for over 20 years, some 15, some for 10, and you know so it's a long, long time to persevere with something and to stick with it. But I commend those people; I really do. I really think that they've shown a lot of not just dedication to the art, but also dedication to themselves. Showing that strict adherence to you know the practice of Aikido which I’ve said before can be very frustrating sometimes. But you know, we need to be able to push through and achieve goals because that way gives us… You know that's how we live our life with passion and we live a good life basically. Because if we don't have goals and we don't set those goals and we don't persevere to trying to achieve those goals and really, what's life all about? So the word of the day, perseverance: stick to something strictly. Never give up. Put your best foot forward with 100% effort and, you know, hopefully, you’ll achieve those goals. If you want to discuss this more with me, feel free to see me at the dojo, and hopefully, we can talk about a few more things as well. So have a great day. Look forward to seeing you soon. Bye for now. Read the full article

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Parents, How Are We Setting A Good Example?

How do we set a good example for our kids? How do we encourage them to make good choices and live life with integrity? Sensei Ross Taylor explores the answers to these questions and more in our latest "Mat Chat" video.

https://youtu.be/KaaeSYa80qY Hello there! I hope you are having a great afternoon. Today I just want to talk about commitment. I want to talk about perseverance, having self-discipline, focus, putting a hundred percent effort into whatever you do, and producing leaders in our community. I'm specifically talking about kids. We have plenty of adults who train here as well, but the kids are the ones that concern me. They're our future. They're the people we're looking to continue on our legacy in our community, and we want to make sure that they are pretty well set up to continue to do that. Our job here, as martial arts instructors, is to try and make them more resilient, because they're absolutely going to need to be more resilient in the world that we're living in at the moment. There are so many more challenges that are before them these days than ever have been; especially when my generation was growing up at least anyway. So, I'm sort of calling on parents I guess to actually demonstrate the principles that I've just read out to you, because you're the example, you're the person that actually sets the example to your kids. If they are seeing that you are giving up on things easily or too easily, then they'll be more inclined to give up on whatever it is that they're doing too easily. They end up getting a label of being a quitter, and we don't want them to have that label going through life. We want them to be a doer, an achiever, and to live their best life. And the only way you can do that, speaking from my experience, and I know by no means am I perfect; I've started things before and not finished them, but you know what, I've learnt from those past mistakes, and I know your kids will too, and I'm just hoping that you can set that example for them. For example, if they sign up for Aikido or anything, that you'll see it through; at least through the initial stages, and definitely persevere through those hard times that they'll definitely get in their training or with their training. So, I'm calling on you as parents to demonstrate to your kids more perseverance, more commitment to whatever they are doing. Show more self-discipline yourself, and that could be anything; from exercising, to eating better, to sticking with something. Have that sort of discipline to stick with doing something. Your actions speak louder than any words that you'll ever mention to your kids. It's your actions that count. So, what they see you doing or demonstrating they'll emulate. So, you've got to make sure that what you're showing is all positive. If you're more focused on doing things; they'll more than likely be more focused on doing things. if you show a hundred percent effort in doing something; they'll show a hundred percent effort, I'm sure, at least close to it. The bottom line is that if they persevere as you do; if they make a commitment to something and stick with it as you do; they show self-discipline, if they show focus, they're more likely to commit a hundred percent to it and they're more likely to turn out to be leaders in our community and that's what we want. So try to ever think about this; especially when kids, and you know it will definitely happen; after three months, six months to twelve months of training; They'll say, “ I'm bored with this.”, “I want to do something different.” Try and think about why you put them into the martial arts. Why did you want them (to do this)? You are the parent, you're responsible for that child and for the child's future. Think about why you want to put into martial arts. Was it to improve on their character development? Was it to improve their focus, to improve their discipline, their respect, their fitness, their hand-eye coordination? Whatever it was, try and remember back to that first time that you walked into the dojo and committed your children to doing martial arts, and try and remember that. Not only try and remember that but try and stick to that promise you made to yourself and to your child that you'll stick to it; you will commit to it for a good length of time. And I know when a four or five-year-old joins up they're always going to be a bit fickle, but what they're directed by is your thoughts and your actions as you, the parent. So, stick to your commitments you want them to. Do at least 12 months or at least two years of training. Stick to that commitment. Don't waver from that. And by doing that, you're teaching your kids all about those things we just talked about; the perseverance, the commitment, the discipline, the focus, and a hundred percent effort, and you're showing them that you are a leader as well. I hope that all makes sense. Any questions, don't forget, you can always come and see me at the dojo and my door is always open. I look forward to seeing you again on the mats. Thank you   Read the full article

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12 Ways To Stop A Bully

PARENTS...REST EASY, THAT BULLY WILL NOT BOTHER YOUR CHILD ANY MORE.

Let's face facts. Bullying is out of control! It seems that every day we hear of people, especially kids, being bullied whether at school, in the playground, at the shops, at bus stops, or even by their so-called ‘friends.’ Too many of our kids are being bullied and some are paying a huge price for not being able to stand up for themselves.

Enough is enough! No-one should have to put up with being bullied. The consequences are too great, effecting a child’s confidence and self-esteem, not to mention their grades at school and friendships. So what is the solution? The traditional martial arts have a long history of teaching not only the physical self-defence skills, but just as importantly, the ‘life skills and values’ such as self-control, self-discipline, respecting self and others, focus, awareness. Put simply, the more you train in the martial arts, the more confidence you will gain. At our martial arts academy, we teach kids how to ‘Bully-Proof’ themselves. We have 12 ‘Bully-Proof ‘ strategies that your child can use at any time to discourage the bully, helping them to walk away with confidence. Dozens of our students have used these strategies effectively in real situations. Many of our parents have seen the benefits of how these strategies have given their children more confidence to walk away from the bully.   These ‘Bully-Proof’ strategies are easy to learn and to put into action. In fact, we have a Free Download, ‘12 Ways to Stop A Bully’. To receive your copy simply fill in the form below and we will email it to your inbox.

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Dealing With Negative Comments

https://youtu.be/Hp-S8yn2s_g

Dealing with negative comments from others is tough, but believing in your own self-worth and understanding that the negativity is usually their problem and not yours is the key to overcoming negative comments.

https://www.wcaikido.com/dealing-with-negative-comments/ Good morning. I hope you're doing well today, and you can have a great day. Just want to talk today about negative influences in your life, and your reaction to those negative comments or thoughts. The reason why I bring this up is, it just sort of came into my mind the other day, remembering back to my school days and particularly my high school days where I had a teacher who constantly told me I wouldn't amount to anything. Which reflecting on today, I have to laugh at it, but at the time it was a pretty serious thing. And he was really not a supportive teacher nor one that you would sort of look back in fondness on and say, “he was a great teacher”. So, whether that was his teaching style or maybe he was trying to prove it to motivate me in in his own way, but at the time it certainly wasn't any motivation for me. In fact, it kind of made me go the other way and rebel against the system if you like. I wasn't the greatest student in the world, I must admit, I could have done a lot better in the school if I had applied myself more but what I've learned as I went along and basically self-taught in almost everything that I've done. So I suppose the lesson here is, yes people will put you down, they will tell you, like for example another example in my life is an uncle told me when I said to him I was going to start teaching martial arts and he basically laughed in my face and said that'll never work you ever to do that forever and you'll be a failure of that and today now he's not around anymore but today I think I'm reasonably successful at it can always improve but he wasn't right and I'm still here teaching I love for those people to be alive today to see be witness to what I've done and how I have succeeded and as I said before I might not be the best martial arts instructor or the marshal best martial artist in the world I might not be the best business owner in the world but I try my hardest I do the best I can I try and do it the right way and try and be positive with my students. I try to get the best out of them and get the best out of myself and live in general a pretty positive lifestyle and a very comfortable lifestyle. I’m very lucky indeed, but also, I'll put the hard work in I'll put the effort in and I'm committed to what I do hope you can do the same. Great talking to you; have a great weekend. Bye for now. Yours in Aiki, Sensei Ross Taylor 5th Dan Owner & Principal Instructor at West Coast Aikido Martial Arts Academy Read the full article

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West Coast Aikido's Taste of Harmony 2020

We are taking part in A Taste of Harmony again this year to celebrate Harmony Week and to recognise and celebrate the cultural diversity in our Academy. Every family who attends will bring a dish that represents their culture, or a culture they have a strong affinity with. We'll get together for a delicious meal and have the chance to share stories. Please RSVP at the front desk or by using the link below. https://www.tasteofharmony.org.au/eventhub/public/view.php?id=ej22ye A Taste of Harmony is a delicious way to celebrate our community's cultural diversity. At the event, attendees are encouraged to share stories of their cultural background as well as a culturally inspired dish. What better way to foster a harmonious community here at our School than by sharing a little about yourself over a new and interesting meal. Save the date! We hope to see you all there! P.S. Last year's event was a ton of fun!

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Bullying, How Can Aikido Help?

Bullying is a big problem these days. What can we learn from the Martial Arts and, in particular, the traditional Japanese martial art of Aikido to help us and our kids cope?

Ross Taylor Sensei (5th Dan Yoseikan Aikido) discusses… https://www.wcaikido.com/bullying-how-can-aikido-help/ Hi, Ross Taylor here from West Coast Aikido Martial Arts Academy. I just wanted to talk today about bullying and its impact on, or that it has on, our society and particularly young people these days, I've just finished doing a private lesson with a 16-year-old boy who the main reason why his parents have put him in to do private lessons is because he's been bullied at school predominantly. They are trying to obviously get his confidence up and have come to us to hoping the martial arts will build his confidence and enable him to deal with the bullies. But I've got to say that to me bullying is just really a despicable act. I just can't understand why people bully others and it happens not just the kids but it happens to adults in the workplace as well, and it is really a really an insidious thing and I wish it was an easy thing to stamp out but unfortunately it's not. And the only thing we can do particularly as parents is to arm ourselves or our arm our kids with confidence and one way of doing that is learning the martial arts instilling in them through the values that we teach in the martial arts every day the respect for yourself the confidence that martial arts builds within you because once you start learning new skills and you're improving in those new skills you're building confidence and you're gaining that confidence day by day each time you come on the mats you're building that confidence up and I've seen it with this young man he's been training with us now for around about two months and twice a week and his confidence I can see has built phenomenally in that two months. He's still got a long way to go but at the same token I think what we're teaching at the moment is really helping him and hopefully, it will help him to go back to school with more confidence and that way he'll be able to concentrate on the things that he needs to concentrate on. Like his learning as opposed to worrying about people bullying him every day at school. So, one of the things, as I said before, we work on all those traits all those values that the martial arts give us and some of the things that we teach the kids all about those core values. And just in the back of me here, is our life skills program. The word of the month this month is “practice” so we learn all these skills here we teach the kids these skills or develop them more with the kids through our practice in the martial arts and just looking at and things like manners, perseverance, discipline, courtesy respect, all those things, honesty. And we also teach them how to be good leaders within their community which is something that we really need a lot more of in our society these days so just wanted to talk briefly about bullying and the effects that it can have especially on young people and that we will really want to stamp out that bullying and so one of the good ways to do that one of the ways that can help with that is through good solid, I think, traditional martial arts training like we teach here at West Coast Aikido. Thank you for listening. Bye for now. Domo arigato, Sensei Ross Taylor 5th Dan Black Belt (Godan) Aikido Owner & Principal Instructor West Coast Aikido Martial Arts Academy #martialarts, #aikido #yoseikanaikido #bullyproof #selfdefense #karate #judo #jiujitsu #mixedmartialarts Read the full article

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'You Have to Pay Your Dues.'

‘You Have to Pay Your Dues.’

I often remember something told to me by a famous martial arts teacher that I know. He said, “Although I am considered one of the greatest martial artist of my time, my students treat me like a shopkeeper.”

“They try to get all they can get from the dues they pay. And they assume that I should bow my head to everything they say and do. That is not being a teacher and that is not acting like a…

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