Summer aikido reality
How do you handle aiki-vacation when you were never taught what to do alone on the mat, if anything at all
Every July, the same story unfolds in my dojo after I leave for 6 weeks - attendance drops to three or four people, someone posts in the WhatsApp group asking who's coming to today's class, and half the people don't respond while the other half say "maybe." By August, you're practicing with whoever's left, which might be nobody.
I used to chase seminars and summer camps, thinking I needed to advance and fill the gap somehow. But over the years I've learned to welcome the summer break. I don't miss aikido on my long vacation, and I enjoy this time without practice because it gives me something to miss and makes me appreciate it even more when we start again in September.
There's something healthy about stepping away completely. It breaks the routine, gives your body a rest, and creates space to notice what you actually gained from months of training. Sometimes I'll catch myself moving differently in daily situations, and I realize the practice has been working on me even when I wasn't paying attention. Sometimes I notice I just need to be more mindful, or that aikido can't teach you everything.
For those who do want to keep training through summer, here's what I've observed about solo practice during these quiet months: most aikidoka don't know what to do alone on the mat because we're never taught how. We spend years learning to blend with partners, and then when they disappear, we're lost.
My solo practice isn't doing techniques with imaginary attackers. It's about discovering what remains when you strip away everything external - your actual balance, where tension lives in your body, what extension feels like when it's not about moving someone else. These are things that partner practice can mask but solo work reveals.
The gap in most aikido curricula is obvious once you see it. We teach techniques, combinations, variations, but rarely teach students how to explore internally or maintain practice independently. That's why summer becomes such a challenge instead of an opportunity.
How do you deal with aiki-vacation? Do you keep showing up to empty dojos, take deliberate breaks, or find your own way to stay connected to the practice?