by Connie Borden, Tomi Nagai-Rothe and Robert Gaston
Let’s celebrate our joy in Shintaido practice every week this coming year.
2026 marks the 50th year of the founding of Shintaido of America as a non-profit.
Our theme for 2026 is Kumite Across Time and Space. We hope to spark inspiration and create resonance with your Shintaido practice.
Senseis H.F. Ito and Michael Thompson spent many hours over the kitchen table in their apartment – shared with Pam Olton in San Francisco – to write the first bylaws for the nonprofit we now call Shintaido of America.
Let’s celebrate 50 years of practice and joy.
Here are Some Ways to Celebrate 50 Times this Coming Year!
50 Posts in 50 Weeks on our Social Media
Postings on Facebook and Instagram. We will be using our rich archive of articles from Body Dialogue and videos from the SOA YouTube Channel to explore the Roots of Shintaido, Shintaido Disciplines, and Taimyo Kata and Peacemaking. These postings over the year will also include a Tribute to Friends, Connections to Music and the Arts as well as videos from many gasshukus. Not on Facebook or Instagram? Here are the first four weeks of postings:
Posting on 4 January 2026
In this video made in 2008, Margaret Guay, Shin Aoki, and others, under the direction of David Franklin, demonstrate how the practice Shintaido touches each of us. Shintaido means “new body way”
Posting on 11 January 2026
Read the January 1983 Body Dialogue article by H.F. Ito on the importance of transfer of Shintaido body wisdom to others.
Posting on 18 January 2026
Watch the video on one of the three Dai Kihon; one of the three core movements of Shintaido – Tenshingoso.
Posting on 26 January 2026
Read a 1986 interview with Aoki Sensei on Shintaido.
Wear a 50th Anniversary T-shirt
Our T-Shirt has the theme Kumite Across Time and Space. Here is a sample of the T-Shirt design (insert visual of T-shirt mock-up). All proceeds from T-shirt sales go to support instructors and kieko in the USA and Canada.
Order here: Store – Shintaido of America
Stay Connected via What’s App
Share photos of your keiko. Share poems. Read about future social media postings. Reconnect with old friends. Make new friends. Contact Connie to be added to the What’s app group by emailing President@shintaido.org.
We hope you will find 50 ways to engage with others for the joy of self-expression while deepening our Shintaido practice within each of our communities.
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