We hope all you are all happy and healthy! It is great to see lots of you are still keeping active with our new online training! We know it may be hard to be away from the dojo, and we miss seeing all of you in your classes, but we aim to do our best to keep a bit of normality.

As many of you know we have been uploading 3 new videos every week to make sure that when the dojo reopens we will be ready for a grading straight away, we will be showing Sensei that Covid-19 has not slowed us down and we are ready to smash the pads!  We understand the self -motivation during this time might be next to nothing which is why it’s so nice to see it’s not stopping us!! We log in and join our Senseis for a class any time and day we want, giving us the same sweaty and high intensity workout that we are used to!

A little treasure that we have found during isolation is that Xen-Do is more than a gym. We know that people come to the dojo for exercise and to keep fit while maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but now being away from the dojo we have seen that together we are more than that. We have been included in your Xen-Do at Home pictures, through the home schooling, through your one hour exercise to escape the house, and involves us in turning your homes into dojos! It’s nice to know we are all feeling the same after receiving all your messages asking how we are, letting us know that you are just as excited as us to have the doors open again and just like us the dojo is your happy place. Unlike the gym we don’t come into the building with our earphones in, blocking out the day and doing our best not to make eye contact with anyone to avoid the awkward side smile or acknowledgment nod. At Xen-Do we make an entrance, we chat with fellow students while stretching before the class and we banter with our Senseis afterwards. The energy and vibe that buzzes through the dojo is something we miss most!

So, as we think about all the things, we look forward getting back to when we re-open we want to make sure you all know that Xen-Do is still here! We want to stay connected with everyone, keep in touch with your photos and videos, if you have any questions, you are welcome to sign up to our newsletter or email us directly! And thanks to the online training at least we have the familiar faces of Sensei Lewes, Nicolas, Paul, Yuri and many more that you have still been training alongside while we have been staying home.

Xen-Do has been doing our best to make the online classes fun and informative from your front room. We love hearing that you’re enjoying the workouts and it’s great to see so many of you sign on and train every day. We have recently added the grading syllabus as an added extra to help everyone with the basics and combinations so you’re still on the right path to your next belt! We hope the virtual classes are helping during this time and we look forward to seeing you all back soon!!