Article describing my experiences during the 6th US embukai, held in Denton Texas on November 10 to 12.

I was very lucky this year to combine a professional event (VMWorld in LA) with a iaido seminar with my good friend John Ray.

The last time I went to that event was 4 years ago  and I was really curious on how it evolved during that time. And I must admit that I was surprised, both by the organization, the level of instruction and the kokoro of the attendees.

The seminar started on Friday evening with a general practice session. After the session there was an informal get together and a dinner in a local Mexican restaurant. There already I saw a lot of known faces again and supprisingly enough a lot of people remembered me from last time.

The next day, Saturday, was a very  busy one. People were split up in groups according to their level and each of the seven teachers (included me) was able to teach at different levels. That was again a great experience for me. Here in the Belgium dojo I meanly teach to beginners and I was rather anxious of what the higher level ranking people would make of my teaching. So this time I prepared a little bit the classes, as some people remarked I had a small book where I put some notes in. But all turned out to good and I wish to thank all the visiting teachers: Greg Huff sensei, John Ray sensei, Ted Davies sensei, Warren Stanley sensei, Eliza Meeker sensei and Scott Irey sensei, for the wonderful event and the trust in me to teach their students.

Sunday then was the official embu with demonstrations of all people. All of that was video taped by Charles Mahan and some assistants and I hope to see some of those performances again soon.

As I told at the closing of the seminar, I was very lucky and honored to be in such a high level company of teachers and hope to come again in the future and to be a bridge between the European and the US iaido-ka.

A special thanks I have to give to John Ray (and of course all the Denton dojo members) for this organization  and I hope to see some of you one time here in Belgium.