Meditation and Martial Arts in a Big Block of Concrete

"Call it what you like," quips Roger Pratt. "You can call it a Fair Oaks healing center, or a Fair Oaks spiritual center, but all of those names sound trite. So, you know what it's going to be? It's going to be the Ice House Dojo."

A dojo-a place where people practice martial arts. Looking at it, the building is just a hollow block of concrete, and it has rested at 8030 California Street, in the Village, for more than fifty years.

"It used to be an ice house," says Pratt, relating some of the history he's gotten from local residents. "It was actually a slaughter house, where they brought the deer in from hunting season. It was a bunch of meat hooks on the ceiling and the columns, and insulation that we dropped out. I guess at one time it housed an antique emporium, and California Cotton was in it. It's big, ugly and white... and it's a Meditative Center."

It's really the location of Pratt's new venture-American River Aikido at the Ice House-and it's a culmination of a dream and a necessity that Pratt has carried with him for a long time.

Pratt, more widely known as a real estate broker and owner of Pratt Properties, has training as a sports massage therapist, and is a black belt in Aikido. He's been in need of a place where he could practice and train in both arts. The old Ice House, an historical Fair Oaks landmark, has become Pratt's sanctuary. It has also become a convenience.

"Now I don't have to drive to Stockton everytime I want a workout," Pratt laughs.

Though Pratt got his first taste of Aikido in Japan during his tour with the Navy, Stockton is where he became a true student of the Aikido martial art. He was running a bank when a customer walked in and asked for a loan-a loan Pratt remembers very well.

"The guy said, `I need some money to start up a martial arts school in Aikido. I'm sure you've never heard of Aikido." I just laughed, gave him the loan, and he became my sensei, going on six years, now."

Aikido, which means "the way of harmony" is a softer martial art. The philosophy of Aikido promotes non-violence, and is an art of self defense that relies on locks and holds to ward off attackers. The emphasis of the art is on fitness, balance and self expression. The pragmatic purpose of Aikido is to stop an attacker without causing injury. It is more spiritual and meditative than it is physical.

But though Pratt has a great desire to further his training in Aikido, the Ice House will provide much more than self defense classes. As he puts it, "the Ice House is intended to be a community meditation center, a place to practice and develop spiritual arts. When entering the dojo, you'll take off your shoes, and a quiet, safe and peaceful feeling will invite you to begin your personal quest."

With it's many available rooms, the Ice House will offer classes in T'ai Chi, Yoga, Family Counseling, Massage and Expressive Arts.

So what's it going to be? Is it a place for martial arts, or is it a meditation and counseling center? "It's going to be everything," says Pratt. "We've got 1800 square feet for all of the stuff that we're going to do, and then we've got another 1800 square feet for Aikido.

"We'll have family counseling offices, Native American drumming classes-we've got a massage room that we can rent out by the hour for therapists who can't afford a place of their own." Pratt looks around at the interior of the 3600-square-foot building. "I guess we'll do a lot of stuff here, a lot of peaceful, quiet, meditative things. We wanted to provide a place, a safe place for the community, where people can come and take care of their mental health, physical health and spiritual health all in one location."

For the most part, the outside of the building will stay "big, white and ugly." But on the south side of the building, Pratt plans to re-do the patio area. "I've got plans to grow a sweeping Japanese garden," he says with excitement. I'll enclose it with bamboo as a security fence, and for aesthetics." He folds his arms and leans against his new sanctuary. "This place, at night, after five when the shops close down and everybody has gone home, is so quiet and idyllic. It's a great place where people can come and be quiet-where they come just to be away from the noise and all the stuff that we put up with every day.

"For a dojo, though, the place is perfect-this long rectangular space. The walls are ten inches thick, and we furred them out with extra insulation. Where we bow in is going to be so pretty when we get it down to bare brick. And the floor is going to be a built-in mat, six inches thick-one contuous mat."

So, what's it going to be-a martial arts dojo or an expressive arts center, counseling offices or a meditation santuary? "It's my own dojo," laughs Pratt. "I've always wanted to have my own dojo, my own place to train. I can start my day down here and then walk to work to do that business thing, and then I'll drop back here for lunch to train some more, and then, if I feel like going back to the work stuff, I'll go back for a few hours before I come back here to finish off the day in my own dojo."

It is Pratt's dojo. You can see the pride in his eyes. But he does have a partner in the venture, Dave Brigham, a Third Degree Blackbelt who will be responsible for the basic cirriculum and training programs. Brigham is also a licensed family counselor, and as a naturalist has facilitated numerous successful wilderness quests throughout the High Sierra. Though Pratt is still looking for a T'ai Chi master, he has provided space for the Fair Oaks Expressive Arts Center, headed by Jodee Smith, M.A., who plans to offer many womens' group activities.

"We'll have varied prices," says Pratt. "Of course the folks who offer services here will charge whatever they charge, but the dojo will offer a menu of pricing. We want to provide junior pricing, and we'll offer work scholarships to needy kids. The average adult will pay about $60 a month. If someone wants private lessons and a full-blown course, we'll give them a different price tag. But essentially, we're going to break it down so that everybody in the community can come down here and workout of they want to."

Okay, but one last time-what's it going to be?

"It's going to be a quiet place," says Pratt with reverence. "It's going to be that place we've all been trying to find at one time or another. It's going to be us."