Aikido is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 140 countries. It was originally developed by Morihei Ueshiba, as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy and religious beliefs. Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attackers from injury. Aikido is often translated as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the way of harmonious spirit". According to the founder's philosophy, the primary goal in the practice of aikido is to overcome oneself instead of cultivating violence or aggressiveness. Morihei Ueshiba used the phrase masakatsu agatsu katsuhayabi" to refer to this principle.
Morihei Ueshiba was a Japanese martial artist and founder of the martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as "the founder" Kaiso (開祖) or Ōsensei (大先生/翁先生), "Great Teacher/Old Teacher ".
The Ki Society is an aikido organization founded by Koichi Tohei in 1971, while he was the chief instructor at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. The official Japanese name of the organization is Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido Kai (心身統一合気道会), but it is also known in English-speaking countries as "Ki Society". Its foundation reflected Tohei's differences with the Aikikai, and his own emphasis on developing the concept of Ki. Students of the art are graded in Ki and Aikido classes. Tohei's Ki lessons come from Shin Shin Tōitsu-dō (心身統一道), meaning "the way of realizing the [original] unity of mind and body". The martial discipline of the art is frequently referred to as Ki-Aikido, particularly in the Western world.
Baguazhang or Pakua chang is one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the Wudang school, the other two being tai chi and Xingyiquan. It is more broadly grouped as an internal practice. Bāguà zhǎng literally means "eight trigram palm", referring to the bagua "trigrams" of the I Ching, one of the canons of Taoism.
Andrew Harvey is a British author, religious scholar and teacher of mystic traditions, known primarily for his popular nonfiction books on spiritual or mystical themes, beginning with his 1983 A Journey in Ladakh. He is the author of over 30 books, including, The Hope, A Guide to Sacred Activism, The Direct Path, the critically acclaimed Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi, The Return of the Mother and Son of Man. He was the subject of the 1993 BBC documentary "The Making of a Modern Mystic" and is the founder of the Sacred Activism movement.
Kyū is a Japanese term used in modern martial arts as well as in tea ceremony, flower arranging, Go, shogi, academic tests and other similar activities to designate various grades, levels or degrees of proficiency or experience. In Mandarin Chinese, the same character 級 is pronounced jí, and the term is used for academic tests. In Korea, the term geup is used. In Vietnamese martial arts, it is known as cấp (khớp).
Robert Nadeau is an American aikido teacher holding the rank of 8th dan and master teacher(Shihan) in the Aikikai. Nadeau began training in martial arts at the age of 16 and began studying Aikido with American instructor Robert Tan.
Jūkendō (銃剣道) is the Japanese martial art of bayonet fighting, and has been likened to kendo.
Terry Dobson birthname Walter Norton Dobson III (1937–1992) was an American aikido pioneer, aikido teacher, and writer, who studied directly with the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, as one of the first, small handful of non-Japanese to do so.
The Bruce Lee Library is composed of books written by or about Bruce Lee (1940-1973), famous Hongkongese and American martial artist, philosopher, author, instructor of martial arts, actor, filmmaker and screenwriter.
Jeanne Rose is an herbalist/aromatherapist who changed the practice of American herbalism when she began her public work in 1969 with the publication of her first book, Herbs & Things: Jeanne Rose's Herbal. She began her herbal career in California as an undergraduate with studies in botany and science and a degree from San Jose State College. She went on to graduate work in marine biology and ecology. In 1969, she wrote the first modern book of herbalism, Herbs & Things. She taught herbs and aromatherapy at the University of California Extension throughout the 1970s and privately throughout the United States. She has lived in San Francisco since 1967 and established a herbal/aromatic garden and study center. Becoming concerned about the environment and the production of aromatic plants, she organized the aromatherapy industry and a group, The Aromatic Plant Project, to support local and organic production of aromatic plants, to provide resources for growers and distillers, to ensure high quality aromatherapy products and to educate consumers as to the appropriate and beneficial uses of these aromatic products.
Bruce Kumar Frantzis is a Taoist educator who studied Taoism in China.
Richard Grossinger is an American writer and founder of North Atlantic Books in Berkeley, California.
George Burr Leonard was an American writer, editor, and educator who wrote extensively about education and human potential. He served as President Emeritus of the Esalen Institute, past-president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, co-founder of Integral Transformative Practice International, and an editor of Look Magazine. He was a United States Army Air Corps pilot, and held a fifth-degree black belt in aikido. Typical of his philosophy, life's work, and the times (1960s), Leonard stated: "Western civilization has been a 2,000 year long exercise in robbing people of the present. People are now learning the powerful joys that hide in the narrow place of the hourglass, the eternal moment. Here is their golden learning: to see - really see - spring flowers; to feel - really feel - the grace of love."
Li Jing-lin, also known as Li Fangchen (1885–1931) was a deputy inspector-general and later army general for the Fengtian clique during the Chinese warlord era. He hailed from Zaoqiang County, Hebei province, China. After his military career was over he settled in Nanjing, and in 1927 moved to Shanghai. A renowned swordsman, he was known as "China's First Sword."
Strozzi Institute is an organization located in Oakland, California that offers coaching services and trainings in leadership, organizational development, and personal mastery. It uses a somatic approach to learning. Programs are offered primarily at the institute's Sonoma training center.
Hiroshi Kato; was an Aikido Master. He lived in Tokyo, Japan, and travelled the world teaching the principles of Aikido. A former student of Morihei Ueshiba, Sensei Kato taught from 1986 onwards in his Dojo "Suginami Aikikai" located in the Ogikubo district of Tokyo and has over 55 students.
Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere is a 1973 nonfiction book about the martial art of aikido.
Wang Shujin (1904-1981), also known as Wang Heng Sun, was a Chinese martial artist, practitioner of the disciplines of baguazhang, taijiquan, and xingyiquan. He was one of the greatest promoters of those arts outside China, being their first teacher in Taiwan and Japan, and was particularly known for his challenges to other martial artists. Aside from his martial exploits, Wang was also a spiritual leader in the Taoist sect Yi Guan Dao.
Somatics is a field within bodywork and movement studies which emphasizes internal physical perception and experience. The term is used in movement therapy to signify approaches based on the soma, or "the body as perceived from within", including Skinner Releasing Technique, Alexander technique, the Feldenkrais Method, Eutony Gerda Alexander, Rolfing Structural Integration, among others. In dance, the term refers to techniques based on the dancer's internal sensation, in contrast with "performative techniques", such as ballet or modern dance, which emphasize the external observation of movement by an audience. Somatic techniques may be used in bodywork, psychotherapy, dance, or spiritual practices.
