Introduction to Aikido

Here is my own intro as to why I joined Aikido when I was young: everyone who knows me, knows that I have got a profound hearing loss and I have been wearing hearing aids from very early age. My mum had rubella when she was pregnant so I was born with this disability.

When I became a teenager, I grew with a big interest in Martial Arts and loved watching Martial Arts films (Chinese Kung Fu, Jean Claude Van Damme and yes Steven Seagal) I was 15 years of age and I bought frequently Martial Arts Magazines and even put posters of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Van Damme in my own bedroom! I had a friend in my Secondary school who was Vietnamese and he also had an interest in Martial Arts and he was learning Kung Fu from his dad who was a Kung Fu master. I met his dad who was in his 70s and he showed me what he was able to do, push ups with 2 fingers, lifting is legs off the ground and keeping them parallel to the ground – I was impressed! At my age, I could not do what he did. He said that it was Qi. So, I asked if he would teach me but he said, he was too old now.

He also said that if he was to do it all over again, he would have chosen Aikido. I asked him why? He said in a broken French language: "Aikido Master is like an egg, no one can truly grab him and he uses the force of his opponent. Aikido is very good" I was intrigued.

So I began searching for a local Aikido dojo and found one and went to watch a whole session in Nantes and I immediately fell in love with it, I thought the movements were very gracious and harmonious.

So I signed up and began my journey learning Aikido from Aikikai. I even bought a Ken and a Jo (not the Iwama types – remember in France we did not know Iwama Aikido much so I did not know it existed) and quickly realised that as I was a very shy teenager, my confidence was not as high as I would have wanted to be, but Aikido gave me inner strength. I was enjoying the sessions and after each one I quickly became 'hungry' for more sessions. I joined a few Aikido Seminars when there was one in Nantes.

I grew feeling stronger and more confident because, it made me realised that I was able to do the techniques and breakfalls better than some people (who could hear normally) and it made me think again, that it helped me to develop my confidence and thanks to Aikido, I felt more ready to take some tasks that I would have thought impossible before, such as taking a phone call (when you wear hearing aids, taking phone calls would be a huge challenge to understand what the caller may be saying and at the time, the hearing aids were not as advanced as they are today, the whistling would happen if the phone was too close to the hearing aid, which would add further complications). 

At the age of 20, after studying Hospitality Management, I took on a very different path and travelled to London with the hope I would learn English and do my best to find a good job and one that would allow me to continue practicing Aikido. So my visit to London was in 1991.

I began working in a Hotel in Holborn as Waiter, the money was not so great but it was a living accommodation with food included and I had a bedsit and during my breaks I was able to study Aikido with Kanetsuka Sensei who was teaching in Euston into 2 different dojos depending on the days. I was a very keen student but the learning was difficult as Kanetsuka Sensei would often change techniques and so I was unable to study deeply any techniques.

However, one thing that got me was that Kanetsuka was extremely supple and could almost do the full split in the warm up so I decided to work on my stretching (which I have been doing regularly to date) and I could see how much it helped my Aikido and my wellbeing.

Then after 2 years, I decided to take a different direction jobwise and thought I would try and work as Security (Door Supervisor) in night clubs to earn better money and also perhaps naively see how Aikido would work…

Before I could work as Door Supervisor, I had to undertake a training and do a test to get a licence and I found a training centre in West Hampstead Square with a Aikido Instructor (Yoshinkan Aikido) named David Rubens. I did my training course and passed all the tests and I was ready to go and quickly got a job in a night club called ‘Vogue’ in Wardour Street (off Oxford Street) and David asked if I would be interested in joining his class.

David had returned from Japan from being an Uchi Deshi for nearly 5 years with Gozo Shioda Sensei and he was doing an intensive training course to become Instructor and got 4th Dan in 5 years! (I thought this was very quick). I said ok. 

My first class was a shock to me, as he taught the lesson very strictly and I was out of breath and thought I was going to die. I managed to pull through and stayed for around 2 years and earned a brown belt (Yoshinkan use colour belt system).

But during the course of working as Door Supervisor in night clubs during this time, there had been occasions when I had to use Aikido to defend myself and to escort people off the premises, there were times, when I felt the techniques did not work as planned.

There was a time, when I felt in despair and thought Aikido should work but I thought if Aikido did not work properly, it would be because, I had not learnt it properly.

So the love of Aikido was stronger inside me as it helped me to research further (I think if I did not love Aikido, I would have given up then) and went into a book shop and looked at Aikido books and luckily I had found some books about Morihiro Saito Sensei who was explaining that “Aikido must be practiced with Bukiwasa to have a deeper understanding of it and that the Bukiwasa and Taijutsu were working together very solidly”. I felt in my heart that, this is what I had to do.

So I began searching for an Iwama Ryu Aikido club and found originally The London Aikido Club and met Andy Hathaway Sensei back in 1995.

In the later years, I also met Tony Sargeant and became a member of the T.A.A. Tony has been a guide and mentor allowing me to pursue my Aikido dream, which is to teach Iwama Aikido preserving the Art that Saito Sensei taught us and to help others develop their full potential and more.