In the spring of 1974 I was attending the University of California at Berkeley when a friend excitedly told me about the Aikido dojo in our neighborhood. After seeing Aikido I was intrigued by it's philosophy and physical movements so I began immediately at the Aikido Institute of Oakland, California, first with Alan Grow and then with Bruce Klickstein. In the fall of 1974, I saw Morihiro Saito Sensei teach at the Aikido Institute. The following spring, Bruce Klickstein, myself, and 3 other students made a month sojourn to Iwama, Japan, to study with Saito Sensei. He welcomed us with a kindness and compassion that I would never forget.

Five years later, in 1980, I moved to Iwama, where for the next 3 and a half years I studied with Saito Sensei. The year before my return to the U.S. in 1985, I made a brief trip to China to study acupuncture. I moved to San Diego to continue my study of acupuncture. I was welcomed by Wes Leavens whom I had met while in Iwama, Japan and who at that time was the dojo-cho of Sunset Cliffs Aikido. After his departure from the dojo in 1987, I took over the teaching duties and became dojo-cho in 1990.

Sunset Cliffs Aikido conducts classes daily - 19 classes a week. Our adult membership is about 100 students. We focus on weapons training as a fundamental part of Aikido. From day one, students learn weapons techniques with tai jitsu as an integrated study. We also have a live-in student program that has been enjoyed by students throughout the world.

My most Memorable Aikido Experience
My most memorable times in Aikido have been and continue to be those with my
teacher, Morihiro Saito Sensei and the life long friends I have met along the "way". Another kind of memorable moment was in 1996 when I took a 9-day course called Avatar. The training returns one to being Source and creating what they want and discreating the limitations that hold them back in life. What I received from the course changed the way I was, changed the way I viewed the world and changed the way I viewed Aikido. It was the missing link of the "spirit" in the integration of "body, mind, spirit" part of Aikido. Shortly after doing this course I was invited to give an Aikido seminar in Venezuela. I could feel my teaching had changed. I was in a state of amazement at my altered viewpoint of compassion and feeling. I felt the change through my whole body. I saw students in a new light each with their own separate glow. It was as if I was helping their glow become brighter by guiding them but not getting in their way.