I began aikido in 1981 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  My first teacher was Rick Stickles, a student of Yamada Sensei.  A friend of mine had told me about Aikido and from the first moment I saw it’s flowing and dance-like movements, I fell in love with it.  I studied with Stickles Sensei, for 2 and ½ years before moving to Berkeley in 1984.  Once in Berkeley, I trained with Bruce Glickstein at the Aikido Institute in Oakland and Lorraine DiAnne in Berkeley.  A few years later I moved to San Francisco and trained with Nadeau Sensei, Doran Sensei and Moon Sensei at Oak Street.   Up until training with Nadeau Sensei and Moon Sensei, all of my aikido training had been about learning technique.  Now, I felt like a whole new dimension of aikido had opened up to me.  After some time, I ended up moving to Marin County and training exclusively with Moon Sensei.  We would train lots and lots of jiya waza and for many years I did not take any aikido tests.  I took a break from aikido for about a year and when I restarted again, I began training with Wendy Palmer Sensei, George Leonard Sensei, and Richard Heckler Sensei at Aikido of Tamalpais where I trained for many years and tested for my second and first kyu.  I married, had a daughter and moved to Petaluma where I trained with Richard Heckler Sensei and where I tested for my Sho-Dan.  I think I spend about 3 years there before moving to Tucson, Arizona where I trained with Judith Robinson, Sensei (a student of Hans Goto Sensei) and tested for my Ni-Dan and San-Dan.

Living in Tucson, I really missed the quality of the aikido I had practiced in the Bay Area.  Nadeau Sensei talks a lot about form and flow.  Having been exposed to flow, I simply couldn’t continue to just train form.  It became clear to me that if I wanted to train and practice the kind of aikido that spoke to my heart, I would need to start my own dojo.  So in the spring of 2006, I left Judith Robinson, Sensei, bought 6 swain mats and began renting space one evening a week at a local yoga studio.  I currently have 4 students and am excited about being able to teach and train both the form and flow of aikido.

My most Memorable Aikido Experience
My most memorable aikido experience was my 1^st Kyu test at Aikido of Tamalpais.  It was demonstrating jiya waza with one attacker.  What was memorable about it for me was that I felt in a state of total oneness with my uke, with myself and with aikido.  I was no longer thinking about what to do – my body was simply responding in the most appropriate way.  What I saw in this moment was the innate wisdom that is in each of us.  That our bodies naturally know how to respond if given the opportunity.  The experience of the innate wisdom of our bodies is what had me name my dojo – “Body Wisdom Aikido”