Saturday, December 7 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Journey to the Heart of Aikido presents the teachings of Motomichi Anno Sensei, one of the few remaining direct students of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. After a lifetime of practice and teaching in Japan, the United States, and Europe, Anno Sensei conveys through his teachings Aikido’s essential spirit of love, harmony, gratitude, and purification with simple authenticity and eloquence. Author and translator Linda Holiday–herself a senior instructor of Aikido–brings to life the intimacy of this communication through translated discourses on the deep practice of Aikido and candid dialogues between Anno Sensei and Western students.

Journey to the Heart of Aikido includes Linda Holiday’s vivid account of her adventure as a young woman studying Aikido in the mystical region of Kumano, Japan, in the 1970s, and a poignant telling of Anno Sensei’s life and his first-hand experience of training with Aikido’s founder. An essential resource for the global Aikido community, Journey to the Heart of Aikido also offers spiritual teachings relevant to all contemporary seekers, touching a wide range of themes such as the meaning of martial arts, the integration of body and spirit, the truth of interconnectedness, and the practice of peace, offering all readers insight into the profound spiritual questions at the heart of life.

Linda Holiday is a senior American Aikido teacher who began her practice of Aikido  in California over forty years ago, in 1970. In 1973 she moved to Japan for several years to receive instruction from the generation of Japanese Aikido teachers who had studied directly with the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. Linda was one of the first Westerners to live in the remote Kumano area of Japan and undertake rigorous physical and spiritual practice at the Kumano Juku Dojo. Linda’s book provides extensive translations of his wise and compassionate teachings, accessible in English for the first time.