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Author: Bret Gordon  Anyone who is familiar with me or the American Yoshinkan system knows that my primary instructor is Steven Hatfield, the previous headmaster of the art. However, when it comes to the internal arts he is not my only source of information and that shows in my personal expression. More than one instructor has seen their influence in my work, and it would be dishonest to say everything I do and understand about aiki comes from one person. So in this article, I thought I'd pay tribute to all those that have directly and indirectly helped me grow in my journey of aiki, as well as chronical my time with each of them. 2010-2011 My first introduction to the aiki arts was actually Shodokan Aikido under a gentleman named Steven Mumford. He ran an Aikido class out of my dojo for several months in 2010, and even after his classes had ended we stayed in contact for several years until some philosophical differences ended our relationship. 2012 In May of 2012, I first met Steven Hatfield in person after speaking online for several months. Shortly after, I asked to be his student and my first official class in American Yoshinkan Aiki Jujutsu took place. During the first few years, what I learned from Hatfield sensei was primarily Jujutsu (various joint locks and throws) with the principles of aiki hidden in the teachings. Unlike myself, Hatfield sensei is an extremely private person and believes aiki should only be revealed to the closest students and quite simply, I hadn't earned my place yet. To this day, I look back on those initial training sessions and see the internal principles he was trying to convey, that I was too ignorant to perceive. This quick clip from 2013 shows the type of material I was working on with Hatfield sensei at the time. 2014-2017 Fast forward to 2014, and I thought I understood what Aiki Jujutsu was. Through the internet, I became aware of a gentleman that went by the name Salahuddin Muhammad that taught a system of Aiki Jujutsu I had never heard of, and his techniques were the first I'd seen of someone claiming the art that wasn't simply "rough Aikido." I reached out to him, inviting him to my school should he ever find himself in Florida and by chance, he was actually visiting family about an hour away from me. We made arrangements for me to pick him up, and I brought him out to my school for several days. Over the course of those few days, I realized I knew nothing about aiki. Muhammad sensei remarked that I had clean Jujutsu, but no internals whatsoever. That one statement sent me on a 10-year-long obsession culminating in who I am and what I teach today, so in one way or another I owe it to him. I believe this was around May of 2014, and over the course of the summer I spoke to Muhammad sensei regularly, sending him videos practicing the techniques and principles we went over. He suggested I attend an upcoming seminar hosted by Joe Brogna of the Daito Ryu Ginjukai here in Orlando at a local Aikido school.  Daito Ryu Ginjukai Seminar 9/20/2014 The seminar went well, however in speaking to Howard Popkin after the event I was told that their teacher, Okamoto Seigo, had requested they do not teach Aiki Jujutsu to other Aiki Jujutsu organizations and so, that was my only exposure to their teachings for over 5 years. From 2014 onward, I would continue training with Hatfield sensei multiple times a year through video and in person (we would alternate traveling between Ohio and Florida), and he had finally started to share with me the internal aspects of American Yoshinkan. I had also become friendly with two of Muhammad sensei's students, Cady Goldfeld and Jesse Barnick, who I would often ask for advice and tips. The clip below shows some of my personal practice from that period: And here is one from September 2016... 2017-2022 In 2017, I was invited into a few internal arts Facebook groups through which I became acquainted with Sal Polizzi, a highly skilled Baguazhang instructor who, to this day, hits harder than just about anyone else I've worked with. In October of 2018, I brought him down for a seminar at my school and we worked together a lot, sharing and comparing the internal aspects of our arts. For several months prior, I had been a distance student of Sal's learning his expression of Bagua. Below is my attempt at what he calls the prenatal form. I also brought him with me to Aiki Fest, a seminar I was invited to teach at alongside such notable instructors as Harris Warren, Darel Chase, Lou Stella, and Eric Taylor. He was even gracious enough to uke for me during the event, wanting to feel some of the aiki I was sharing (about 0:58 in the video below). The audio is a little distorted, so for the original clip click here. Hearing him say "Alright that was cool" as he was falling is definitely the highlight of the weekend. Sal and I had some great training, and we would continue to share information for several months. Two weeks prior to Aiki Fest, Hatfield sensei was visiting for one of our regular training sessions and he finally let me share a video of our aiki training for the first time, so that was cool. During this time, I also became acquainted with Bill Dockery, the author of the Aiki Secrets book series. Bill and his partner Joel Copeland are engineers by trade, and so they approached aiki from a deep understanding of physics and broke the principles down in ways that most traditional instructors couldn't. The drills in the books definitely sped up my understanding of stability and how to generate force. Though we spoke online for several years, I wouldn't meet Bill in person until May of 2021 where I would also meet his partner Joel, Chris Parkerson of Yanagi Ryu Aiki Bugei, and Jimmy Alcorn of Black Panther Gong Fu.  May 28, 2021 In 2019, I would reconnect with the Daito Ryu Ginjukai's Orlando Branch under Dimitri Deglas. From February 2019 to May of 2020, I would attend trainings and seminars held there as often as could, averaging twice a month. Because of the similarities of our two arts, Dimitri would often invite me to teach during his classes and events, and I would invite Dimitri out to my school to share with my students as well.  March 7, 2020 To help establish the timeline of my aiki instruction and what techniques I was publicly sharing at the time, here is a clip from February 2019 prior to my starting training with the Ginjukai Orlando Branch. Through Dimitri I would finally meet Howard Popkin in person on two separate occasions, as well as get the opportunity to train with Ikeda Hiroshi during one of his seminars in Orlando.  November 2019 One of the things that Howard focused on in his seminars was fure aiki, that is aiki through the slightest touch. While he certainly helped me refine it, this was something already covered by Hatfield sensei. Here's a clip from August 2018 demonstrating some (albeit rudimentary) fure aiki. My relationship with the Ginjukai ended in May of 2020, though I still consider Dimitri a friend. It was through him I would also meet Ismael Franco of the Daito Ryu Tora Dojo. Izzy taught at my school several times, including at our 2021 Annual Taikai alongside myself, Hatfield sensei, Chris Parkerson, Leon Major of Nindo Ryu, and Tim Wolfe of Kachido Aiki Jujutsu.  August 8, 2021 In January of 2022, two major milestones happened in my life. I got married on January 15th, and two days later my probationary period as Soke of American Yoshinkan was completed. While Hatfield sensei had officially passed the system down to me on January 12, 2020, it was conditional on my performance during the first two years of taking the reins. In celebration of this achievement, Hatfield sensei and I filmed an aiki video together for the very first time. Despite having cross-trained and touched hands with numerous instructors from various lineages, it's clear that Hatfield sensei remains my primary influence in my movement, expression, and understanding of aiki. Throughout all of my adventures, the one thing that has remained constant is how often Hatfield sensei and I get together to train. This is not to say that I have never taught a technique I learned elsewhere as I most certainly have, but American Yoshinkan has distinct characteristics that everything is filtered through and I can count on one hand the number of techniques I have incorporated from outside lineages into my regular training and teaching. That being said, American Yoshinkan is not a stagnant, dead system but one that continues to evolve as I continue to grow and the art it was 10 years ago is not the same art my students are learning today. 2022-Present Day Last Christmas I had the opportunity to meet and work out with Rob Liberti, a long-time student of Dan Harden who many consider to be one of the foremost authorities on the internal arts in the world. Rob and I had spoken for nearly two years prior to meeting. One of the best compliments that I've ever received was actually from Rob, and this was before my current level of refinement where I actually feel like I'm starting to understand aiki.  These days, I am more focused on dropping unnecessary tension in the development of my aiki body rather than simply accumulating numerous techniques. It's said that Daito Ryu (and by extension all aiki arts) have upwards of 3,000 techniques in their syllabus, but when you really break it down there are countless ways to express the principles of aiki. Every single instructor named here has played a role, small or large, in my development and understanding of this elusive ideal. They have all contributed to who I am as an Aiki Jujutsu instructor, and for that I remain eternally grateful. American Yoshinkan, January 5, 2024 When I wrote this article, my goal was to document the technical information and skills I learned throughout my studies, and from whom. However, I realize it is not a complete account of my journey of Aiki Jujutsu without also documenting the ranks I earned along the way. So, in addition to what I have earned from Hatfield sensei directly, these are the ranks I have been awarded in the aiki arts.
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