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Greg O’Connor Sensei is an internationally known Aikido teacher and author as well as one of the first full-time professional Aikido teachers in the U.S., devoting all his efforts to the instruction and advancement of Aikido.

He is the author of the internationally acclaimed The Aikido Student Handbook and The Elements of Aikido and is widely recognized for his open approach to, and acceptance of, all Aikido styles and methods.

O’Connor Sensei has a well-earned reputation for his attention to technical detail and his ability to teach Aikido’s full range of soft through severe application, as well as for his abilities with Aikido’s weapons.

O’Connor Sensei teaches what he describes as “the full spectrum” of Aikido—it’s full range—from personal growth aspects to global ethics; and from gentle compliance techniques through personal protection and combative capabilities—while at the same time stressing Aikido’s ethical philosophy.

O’Connor Sensei’s diversified background includes karate, iaido, kyudo and ikebana, wrestling, grappling, extensive backpacking, climbing and the study of mind expansion. He is an accomplished artist, cartoonist and graphic designer as well as a certified massage therapist and master gardener.

O’Connor Sensei is accredited by the State of New Jersey Police Training Commission as a Defensive Tactics Instructor, a recognition rarely granted to civilians, and in that capacity actively leads and conducts Defensive Tactics training for law enforcement professionals throughout the state. He is also a S.O.R.A. Certified Security Officer with the State of New Jersey (Security Officer Registration Act). Additionally, over the past several decades he has instructed all levels and types of security & law enforcement officers, police, and security personnel including Municipal & County Police Officers, NJ State Police, NJ State Corrections Officers, Parole Officers, as well as Military Personnel, Dept. of Homeland Security, Diplomatic Security, U.S. Marshals and U.S. Secret Service Agents. In Sensei’s defensive tactics classes, he stresses Aikido’s uniquely applicable approach as the desired method for law enforcement officers of protection, hand-to-hand self-defense and weapons disarming—all of which are highly desirable and applicable to modern civility and evolving legalities.

O’Connor Sensei continues to be recognized as one of Aikido’s most creative pioneers—bringing Aikido principles and techniques into an ever-widening range of venue and application.

O’Connor Sensei rarely makes it to the West Coast. We are extremely lucky to have him visit Aikido’Ka!

Daniel Lance Sensei, 5th Dan, is a wonderful teacher, a terrific person. Off the mat, he uses aikido principles to teach and rehabilitate rebellious, violent teenagers and guide them away from a life of crime and delinquency.  Daniel Sensei is also a very smart man, with PhDs in Philosophy and Literature, careers in academia, consulting, business, and the media. Daniel Sensei is also filmmaker, having directed and produced a wide range of interview-based documentaries. Daniel Sensei is a successful, published author. He has written a novel in which aikido has a central part! Daniel Sensei is regularly requested as a speaker at a variety of seminars, conferences and classes around the world, notably at Stanford University. Daniel Sensei began Aikido in 1988 at the Aikido Institute, California. Back in France, where he lives, Daniel Sensei studies with Christian Tissier Shihan. His other major influences are Senseis Micheline Tissier, Frank Doran, Robert Nadeau, Hiroshi Ikeda and Francis Takahashi. Daniel Sensei is an extraordinary person, who you will be thrilled to have met and trained with. Living in Paris, he gets the opportunity to teach aikido in California very rarely. This will be, of course, his first visit to Aikido’Ka.

As I said, we are in for a real treat.