Koichi Tohei Sensei, 10th Dan, Ki Aikido was one of Dr. Nakamura Tempu’s (The Wind Of Heaven) students as well as the highest ever ranking student of O’Sensei (means Great Teacher). Tohei Sensei studied zen, yoga, misogi, judo and aikido.   Tohei Sensei founded Ki No Kenkyukai, the society for mind and body coordination and received accreditation from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for his work in teaching healing with ki.  He taught it could be done easily by anyone, with the goal of being one with the Universe.  He personally brought aikido to North America.   He also founded the Ki style of aikido which is practiced around the globe.  Tohei Sensei developed the Oneness Rhythm Exercise and many of the ki development exercises we practice in ki aikido today.  www.ki-society.com/english/

Dr. Nakamura Tempu  Sensei (The Wind of Heaven) was the first Japanese Yogi.  In a search for a cure for his own tuberculosis he met Christian and Zen saints, studied medicine in New York at Columbia University, and western psychology in Britain.  When all of this failed to cure him, he entered into an intensive study of yoga in India under the raja yogi Kaliapa.  Upon leaving India at the age of 36, his illness was gone.  He taught to over a million people the skills he learned of coordinating mind, body and spirit, including how to learn directly from the Universe in order that people become personally empowered.  “The truth is within yourself.”  He was a fearless advocate of nonviolence on both personal and political levels.  He was a friend of O’Sensei. www.senninfoundation.com

Kaliapa (Raja Yogi) – Taught Raja (classical) yoga of meditation, breathing exercises and healing arts in the Himalayan mountains.  He taught, “we are one with the Universe, we are therefore imbued with the energy of the Universe (Ki, Chi or Prana) and as a result, we can learn directly from the Universe itself.”

Morihei Ueshiba, O’Sensei, founded the soft, defensive only martial art, Aikido (The art of peace) in 1942.  He taught the unification of technique, body and heart, that Aiki is love, and the Universe is our greatest teacher. Considered by many to be the greatest martial artist and spiritual teacher of the 20th century, O’Sensei’s lessons were not always the same for every student.  His spirituality reflected the teachings of one of his teachers, Onisaburo Deguchi, the founder of Omoto-kyo, a mystical pacifist who emphasized the harmony of all creeds and true equality.  As a result, one finds hints of Shingon Buddhism, Zen meditation, Omoto-kyo, yoga, Shintoism, Toaism and Hinduism within aikido.  O’Sensei pored over sacred texts, and he also valued exoteric science, devouring hundreds of books on mathematics, chemistry and physics.   He encouraged his students to do the same. Aikido, the way of harmonizing energy,  is practiced in every corner of the globe.  His extensive martial arts training consisted of judo, jujutsu and daito ryu aiki jutsu. www.aikikai.or.jp/eng/index.htm