Aikido: The Art of Transformation

Firsthand accounts of the life, practice, and teachings of pioneering Aikido master Robert Nadeau, direct disciple of Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba Explores Nadeau’s personal journey and pioneering role in the spread of Aikido, including firsthand accounts and historical photographs published for the first time Explains Nadeau’s unique teaching, his core concepts, and basic practices centered on energy refinement, direct experience and inner transformation Presents inspiring personal stories about Nadeau contributed by students, including Dan Millman, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Peter Ralston, and Renee Gregorio A widely influential figure in the development of Aikido in America, Robert Nadeau is known as one of the few American direct disciples of Aikido’s founder Morihei Ueshiba Osensei. Now an 8th dan Aikido master teacher, Nadeau has taught generations of students, and several have become prominent teachers in their own right. However, he has never written about his life or philosophy, always reserving his most pointed lessons for those who practice with him in person. This book tells the story of Robert Nadeau’s life journey and his distinctive approach to teaching Aikido as a way to access the inner energetic aspects of the art, a transformational approach with universal applications in daily life, even for non-Aikidoists. The authors explore Nadeau’s early interest in martial arts and all things spiritual as a teenager in California in the 1950s, his seminal training under Morihei Ueshiba at Aikido Hombu Dojo in Tokyo in the 1960s, and the following six decades of training, experimenting, refining and teaching as he worked to introduce Aikido to the wider world, even beyond the traditional dojo. They layout Nadeau’s core concepts, describe his simple-but-effective practices for personal development, and convey his time-tested approach to the inner training at the heart of Aikido in a very accessible way. They also include first-person accounts from Nadeau’s students, including Dan Millman, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Peter Ralston, and Renee Gregorio, who recall their personal experiences of training with him, retell conversations with him, and describe insights and lessons learned, sharing how he affected their lives, sometimes quite profoundly. Bringing the story of Robert Nadeau’s life into focus, this book presents, for the first time, the profound lessons and deep impact of a pioneering teacher who’s been central to the spread of Aikido in the West.