Denis Burke

"To defeat violence itself, in any of it's forms, we must first defeat it within ourselves. We cannot do his without an effective alternative, and a path of training and practice to embody it. Aikido Yuishinkai is a path of abundant peace, positive relaxation and personal development. It is a practice of manifested philosophy: we constantly test our thoughts and actions through the results we manifest. Aikido Yuishinkai offers all these things, and that is why, after more than 30 years of studying Aikido, I still practice and teach it."

Denis Burke Sensei was introduced to Aikido in 1979 during Summer School with Koichi Tohei Sensei.  He met Maruyama Sensei for the first time the following year. Initially training in west London, he founded the Brixton Ki Club and later moved to Somerset to serve as full-time Assistant or Uchi Deshi under Sensei K. Williams, becoming a professional Headquarters Teacher.    He founded numerous other clubs including Salisbury Ki Club and returned to teach in London after being asked to take over the full-time Brentford Dojo he had helped Neil O’Dwyer Sensei set up years before. In 1991 he set up l'Association Française de Ki Aïkido in Paris where he served for two years as KFGB Representative while also fulfilling his duties in England as teacher and Grading Officer.  In the year 2000 he resigned from the Ki Federation of Great Britain and embarked on a period of exploration into new approaches and a return to the origins of Aikido, founding Isshinkai the same year.
Visits to America, where he found inspiration meeting John Smartt Sensei of New School Aikido, and to Japan, where, thanks to John Smartt Sensei, he was fortunate to meet Hikitsuchi Sensei, left a profound impression.
Having particularly enjoyed Maruyama Sensei's teaching during the early eighties, and having heard that Master Maruyama had entered a Zen Monastery in 1991, Burke Sensei periodically searched the internet for news of him.  In 2003 he learned that Master Maruyama had established Aikido Yuishinkai and that a World Tour was being organised for 2004.  He made contact with Michael Williams Sensei, Chief Instructor of Aikido Yuishinkai International, and subsequently hosted the UK leg of the tour, joining Aikido Yuishinkai during Master Maruyama's visit.  He now hosts his annual UK visits.

As a senior professional Aikido Teacher, apart from teaching seminars and classes, and leading Isshinkai, Burke Sensei works with companies, executives, elite sports teams and athletes.  He is married with an adult son and daughter .