Christopher Hein
Christopher Hein has been studying martial arts full time since 1998. As a child he had an intense interest in the martial arts, but never seriously trained until meeting Sensei Patrick Cassidy in 1998. Patrick Cassidy was the head instructor at Aikido of Fresno. Cassidy sensei trained as both Uchi-deshi and soto-deshi under the late Morihiro Saito Sensei in Iwama Japan.
Under Cassidy Sensei Christopher studied solid Iwama Aikido Basics and weapons, Ki no nagare waza, Jiyu Waza, and benefited greatly from Cassidy sensei's enquires into self, and the human experience. Christopher lived at Aikido of Fresno as uchi-deshi (live in student), receiving his shodan (first degree black belt) in April of 2001. During his time at Aikido of Fresno he was also an assistant instructor for both children's and adult classes.
In 2002 he moved to Southern California to train with internal martial arts expert Tim Cartmell. Tim Cartmell studied Chinese internal martial arts in Taiwan for 12 years. This included Bagua zhang, Xing Yi Quan, Tai Ji Quan, and Yi Quan among others. In 1994 Mr. Cartmell returned to the united states and began studying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Cleber Luciano, earning his black belt in 2003. Mr. Cartmell is also the author of many books on the martial arts.
With Mr. Cartmell, Christopher studied Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Xing Yi, and Mr. Cartmell's personal mixed martial art style of Shen Wu. Beyond learning much about internal power and body use, Christopher also learned how to spar and train using live resistance. This was very eye opening for him, and planted the seed allowing him to begin working with Aikido and live resistance, something practiced by few in the Aikido community
During his time in Southern California he also became great friends with Meynard Ancheta. Ancheta took Christopher to a Dog Brothers "meeting of the pack" where he had the opportunity to fight full contact using a Jo (short staff) with a full fledged Dog Brother. This experience Changed Christopher's understanding of Aikido as a martial art, and took his training in a totally new direction. Mr. Hein is still one of the few (if not only) Aikido practitioners in modern times to fight full contact using a live traditional Aiki weapon.
From his tournament fighting experiences in: Brazilian Jiu Jutsu, Mixed Martial arts, Submission wrestling, and most notably with the Dog Brothers, Christopher made up his mind to move back to Fresno and begin working on Aikido using live resistance.
Shortly after this, he partnered up with Michael Varin (also a former student of Cassidy Sensei) to form "Central Valley Aikido". Central Valley Aikido is co-operated by Mr. Hein and Mr. Varin. Each having a strong dedication to learning and teaching Aikido through live training methods. Christopher Hein teaches traditional Aikido kata with a firm belief in testability and practicality. Drilling and sparring are a regular part of every class.
All of this attention to technical ability, and practical application has not taken away from Christopher's desire to study and train in Aikido as a spiritual practice. His belief is that spirituality is the normal part of life, that makes life extraordinary. If one has the courage to walk this spiritual path their life will be enriched beyond words.
Michael Varin
I began my training in aikido in January of 2000 with Patrick Cassidy Sensei (6th dan, Aikido Montreux, Switzerland ). Little did I know at the time that this would be the start of my second life. Instantly attracted to the art, I dove head first into training attending class twice daily. It came to the point where I was structuring the rest of my life around the dojo's schedule. I continued this way for the first year of my training, until Cassidy asked me to become an uchi deshi (live in student), which was the most logical next step. My stint as uchi deshi lasted for a year culminating in my shodan (1st degree black belt) examination.
The training under Cassidy was a seamless mix of precise technical execution and awareness of relationship and energy flow. The former reflecting his background in Iwama style aikido, which he studied under the late Morihiro Saito Sensei for 7 years while living in Japan , and the latter reflecting his ideas regarding the true nature of aikido.
Aikido can be a moving meditation, a brutal look within oneself, but only when it is undertaken as a serious martial training. If it is practiced as an empty shell, all you will do is waste time.
My aim is to explore the deeper meanings of aiki, the true nature of all things, and the inherently contained freedom in letting go of control. The unifying theme for me is pushing the limits of freedom of the human spirit.
In addition to aikido, I have trained in karate, kickboxing, judo, and Brazilian jiu jitsu. I have been teaching aikido since 2002.