Interview with Barbara Britton,

5th Dan

By Malory Graham, 3rd Dan 

Editor's Note: Barbara Britton is a USAF Shidoin and instructor at New England Aikika and Framingham Aikikaii. She is well known as one of Kanai Sensei's senior students, for her warm and magnetic personality, and her technical skills. She, along with her husband, David Halprin, 6th dan, operate the Framingham dojo, as well as teach at New England Aikikai.

This interview conducted at Framingham, Massachusetts in November 2002, is excerpted from the new video about top-ranking United States Aikido Federation women instructors entitled, "Holding up Half the Sky".

The video includes interviews and demonstrations of ten USAF women instructors and is now available in the Aikido Online Marketplace. For more information contact Malory Graham, Instructor at Puget Sound Aikikai in Seattle, WA at: MaloryGraham@hotmail.com.

This interview was edited for Aikido Online. Photos courtesy Framingham Aikikai and Dan Gauger.

How did you first hear about Aikido?

In graduate school I read George Leonard's "Education and Ecstasy" and he talked about Aikido. It sounded very intriguing. And then I moved to Boston and looked in the phone book, and came into Kanai Sensei's dojo. I felt that was the luckiest thing that has happened to me in my life.

When did you begin to formally practice Aikido?

I started practicing in 1978 and it's coming up on 25 years now. When I first walked into the dojo I didn't really know that I'd be doing it this long, but I loved it. I loved the way it looked. But it was such a struggle for me when I first started. It was very difficult. I had trouble learning how to roll -- which hand was grabbing which hand -- which foot was forward. One of my teachers used to say to me, "Put your other left foot forward." And so, it was very difficult in the beginning but I think it was part of what kept me going -- the struggle.

Who were your teachers and what influence have they had on you personally?

I feel very lucky to have had Kanai Sensei as a teacher. He was pretty removed as a teacher. Walking around he was very quiet and seemed kind of gruff. So it took me a few years to realize that he was such a gentle soul. He was very gentle and yet when you where on the mat you knew that he treated you like an equal. I feel, as a woman, that he threw us, the women, as hard as the men. When I took ukemi from Kanai Sensei I felt like I learned the technique better -- better than even watching because I could feel exactly what he was doing to my body. I enjoy taking ukemi more than throwing. It's such a great feeling to be flying through the air. And I think particularly in Kanai Sensei's dojo there's a huge emphasis on flying through the air. He was also always changing. His Aikido was not a static thing. We'd come along and there would be a new technique that we'd never seen before. So it was very inspiring.

What was it like training in the early years of New England Aikikai?

When I started at New England Aikikai it was located in Central Square of Cambridge and there were quite a few students -- maybe 100-120 or so. Over the 25 years I've been training there has always been a good amount of women. But about two years into my practice the dojo had to move to a new space. We lost the space in Central Square and moved to Porter Square, on the other side of Cambridge. The new building was under construction so actually the place where the dojo is now, on the second floor, wasn't even built. So we practiced in the basement of that building. There was dirt dug up all around us with really huge holes next to the mat. Sometimes when you were rolling you were afraid you were going to roll off the mat into the dirt holes! So, we were really a part of getting the second floor built and that was a wonderful process -- to be part of building it -- and that first night of practice was magical.

When did you first begin to have teaching duties and what was that like?

I got my black belt in the summer of 1984 at the USAF East Coast Summer Camp and started teaching pretty quickly after that. Probably within six months to a year. I would teach the morning class and often times I was the only woman there. Even though we had a lot of women in the dojo they were often not there in the mornings. So, usually about seven people were there and they were all men. It was a little frightening at times. I found that when I was teaching a class of all men that everybody was very respectful. I think that the conflict is more within me. I've never experienced anybody challenging me or being disrespectful in any way but I think that my own mind is playing tricks on me at times saying things like, "What do these guys really think about me?" I don't really like teaching, because I don't like having the spotlight on me and I don't like having everyone looking at me. But I do think that it is good for me. I think that I've learned a lot. You really see how little you know when you teach. And the next time you see a technique demonstrated by somebody else you watch much more carefully and can have an understanding in a new way.

How has your training and teaching changed over time?

When I started, I was training full time and was at the dojo every night and that was wonderful. Then I got married and had children and it was very difficult for me to not be able to train all of the time and not be able to do all of the seminars. So now, I've actually cut down to a part time practice, three days a week, and I find it perfect for me right now. And my husband, David Halprin, opened this dojo, Framingham Aikikai, about four years ago and I enjoy teaching the beginner's classes out here because I feel comfortable teaching beginners.

Have you even had to use your Aikido in daily life or on the street?

Twice in my life I've used Aikido out in the real world. The first time was early on in my career as a therapist. I was working in a teen program where a teenager was getting in a fight with the secretary. So, I wasn't actually getting attacked but I escorted the teen out with sankyo and found it very effective.

The other time was more recently with a client who was mentally retarded and schizophrenic. He started hugging me and it was getting harder and harder and began to hurt. I automatically picked him up and walking him out the door. It kind of scared me that I did it without thinking. I then asked him to stop doing that because I was afraid I might hurt him in the future because it happened so naturally.

What are some issues that you think women practitioners face in Aikido?

I do think that for women it is more difficult for them to keep going in Aikido. Because a lot of times we come across men who are stronger who have been training for even less time than we have and we feel discouraged because they are stronger and they can stop us. But I think that that is a challenge for both the men and the women. I think women have the grace in the movement and men have the strength. The women need to develop strength and the men need to develop their grace.

Also, I feel it's so hard to determine who is going to stick with Aikido and who is not going to. I feel like it is such a personal choice and I know some instructors feel it is almost an insult when people stop. But I don't -- I feel like there are so many things going on in peoples' lives that there are various reasons why they stop and I never feel like it is because they don't like Aikido. I think a lot of people do like Aikido and stop anyway.

What has kept you practicing all of these years?

I'm still interested in going to Aikido every night because of the challenge -- the physical challenge of it. I especially like to work out aerobically very hard. So at the end of class I like to be pouring sweat and totally exhausted and then I feel that that's a good day. I have some great people to work out with. Some are men and some are women and we do that for each other. We push each other to that brink and it is such a high, really.