(editors note: This article was orginally published on Aikido Online in February 2000. Berthiaume Sensei is now 7th Dan, Shihan)
By Louise Jalbert, 4th Dan - Aikido de la Montagne
Translated by J.R. David, 1st Dan - Aikido de la Montagne (Montreal, Canada)
For my teacher Claude Berthiaume, 6th Dan, chief instructor of Aikido de la Montagne, Aikido is an art to be practiced for an entire lifetime!
Claude has been studying Aikido for more than 28 years. He started training in Montreal in 1971 at the age of 17. He has been following the teachings of Yamada Sensei of New York Aikikai and Kanai Sensei of New England Aikikai for many years, traveling to seminars and camps with them all over the world.
"Attending a seminar", he says, "makes us discover new ways to practice. By traveling, we meet new partners and see whether our way of practicing is good or not. It allows us to adjust our techniques, observe others, question ourselves, search, discover our weak points and be able to correct them. Practicing requires effort but it's a nice effort and it never ends."
In the period from 1983 to 1998, he has attended on average 20 seminars a year in America and Europe.
"For the practice, a seminar is stimulating and allows people to train with others of their own level. Myself, I come back cheered up from a seminar.. When we teach a lot and never go out, it's hard to keep up one's enthusiasm and one's level of competence. If we stayed isolated for 10 years, we'd notice that things have changed a great deal in the Aikido world. So, it's a way to keep a high quality in Aikido teaching."
Seminars can benefit the whole dojo as Claude explains.
"I also go for my students, because of my role as their instructor. If people like the way we practice in our dojo, one of the most important reasons is that I myself stay sharp so I can maintain that type of rigorous teaching. What's more, practicing around senior instructors (Shihan) is a continual source of inspiration."
Claude also teaches numerous seminars at other dojos. "If I can help someone, I like to do it because I have been helped too and have received a lot from other instructors. However, if people invite me to teach a seminar it's not always because they need my knowledge. It also can be just for a change, to see something different, even if they have very good instructors."
Claude is also a physical education teacher. His professional teaching skills are greatly appreciated and renowned by both his school students and Aikidoka everywhere. His popularity may also be attributed to his charismatic personality and natural energy. Claude has been a unique force in the Aikido world and is one of the most highly respected Shidoin in the USAF. For him, Aikido is a way of life. Practice as well as teaching is integrated in his daily life and this integration is without a doubt the secret of his success.
"They say we must remain beginners inside," he says. "We must keep this innocence and ability to wonder. We must also love Aikido and practice seriously."
According to Claude Aikido can be looked at as an art in evolution. "Aikido is an art in constant evolution", he says, "and the important things when practicing it are to keep an open mind and to keep wanting to learn." Claude observes, "Nowadays, techniques appear more refined than they used to be and beginning young people have a faster and more precise understanding of the details than when we started. I'm thinking especially of ukemi (the way to take falls), where there has been much evolution. As a result, beginners master it more quickly."
Since he started practicing Aikido, he has been on the mat six days a week, every week. "If I don't train for a few days, he says, I feel funny, uncomfortable".
"Over the years," he confides, "I’ve gotten to know a lot of people in Aikido so well that I feel like they are my family." Partners are important in the practice of Aikido and in time close friendships develop. "With a common history," he explains, "of course we have more intimate ties. In the beginning, there is always competition but we get to know each other. We gauge each other, we play, we want to find out who we are. I'm thinking, for example, of the first time I met Peter Bernath. We wailed on one another quite a bit! Then one day, we find each other sitting on the mat side by side, watching our students do their black belt exams."
To Claude, social relations surrounding the practice are important. "But there is no obligation," he adds, "it has to come naturally, without forcing people. In Aikido we can't force things either." "Above all," he adds, "I think Aikido teaches to respect others and respect us. We must acknowledge our limits, our weaknesses and also use all our capacities. That's what allows us to live in harmony. But it's not something we can achieve all at once; we work on it every day. And so, we and Aikido will continue to evolve."
For him, continuity is secured with the "next" generation through a good spirit during practice and friendly relations off the mat.
Claude holds the rank of 5th Dan in Iaido (the art of drawing the sword). He has been practicing this art for 19 years, in parallel with Aikido his Aikido training. "It isn't mandatory", he explains, "but it can help your understanding of Aikido. It's good for posture, concentration and it's fun to do", he adds. He has learned this art mostly with Kanai Sensei, who is an authentic swordsman. Nearly twenty years ago, he started practicing alone, later with two or three students. Today he teaches Iaido in his dojo to about fifteen regular students and organizes seminars at the dojo to be given by Kanai Sensei.
Passionate about his Aikido, Claude sees the future as a continuation of the past: "I think about Osawa Sensei, the father (now passed away), he recounts, when he came to summer camp in Rhode Island. He was about 77 years old at the time. Yamada Sensei would pick advanced students to attack him for demonstrations during class. I was among them. I was saying to myself 'He's an older man, I will be nice to him, I will have to be careful when I attack him.'"
"Then, when my turn came, I was still about 20 feet from him and he just looked at me. I felt like I was naked! Just his look impressed me. I was intimidated and I especially noticed that he didn't need me to be careful with him. Seeing him so at ease impressed me. I told myself I would like to become like that. That's what I would like to be able to do at an older age. And I say this without pretension. Even if I never attain the level of such a master, I still want to try," he concludes. So for this Aikidoist, there is no retirement in sight.