California Sangen Kai Aug. 3-4
Seminar Fundraiser for Dan Harden
Since our teacher, mentor and friend Dan Harden is still in recovery and unable to hold a 15th anniversary celebration of his first public seminar back in August 2009, We are organizing another fundraiser seminar on August 3-4, 2024 with Raymond Cheung, Chris Lester and myself Bernard Langan.
Dave Lewin and Simona Balan have generously offered to host the seminar at their dojo, the Aikido Institute - located at
5515 Doyle Street,
Unit 2, Emeryville,
CA 94608.
We're planning to have Dan appear again via Zoom on Saturday morning.
The seminar fundraiser will be from 10 am - 6 pm with a lunch break.
Please fill out the following google form to register and let us know you will be attending: https://forms.gle/86sXrkRwBHb1peBB6
The cost of attendance is $100/day.
You can come one day or join us for both days.
Please send your payment directly to Dan's PayPal account at: [email protected]
with the subject heading of
"California August 2024 Seminar Fundraiser"
You can also pay with cash at the door.
Dave Lewin and Simona Balan have generously offered to host the seminar at their dojo, the Aikido Institute - located at
5515 Doyle Street,
Unit 2, Emeryville,
CA 94608.
We're planning to have Dan appear again via Zoom on Saturday morning.
The seminar fundraiser will be from 10 am - 6 pm with a lunch break.
Please fill out the following google form to register and let us know you will be attending: https://forms.gle/86sXrkRwBHb1peBB6
The cost of attendance is $100/day.
You can come one day or join us for both days.
Please send your payment directly to Dan's PayPal account at: [email protected]
with the subject heading of
"California August 2024 Seminar Fundraiser"
You can also pay with cash at the door.
As in with our fundraiser seminars last year Ray, Chris and Bernie will focus on the Sangen Kai exercises we have used to incorporate this training into our respective practices, including some of the exercises Dan focused on in his earlier seminars. The following is a summary of our individual backgrounds:
Chris Lester:
I try to do justice to the people who have been my teachers, although I can't say that I am not a disappointing or frustrating student .. from learning Taekwondo from a nearly blind street fighter as a child, to the Japanese arts most of us are familiar with - William Grey (Aikido), and Howard Popkin (Daitryo) through present day with Yang Jun (Yang family Taijiquan) and Dan Harden (Sinanju <g>). My arts at this point are an expression of the once deeply held knowledge Dan has gifted to me and many others over the past decade (and the skills I have earned) into the various shapes my previous teachers transmitted to me. I view a martial art now as just an expression into familiar shapes of your intent. This is why each person's art is their own and no one else's. I find martial arts fascinating, weapons even more so, and also a source of lifelong friendships.
Ray Cheung:
Starting with boxing at the local YMCA and then wrestling in junior high school, I didn't began studying Asian martial arts until 1976 with a kung fu (Choy Lee Fut) instructor who focused more on kickboxing than forms and drove my buddies and me to fight in local tournaments (think Cobra Kai ). I also studied fencing (foil and epee) with an old school maestro and also practiced kendo and other concussion-inducing competitive sports. Starting in college, I added hapkido, judo and a smattering of sambo to my grappling practice. I'm also a member of a koryu and a traditional Chinese martial arts system. I've been associated with the University of California Berkeley Martial Arts Program since the 1980's and have taught and continue to teach at various iterations of its hapkido, and now yongmudo program since the 1990's. I had the privilege of attending Dan's first public seminar in 2009, and have completed both of his San Gen Kai Teachers Certification seminars.
Bernard Langan:
Bernard has studied martial and restorative arts intensively for over 40 years and is an internationally respected instructor and practitioner of I Liq Chuan, Ba Gua, Hsing-I, Chen Pan Ling style Tai Chi, White Crane, Pentjak Silat, Eskrima, Taoist Nei Gung and Chi Gung. He is a specialist in the fields of Bodywork, Bio-mechanics and Movement Education that triggers neurophysiological responses which heighten awareness and perception in order to speed the learning process. He has done extensive cross-discipline research in martial, meditative, healing and movement systems, and can clearly articulate the synthesis of this knowledge and impart these skills to his students. He has a thriving full time clinical practice and teaching studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. He met Dan Harden in 2013 and since then has been actively engaged with the San Gen Kai material. In 2019 Dan asked Bernard, Paul Caird, Jane Fairmond and Zoe Harden to co-teach with him at the San Gen Kai 10th Anniversary Retreat in Berkshires MA. He also co-taught with Dan at his home dojo in Spencer MA in October of 2021.
Chris Lester:
I try to do justice to the people who have been my teachers, although I can't say that I am not a disappointing or frustrating student .. from learning Taekwondo from a nearly blind street fighter as a child, to the Japanese arts most of us are familiar with - William Grey (Aikido), and Howard Popkin (Daitryo) through present day with Yang Jun (Yang family Taijiquan) and Dan Harden (Sinanju <g>). My arts at this point are an expression of the once deeply held knowledge Dan has gifted to me and many others over the past decade (and the skills I have earned) into the various shapes my previous teachers transmitted to me. I view a martial art now as just an expression into familiar shapes of your intent. This is why each person's art is their own and no one else's. I find martial arts fascinating, weapons even more so, and also a source of lifelong friendships.
Ray Cheung:
Starting with boxing at the local YMCA and then wrestling in junior high school, I didn't began studying Asian martial arts until 1976 with a kung fu (Choy Lee Fut) instructor who focused more on kickboxing than forms and drove my buddies and me to fight in local tournaments (think Cobra Kai ). I also studied fencing (foil and epee) with an old school maestro and also practiced kendo and other concussion-inducing competitive sports. Starting in college, I added hapkido, judo and a smattering of sambo to my grappling practice. I'm also a member of a koryu and a traditional Chinese martial arts system. I've been associated with the University of California Berkeley Martial Arts Program since the 1980's and have taught and continue to teach at various iterations of its hapkido, and now yongmudo program since the 1990's. I had the privilege of attending Dan's first public seminar in 2009, and have completed both of his San Gen Kai Teachers Certification seminars.
Bernard Langan:
Bernard has studied martial and restorative arts intensively for over 40 years and is an internationally respected instructor and practitioner of I Liq Chuan, Ba Gua, Hsing-I, Chen Pan Ling style Tai Chi, White Crane, Pentjak Silat, Eskrima, Taoist Nei Gung and Chi Gung. He is a specialist in the fields of Bodywork, Bio-mechanics and Movement Education that triggers neurophysiological responses which heighten awareness and perception in order to speed the learning process. He has done extensive cross-discipline research in martial, meditative, healing and movement systems, and can clearly articulate the synthesis of this knowledge and impart these skills to his students. He has a thriving full time clinical practice and teaching studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. He met Dan Harden in 2013 and since then has been actively engaged with the San Gen Kai material. In 2019 Dan asked Bernard, Paul Caird, Jane Fairmond and Zoe Harden to co-teach with him at the San Gen Kai 10th Anniversary Retreat in Berkshires MA. He also co-taught with Dan at his home dojo in Spencer MA in October of 2021.
