Instructors

Michael Farris, Head Instructor

Godan, Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido | Joden, Shin Shin Toitsu Do
Associate Ki Lecturer & Associate Examiner, Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido Kai

I discovered Aikido in the mid-1960s through an article in Black Belt Magazine and a book entitled Zen Combat. For a skinny high-school kid with no dojo within reach, the promise of power regardless of size and strength was captivating — so I tried to learn from books. That did not go well.

In the mid-70s, I practiced at the University of Texas for several months before life intervened: a new family, a new job, a new city. When I returned to Austin in 1987, I finally found the conditions for a consistent and sustainable practice. For nearly four decades since, I have trained and taught aikido at Austin Ki-Aikido.

For me, aikido has become a framework for the ethical and equanimous engagement with the world’s pushes and pulls — on and off the mat.

Lauren Crane, Senior Instructor

Sandan, Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido | Shoden, Shin Shin Toitsu Do

My first Aikido class came at a friend’s invitation in 1979, at the Karl Geiss Tomiki Aikido school in Houston. I hadn’t been particularly physically confident as a teenager, but Tomiki’s emphasis on structure and body mechanics opened something in me. I earned my Shodan in 1981.

After transferring to UT Austin to finish an engineering degree, I found a new aikido home in 1986 at the Austin Ki Aikido Center — starting again as a white belt and taking on the role of uchi-deshi. It was my first encounter with a practice centered less on physical mechanics and more on mind-body coordination. I received my Ki-Aikido Shodan in 1992, and when the dojo’s lead instructor departed around 1988, I worked with a small group of senior students to keep the dojo alive.

Life pulled me away again in 1994 — marriage, a child, relocation — and a long period of wandering followed. I studied Tang Soo Do for a few years alongside my daughter, returned to the dojo in the mid-2000s to earn my Nidan, and later trained from white belt again in Iwama Aikido. I came back to Austin Ki-Aikido mid-pandemic and have been here since.

I’ve spent considerable time in Japan over the years — through my career in the semiconductor industry and personal travel — and carry a deep interest in Japanese language and culture. My focus now is finding fresh expression within traditional Ki Aikido principles: playful, grounded, and oriented toward genuine physical competence in a martial context.