Irina Bondarev Biography

Irina started her Aikido journey after enrolling her young son at a club in Calgary. Watching him practice made her want to try Aikido for herself.

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After about six years of training in Aikido (Aikikai style), Irina started realizing and intuitively feeling that the teaching method of the Aikido Aikikai lineage was based on purely body mechanics and mere physicality.

 

By chance Irina stumbled on Ki Aikido (Aikido with on Mind and Body Unification based on Ki principles). After starting training in Ki Aikido, Irina immediately became enchanted with it, as she found a deep spiritual practice that she had been looking for most of her life. From that day, she never looked back.

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Irina has found in Ki Aikido an art and a discipline of life that would teach her how to cultivate functional (positive) relaxation and living calmness both on and off the mat and, also how to embody the principles of non-dissension and harmony in daily life. That would resonate with her lifestyle and her occupation as a Craniosacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation and Myofascial Release therapist.

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In the past several years, Irina has traveled many times to Glasgow, UK to attend classes and courses/seminars taught by high-ranking Scottish teachers who would teach her the true essence and subtleties of the art of Ki Aikido.

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Since September 2018, Irina has been running a club in Calgary, Canada where she enjoys the company of like-minded students who seek the art of Ki Aikido as a true spiritual training that enhances and deepens the positive aspects of their daily lives.

 

On October 26, 2024, Irina got 1st dan grading in Glasgow, UK from Sensei Edward Dunne, 7th dan Chief Instructor of the Aikido UK organization.

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Last but not least, Irina is truly grateful for the many private classes she would get from Sensei Edward Dunne and Sensei Richard Firestone during her trips to Glasgow.