John Peng

John Peng began his study of martial arts in 1990 at UCLA and has trained in a variety of "striking" arts including Kenpo, Tae Kwon Do, and Wing Chun Kung Fu. In 1995, after seeing kotegaeshi in his first Aikido class, he knew intuitively that Aikido was the path that he was seeking.

John begain his Aikido training in Albany, NY, in February 1995, in Nihon Goshin Aikido until 1996, then at Albany Aikikai (USAF) until 1997. He moved to Seattle in June 1997 and continued his Aikido training at the Seattle School of Aikido (SSA) where he received the rank of shodan (1st degree black belt) in November of 2002.  He has been training and teaching at SSA regularly ever since.

On April 6, 2008, John had the opportunity to have his shodan rank recognized internationally by testing in Seattle under Seishiro Endo Shihan, 8th Dan, Hombu Dojo, Japan. On April 14, 2012, he tested and was awarded his nidan (2nd degree black belt) by Endo Shihan. John continues to study and attempts to teach his own interpretation of Endo Shihan’s style of Aikido. 

John is also an MD in internal medicine and practices full time in northern Seattle.

“I began my study of martial arts as a way to explore the mind-body connection, but I got tired of learning how to hit people.

Through Aikido practice, I experience integrated mind-body metaphors which show me opportunities for improving myself, through which I learn how to improve my relationships with others.” — John Peng