Interview Michell Feilen sensei

Interviewer: Thank you for your time. I have some questions. If you have to practice one technique for
100 hours straight, which one would choose?

Michelle: Ikkyo omote, or Ikkyo in general.

Interviewer: Is that your favorite technique?

Michelle: Not specially. But I think that for 100 hours that’s the best one to do.

Interviewer: Which technique do you most enjoy being uke for?

Michelle: Hmmm, I think I like Irimi nage.

Interviewer: Does that have a particular reason why?

Michelle: I like the movement, the feeling of the technique. It is dynamic but not too hard. So you can take the ukemi.

Interviewer: What is you oldest or special memory of Chris sensei?

Michelle: I would have to think because we have had a lot of good moments. Ow, last year she met part of het moms family for the first time. She never met them before and she asked me to be there. I think it
is very special that she asked me for that. To support her. It touched me. It is a very special moment.

Interviewer: Which sensei is the most fun to be uke of?

Michelle: Wow, Chibata sensei. I’m really fascinated about what he is doing you know. It is very soft and very powerful at the same time. And you are always so confused and you don’t know where the technique will come from.

Interviewer: You also practice Judo. How do you use Judo in your Aikido?

Michelle: No, I don’t.

Interviewer: They are close, and have the same roots.

Michelle: Yeah, but I was so young. Maybe the Koshi nage sometimes and the hip movements. It helps of
course. And it helps understand how to keep the other out of balance.

Interviewer: What is the main difference between Judo and Aikido.

Michelle: Well Judo is a sport and is a competitions. There is a winner and a looser. Aikido is an martial art. There is no winner and looser, together you create something.

Interviewer: And are there similarities?

Michelle: Well the similarities are about taking the center of the other one or melting together with the
center of the other person.

Interviewer: What is typical of your Aikido style?

Michelle: For me, I’m trying to be soft. I want to be soft. I don’t want people to find me hard on the technique. But at the same time I want to be effective. Powerful but soft. That is what I’m researching. Not that the other person is feeling that I’m to hard or tough on them. That it happens but they don’t
know why.

Interviewer: Your Aikido is beautiful. Do you think that it is related to this exploration that you do? Is that intentional?

Michelle: Of course one never thinks if his Aikido as beautiful. I mean probably because you research harmony.

Interviewer: Do you think Harvey sensei Aikido is special and in what way. What do you think makes it special?

Michelle: Harvey is a man that looks into what is happening inside a technique. Not about the shape or the result not about the outside. But what is happening inside. This is interesting. It is something that I’m searching for as well.

Interviewer: Do you think that is fundamental of Aikido? Or is it specific for a sensei?

Michelle: No, not everybody is interested in that. Some are more interested in how they look. That it looks great from the outside. Some are more interested in the mechanics, in the details. Harvey is not the
only one, I’m not the only one. A lot of people are searching for that.

Interviewer: What is the most important lesson that you learned in Aikido?

Michelle: I think it a general lesson in life. It gives you like a guide on how to live. To be more gentle with people. More compassionate. More understanding of others. To leave your ego behind. Aikido can teach you a lot. It is not in a single day, it is a journey. It teaches you to be a better person.

Interviewer: Is this something you try pass on to your students?

Michelle: I think so but you don’t need to tell them that. You just have to be. You have to give them the example yourself. If you want to be respected you have to be respectful. If you want kindness you have to
be kind. If you want to be understood you have to be understanding. If you don’t want ego from your students you cant use ego yourself. It’s not something you can just ask.

Interviewer: Do you have a tip to pass on for Aikidoka’s on their journey?

Michelle: I don’t like to say to people what they should do. Everybody is free and has their own vision. Maybe I can say, be passionate. Enjoy the journey. Keep your Aikido and life in balance. And try to make
Aikido something positive in your life.

Interviewer: You said something about Aikido and life in balance. Do you think, in your life, there is to much Aikido?

Michelle: Sometimes, you can be in this dynamic that it is always Aikido but that is not healthy.

Interviewer: Why do you think seminars are important?

Michelle: Seminars are important to share with other people. Otherwise you only practice with the same
people at your dojo. The seminars give you the opportunity to train with others and to be more openminded. To see other cultures, to see other ways to think or do. Of course you see the sensei. It’s
like a masterclass, you can see another level of techniques.
Interviewer: How long did you have your dojo.

Michelle: This one I have since 2017, the other one I think I started teaching in 1993 or something.

Interviewer: Do you have tip for young dojo owners?

Michelle: Not really, it is a journey. You cannot see the same as when you were 35 or 55. I’m not the same person. Everybody has to make their own journey, and their own mistakes. And at the end you find your own way.

Interviewer: Is creating the dojo a part of the Aikido journey?

Michelle: Why not, it is not mandatory. But if your decide that it can.

Interviewer: Thank you for the interview.

Michelle: No problem.