Chief Instructor
Steve Kaufmann Sensei, a 6th degree black belt, is the chief instructor at Open Sky School of Martial Arts in Hillsborough. He also instructs at Duke University in the Physical Education Department, where he teaches Tai Chi and Aikido.
Violence Prevention Steve Kaufmann teaches for the Central Park School for Children in an innovative program that integrates Aikido into the curriculum and focuses on violence prevention funded by a grant from the N.C. Psychoanalytic Foundation’s Peaceful Schools Project.
Steve is a certified public school teacher. He taught grades K–8 in Oakland, CA, and in Chatham and Orange Counties, NC. His certification in learning disability instruction is from UNC–Chapel Hill. Steve presented many workshops in violence prevention for 6th grade teachers and their students in Durham Public Schools through a research program co-sponsored by the Center for Disease Control and Duke University. Steve’s years of public school teaching and a lifetime of intensive martial arts training combine to give him insight into how to effectively create a positive learning environment, so students can grasp how to peacefully handle aggression.
Steve Kaufmann has Shidoin certification through the USAF, allowing him to award rank in Aikido. He has studied extensively with three of Aikido’s great teachers: Y. Yamada, Shihan (master teacher), chief instructor of New York Aikikai; M. Kanai; and T. K. Chiba. These three Aikido masters were uchideshi students of O’Sensei. That is, as young men they lived in the dojo and trained with and assisted O’Sensei, the founder and originator of Aikido.
Steve Sensei’s daily practice includes Aikido, Zen meditation, and Tai Chi. His model of excellence is Morihei Ueshiba, O’Sensei. Steve’s interest is in developing great internal awareness and relaxed power, sensitivity and health in himself and his students. Steve’s teaching methods clearly communicate to students how to refine themselves through integration of body, mind, and spirit.
