A message from our founder.
Hello, back in 1997 I created the Pathway to Harmony Aikido Program to help children and adults unify their mind, body, and spirit to accomplish academic, professional, and personal goals; help them minimize stress in their lives; and develop skills that can help them to improve their quality of life.
It was then and still is now my belief that stress is a major contributor to the increase in violence being experienced in every part of our society regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.
The stress in our everyday lives is having a devastating impact on the quality of life of youth and adults. I believe, if the issue of stress in our daily life is not addressed, youth and adults will begin to regard the substandard quality of life that often results from it as being acceptable. If not addressed there will be a greater chance that youth and adults will commit acts of violence, be disrespectful to themselves and others, make unhealthy eating and life style decisions and have their lives impaired or cut short by stress related violence or physical and mental illnesses such as heart attacks, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, and depression.
So, in 2006, Pathway to Harmony, Inc. was born. I created it to help address the issues of stress, apathy, frustration, anger and violence that have a profoundly negative impact on our communities; and to motivate youth and adults to enhance their quality of life.
All of our programs are specifically designed to be of benefit to youth and adults that are at risk from stress related to school, family, work, finances, personal relationships, peers and their social environment; have developed unhealthy life style and nutritional habits; and are in need of a physical activity.
Read More
Over the years, we have been instrumental in helping youth and adults from a variety of social and economic backgrounds learn how to reduce and manage the stress in their lives; build their confidence and self-esteem; and provide them with basic skills that will enable them to grow and prosper in their academic, professional, and personal lives.
If you believe in our mission of helping youth and adults to enhance their quality of life and would like to help, click on the “Donations” button to make a contribution. Your contribution will help in a variety of ways including sponsoring a school or child’s participation in the program of your choice. No contribution is too great or too small. Every contribution is appreciated. Thank you for your interest in Pathway to Harmony, Inc.
Rick Butler, Sensei
Founder and CEO
Pathway to Harmony is a not for profit created in 2006. We provide quality educational and life skill programs that are created to address issues of stress, apathy, frustration, anger, and violence that have a profoundly negative impact on our communities; and, create educational initiatives that motivate youth and adults to enhance their quality of life and accomplish their academic, professional, and personal goals.
When I first started Aikido I was kind of scared but when Sensei Rick Butler started speaking about how to gain confidence and how to stay calm in the midst of chaos, that really reached my mind and all those fears went away.
I consider myself a black belt mentally because I’ve focused on my training, mostly on how I see life, how I think, and how I handle adversity
Sensei Butler taught me to not give up, to use the four principles of aikido not just on the mat but in my daily life too.