Ellis Amdur

Ellis Amdur (born March 27, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American practitioner of martial arts and a crisis intervention trainer. He has published a number of books on the martial arts and on mental health issues. Amdur began his study of martial arts in 1968, learning karate and traditional Chinese arts. He started training in aikido in 1973, and after moving to New York, lived in Terry Dobson and Ken Nisson’s Bond Street Dojo. He also started training daily at Yamada Yoshimitsu's New York Aikikai school of aikido. After gaining a degree in psychology, Amdur traveled to Japan in 1976 to further his study of the martial arts, and while there took up Toda-ha Bukō-ryū and Araki-ryū, two traditional koryu. He is shihan (full instructor) in both these arts, one of only a few non-Japanese to attain teaching licenses in any koryu. He has also studied judo, Muay Thai and Xing Yi Quan. Based in Seattle, Amdur teaches courses for a variety of different venue, from law enforcement and corrections to mental health and families on crisis intervention. He also consults on situations involving stalking, domestic violence or work-site safety. Amdur is the author of a number of books on aikido and the martial arts (Dueling With O-Sensei, Hidden in Plain Sight, Old School) as well as eleven profession-specific books on crisis intervention and mental health which are published under his own Edgework Publishing imprint. In addition, he has also published: Shapshifting: Effective Scenario Training for Crisis/Hostage Negotiation Teams Body and Soul: Toward a Radical Intersubjectivity in Psychotherapy - a book combining phenomenological psychology and clinical encounters with people struggling to survive in desperate circumstances Girl with the Face of the Moon - A novel Along with Neal Stephenson, Charles C. Mann, and Mark Teppo, he has also published a graphic novel, entitled Cimarronin.