Yossi Sheriff

Yossi Sheriff (יוסי שריף) is the founder of AKBAN (1986), a martial arts institution with a focus on Lifelong Fitness, Conflict Management, Emotional Regulation and Ninjutsu.

Since 2012, Yossi has developed and delivered the Itai Sheriff worksop, a conflict de-escalation and stress regulation program dedicated to the momory of his son. Grounded in a neuroscientific framework developed with Prof. Hagai Bergman, Israel Prize laureate and the workshop's Chief Scientific Officer, the method trains participants to work with the body's automatic responses — stabilizing under stress, then diagnosing, joining, and leading a conflict toward de-escalation. Over 265 workshops have been delivered to institutional clients across Israel's Education, defense, health, and welfare sectors, including IDF, government ministries, hospitals, and international companies. The workshop draws directly on decades of martial practice in AKBAN: the same disciplined, repetition-based approach to training, applied to the moments before violence begins.

Yossi has spent over 40 years teaching both the martial and professional skills of his students, who have gone on to lead global companies, initiate startups, and aspire to be good enough parents.

The content has amassed over 110+ million views and over 100 thousand subscribers across various platforms.

In 1985, following military service as a Combat Paramedic, Yossi received the presidential honor award for his work in reorganizing and enhancing the evacuation logistics network in the Israeli Medical Corps.

Yossi began his journey in martial arts in 1978 as a student of Doron Navon in Bujinkan. He achieved his Bujinkan 5th Dan under Hatsumi sensei in 1991.