What is Aikido?

The founder of Aikido maintained that Aikido is a "work of love", a path to overcome discord in ourselves and bring peace to the world, "To make the heart of the universe one's own heart." O-Sensei taught that true awareness is not grasped by intellect alone. "This is not mere theory," he said. "You must practice it."

Today, Aikido is a powerful and dynamic Martial Art used internationally by military and law enforcement agencies worldwide. It is also the Martial Art of choice for millions of men, women, children, medical personnel and security organizations as more than simply an extremely effective means of self-defense but also as a very effective "way" of internal training and development.

Since Aikido emphasizes Universal Principles through the techniques and practice students leave classes with greater understanding of themselves, the world we live in, the problems we all encounter and, most importantly, ways to resolve the problems and create effective solutions.

"What Will I Learn In An Aikido Class?"

Students in the 4-week introductory course will gain a solid foundation for future study. Aspects covered will be the philosophy and principles of Aikido, coordination and breathing exercises, rolling and falling exercises, and basic Aikido defensive theory and techniques.

Your first class will be an introduction to the basic stretching and warm-up exercises we do in almost every class. We'll walk you through some fun body movement exercises to begin "re-connecting" your mind and body and then start you off on how to "get to the ground" safely and effectively; in essence, learning how to fall.

"Why Do I Need To Learn How To Fall?"

When we are first born we have no references for up, down, left, right, standing, sitting, moving, or falling. As we grow we begin to establish "reference points" about these things based on our experiences. When you first began crawling you bumped your head on the coffee table and now had a reference point regarding pain, space, hard, soft, etc.

As we grow taller, and further from the ground, we develop new references about falling that usually lead to fear of falling. We develop new ways of moving and stabilizing our bodies to insure we wont fall. If we do lose our balance we contort our bodies and throw our hands and arms out to "catch" the ground. This usually leads to some sort of injury and further fear of falling.

In Aikido, we always work on a "matted" floor system so it is safe and comfortable to practice. Since much of what we do in Aikido involves taking your partner to the mat with an Aikido technique so the very first thing we teach you is how to "remove the fear" of falling that you have developed over the years. In addition, we give you very specific techniques that will allow you to fall anywhere without injury.

After we teach you how to fall we begin introducing some fun and exciting Aikido defensive techniques that allow you to control any and every situation with very little force and struggle.

"How Does Aikido Teach Me To Control Any Situation Without Struggle?"

The foundational principle of Aikido is "blending". Blending, or harmonizing, with every situation is paramount to being "in control" of yourself and your surroundings. We emphasize this point through every technique, movement, exercise, and discussion. Even though we practice a Martial Art consisting of very effective self defense tactics that can inflict serious injury we are always practicing how to move "off the line of attack", how to "blend with the attackers movements", and how to stay "relaxed in your decisions and movements".

This aspect of Aikido makes it perfectly suited for people of all shapes, sizes, genders, strength levels, and backgrounds.

 

Ok, Ok, I'm convinced...I'd like to register for my FREE 30 DAYS HERE!