Aikido is a traditional Japanese martial art which was codified by Master Morihei Ueshiba (known as O’Sensei) between 1925 and 1940 and was then made public in the 1950s After experiencing the destruction of Japan in World War II, he developed the martial art of Aikido. O’Sensei (already an expert in several martial arts, including the use of weapons), blended the weapons and empty hands techniques saying they both used the same principles and are performed in the same basic way.

The word Aikido consists of three Kanji (Japanese characters): Ai (harmony) Ki (energy) Do (Path). It is commonly known as The Art of Peace.

It is a discipline that promotes personal well-being with attention to posture, mobility of the joints, psychic-motor coordination, concentration, self-perception, and perception of others.

The study of this art is focused on neutralizing any kind of attack, barehanded or with weapons (knife, sword or stick) and releasing from any grasp without using physical force but by applying a series of techniques to make the attacker’s equilibrium become unstable.

Aikido is ideal for all people of all ages.

Benefits of Aikido

• You’ll be part of a world-wide community where you can walk into any dojo and receive a warm welcome.

• Anyone who practices Aikido (Aikido-ka) will, throughout the years, acquire a determined physical and mental behavior which comes from its rules of conduct and its personalized nature.

• Your physical conditioning, balance, flexibility and coordination will improve. Training involves someone taking your balance so you fall down. From this repeated practice, you learn how to accept the attack, get up and regain your equilibrium.

• Because we practice to defend ourselves from multiple attackers, Aikido teaches us to be aware of our surroundings.

• Aikido is the peaceful martial art. By getting out of the way of the attack, we learn to diffuse difficult, tense situations and improve our conflict resolution skills.

• We take what we learn on the mat and apply it to our lives. We learn to be calm in the face of the attacks on the mat which trains us to do the same outside. We become more grounded and resilient.

Why practice Aikido