How did you find your dojo

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[Mato-san]

When I was searching for dojos,. I was a large guy, heavy set, powerful, built and not looking for traditional but classical. (Lets no go into that) Most sensei were intimidated by my size and other factors. I then rolled on a sensei, that without prior knowledge of my training or capability, simply said yeah bring it on, this was after watching lengthy sessions on what he had to offer. I took him straight away ,his confidence in what he does won me over. And I made the right choice! I am twice his size and strenght but he knows his stuff.(That has proved itself) This was my journey how bout you. Was it word of mouth, was it circumstance. Because you devote your life to this. How did you choose your mentor?

[PhilMyKi]

I shopped around and chose the one geographically closest for my first night. Without inflating any egos (because in Aikido there are none) I took to my present club straight away. The instructor on the night was very welcoming (I was one of five newbies on that night) the other students were great and helpful. I have been hooked since. I trained one a week for the first few weeks, then unemployment gave me the time to move it up to twice a week, now work pressures are really on I need something to center myself so three times a week is required!

How did I find it? The Internet.

[Nick Simpson]

When I went to the university sports fair I knew there would be an aikido club stall there, so having read angry white pyjama's 2 years earlier and been interested in aikido since, I checked it out. Got the days and times and turned up for the first lesson. I loved it. So I kept going. Joined White Rose Aikikai a few months later and never looked back. I love the people I train with and the ways in which we train, I have some great sempai and kohai and instructors of course!

[Mato-san]

Hep, I think the atmosphere does alot for it, but in choice of dojo it is hard ,without the bonding that comes from the ongoing training with all involved. And phil I hope you didn`t think I was trying to feed my own ego by refering to myself as large or powerful, cause like you said (no place in aikido) that is why I chose it for its classical nature. Like a car I would go for classical not tough and powerful. Just full blown style. That just what I like.

[John A Butz]

A college friend of mine was looking to get into some kind of sword art, and he drug me along to watch an aikido class at a local dojo. We both thought it was interesting, and the costs were right for poor college students, so we thought we would try it for a while. An I am still there. I never really thought about committing to a lifetime or devoting my life to training, just about making it to the next class, then the one after that, and so on. Funny how that turns into a serious commitment...

[Mato-san]

Aikido will take its addictive toll on you.

[Arewem]

I actually tried two different Aikido Dojos in NYC, both were very impersonal, both were extremely large, thus i felt after 2 weeks in each I was not getting the most out of the classes. I have since found another dojo, smaller more personal except I am no longer training Aikido I am now training Brazilian JiuJitsu. I respect many of the philosophies and traditions of Aikido which is why I frequent this site, but felt I was not able to a find a true "home" in the Aikido classes I attended. I am a month and a half into my new training and from day one my instructor new my name and has been able to give strong personal direction in class. The bottom line for me is finding a place where you will be comfortable and feel you are getting the attention you need to grow-regardless of the art (i have trained in several).

This is is not an advertisement for changing your studies, only my personal experience.

[ajbarron]

Read a book from the library in 1972 (I believe it was "The Dynamic Sphere")
Looked in the Yellow-pages in 2000 and started. So I'm not sure if I found Aikido at the library or in the phone book. !!!!

[Matt Molloy]

I was looking for an Aikido Dojo in Edinburgh when I wandered into the Elephant House (Cafe in which J K Rowling apparently wrote some of the first Harry Potter book) for a drink and found the flier on the wall there for Azami Kai.

Went along to see them and I haven't had cause to regret it at all.

Damn cafe must have some magic about it after all. :D

Cheers,

Matt.

[Trish Greene]

I went to go pick up my son from Scouts (11yo) and couldn't find him. One of the Dad's tol dme that he was next door at the new aikido dojo. I found him and a half a dozen other kids there watching Miller Sensei practice. From that time, we were both hooked!

[Lan Powers]

Found the art through word of mouth. Found the dojo through the internet. Found a family when I found them.
Lan

[Qatana]

Internet. Amazingly enough there were Two dojo in this small town, with exactly the same lineage. I chose the one with the Less Famous Sensei, and have never regretted my choice. Even on the net, I could Feel my choice.
And now a Third aikikai dojo is opening here!

[aikigirl10]

My grandma took me there as a little kid, because my grandma's weird like that.

*Paige*

But i love my grandma.

[Larry Cuvin]

Took my two daughters to an Asian grocery celebrating Asia week. Saw jujitsu, kung fu, and kendo demonstration and they both decided that it was cool to do martial arts. My older daughter search the Internet for the martial art that she would be interested in doing and found the Oregon Ki Society.
I did not plant to join for I though that I was too old to start (44) plus I have a lower back injury. I took my kids one Thursday night for an intro and I was blown away by all the aspect of the art most especially the KI part, so I joined (with a medical waiver). Now, almost a year and a half later, it still continues to amaze me.

[Lyle Bogin]

I tried aikido twice before, and thought it was ridiculous and useless for the most part. But I learned a couple things and got a little older and now it's my style of choice. I was undecided on SBK for about a year, but Imaizumi Sensei allowed me to take ukemi for him pretty quickly and the advanced students were able to handle themselves and crack good jokes.

So, now I'm in my sixth year there...

[Dajo251]

Well about 8 years ago I was training at a dojo and Sensei retired...well I quit after that because I either didnt like the other instructors in the state or the drive was a bit to much, until I learned that one of the senior students from my old school opened his own, and that is now where I am training

[justin]

my karate instructor used to study aikido and bring a lot of his teachings into our classes i kinda grew apart from karate and there was a natural progression into aikido for me, aikido in wales is very strong with lots of good dojos to choice from i looked around and ended up with the one 200 hundred yards away from my house and havent looked back coming up to my first years training.

[Grammaton]

i did karate for a few years but when the dojo moved i was no longer able to get there, so i went looking for a new martial art, found aikido it had everything i wanted (mainly the "spiritual" side). I found a dojo in my town on the internet but it didnt have a website and it was in a pretty shady part of town so i never went. Put it off for about a year did some body weight training and qigong to lose weight and get strong, then while i was talking to my friend about martial arts i remembered aikido and i found a new dojo (first on google) thats not to far away and is very focused on balancing your ki. I am planning on starting there next week.

[Jorge Garcia]

Our family had just finished a meal at a Chinese restaurant and we were getting in the car when my 10 year old son informed me that he had entered a contest. As I was starting the car, I asked him ,"What contest?"
He replied, "The one they were announcing at the cash register." I learned from my wife that at the cash register, there was a little box where you could put in an entry form to win a free karate lesson. When I heard that, I told my son that wasn't a real contest. I explained that everyone who puts in a little card "wins". He couldn't believe that but sure enough, a week later, he received a letter in the mail announcing that he had "won". I took him to the karate school and we went in and he joined a class of 23 other "winners". The lesson proceeded. My son spent an uncomfortable hour awkwardly punching the air while feebly saying "Kiai". As we left there, I asked him how he felt about it and he seemed disappointed and said he didn't know. We were driving down past the other places in the shopping center when we suddenly noticed another martial arts place a few doors down and we could see through the windows that some men were working out in there. In an effort to uplift my son's deflated spirit, I said to him,"Come on son! Let's get down and see what's going on in here". We went in and sat down and everything in our world changed.
The first thing that greeted us was the smell of incense burning. The teacher was dressed differently than anyone I had ever seen and the difference between this place and the karate school was immense. Everyone was serious and quiet. They were training without talking and what they were doing looked impressive, mysterious and interesting. This was Aikido.
I leaned over in the sofa were were sitting on and I said to my son, "Say, why don't you try this! I know there aren't any kids here but think about it. If you do martial arts with a bunch of kids, you'll do martial arts like a kid but if you do martial arts with the men, maybe you'll do your martial arts like man." He said OK and we signed him up to Aikido there.
I would take him every day and watch from the sofa. It was summer and it was hot and there was no AC in the dojo. One day, the instructor came over to me and said,"Mr. Garcia, why don't you get your rear end off that sofa and join us. You can sweat sitting on that sofa or you can sweat with us out here learning something useful and constructive."
That was almost 11 years ago. Today, my son and I are still training together. We have been all over the U.S. doing aikido and very few men have spent as much time with their sons as I have with mine. We are directors of our own Aikido Association and we teach in three dojos that we have started ourselves. We have the privilege of helping many people in this art that we love so much. All because a 10 year old little boy filled out a slip of paper for a free karate lesson.
Best wishes,

[Tom Liauw]

Great story, Jorge!

When I was a kid I took Tae Kwon Do, the place (notice I said "place") where I train was really impersonal and nothing more than 30 fourth-graders doing calisthenics.

[Mark Freeman]

Great story, Jorge!

I'll second that! :D

[allyismycopilot]

I figured this would be as good a post as any...

My father is a life-long Marine and as such I spent 10 years on an Air Station in Southern Japan. Throughout elementary and middle school (and for most of my high school years) I was quite the runt and as such a good target for bullies.

During recess in 4th grade it was the worst and I used to "fake" an illness or injury so I could hide out in the nurses office. Our school nurse was a real sweet older lady named Mrs. Woodland. I believe she was in her late 50s at the time. A tiny woman. Looking back I have no doubt she saw through each one of my excuses for coming to her office...

Eventually during my visits to her office she started telling me about Aikido and how even though she was so small she was able to become proficient and she had even started later in life. If I recall correctly she was a Shodan at that point and had been training for a good 7-8 years. Her description of Aikido stirred my imagination as it sounded nothing like Karate to me which I hated after only a few classes and had begged my father to let me quit. It sounded almost magical to me. lol.

Not long after I had to write a report for Culture Class (a class where we learned about Japan and studied the language) about something Japanese. With my interest already piqued I picked Aikido. Mrs. Woodland was unable to take me because she couldn't train for a while (illness) so she gave the directions to the dojo to my father and he took me one night to observe a class.

The dojo itself was really hard to find as it was down a maze of small streets behind the Ginza and on a second floor of a small concrete building. When we finally found it the class had already started so we slipped in and watched. I sat there amazed and immediately begged my dad to let me take the classes. Unfortunately right after I started Mrs. Woodland retired and moved back to the states due to her illness (cancer I believe) so I never got a chance to see her in action and from what I hear her Iriminage was pretty good :)

That's basically how I found the dojo I trained at until I graduated high school and came back to the US. Since the 8 years I've been back I've only been able to train sporadically but that will soon be remedied as I will be moving back to Japan in April.

[Mato-san]

Nice story Richard.

[Mato-san]

Also Jorge, Nice stuff. This is aikido. Dont you just adore it? Really?
I am loving that post Jorge.

[Amelia Smith]

I think I must have heard about aikido when I was in Japan as an exchange student for 2 months, in high school, but it went in one ear and out the other. Kendo, now that was impressive!

Years later, I read a novel which included a brief, totally unrealistic portrayal of aikido. It piqued my interest, but for some reason I didn't pursue it right away -- I just didn't imagine there might be a dojo in this small town, when I hadn't been able to find kendo anywhere.

A few years after that, I was sitting on the general store porch drinking coffee with some well-read housepainters of my acquaintance, Bob & Bob. Bob mentioned "the dojo" told me where it was, and a little while later I drove by. I checked out the class, then I just started. It immediately became part of my life.

Inspired in part by this thread/survey, I've finally put up a website: http://www.mvaikido.org/ I'm still working out the kinks, but it's there.

[Gabriella Wrigholm]

When I was thirteen I decided to try martial arts and practiced karate for a while. I liked it but eventually quit anyway. Two years after I quit I wanted to start training something again and thought another martial art would be fun. In the town I live in we have several different choices such as judo, tae kwon do,krav maga, wushu, Aikido etc. I decided to visit a couple of them and see what I liked the most. One day I saw a poster in a store showing an older man throwing someone on the mat and it looked fun so I decided to go watch the demonstration. I checked out the website too and found out a little more about Aikido before I went. Aikido was the first one I visited and I liked it and especially the people and the sensei in the club. So I stayed.

[JAMJTX]

I had intended to join another dojo run by a former student ot my teacher. All-in-all, that is a pretty good dojo and was a lot closer to home - nearly 30 minutes closer.

I did not get to talk to the teacher, but dealt with the office manager - it was a fairly sizeable dojo with severl arts/instructors.

We went into the office for me to get the paperwork to enroll. On the wall were photos of this teacher with his (and now my) teacher.
In an attempt to further impress me, the office manager raved about what great training this teacher recieved.

I took the forms and said I would bring them back the next day. But I got to thinking that if his teacher is so great, it might be worth the extra drive to go train there. So the next day I went to visit the Doshinkan Dojo and signed on there instead.

[Chad Scott]

I found my dojo in the Tokyo English-language telephone directory. It's a big place, so there are quite a few classes offered every day and lots of different instructors.

Also, when I first observed a class, I saw that there was a significant number of non-Japanese students: I knew that I would feel comfortable in a setting like that.

Chad
http://www.tokyoaikido.blogspot.com

[daverun]

I had always wanted to take some type of Martial Arts and I didn't at the time want to take Karate (probably one of the most well known Martial Art in the U.S.) so I was thinking of taking Judo (mainly because I had a friend that took Judo) and one day I saw a Discovery Channal TV show on about 7 or 8 different Martial Arts and the last or next to last one was Aikido, and I was just like "HOLY CRAP!! THAT IS FREAKIN' AWSOME!!", and I looked in the phone book and found a dojo that taught Aikido and I went to its website and read about the school and the art of Aikido, then I went and took a trial class and signed up and have been there ever sense, that was about 3 years ago.

[pcallen]

At eighteen I had a traumatic injury to my knee (hit in the side of the knee with a helmet). It never quite healed right - due to continued playing. My patella would dislocate - often. At age 33 my orthopedic surgeon had just given me the bad news. "If you don't strenghten the patellar tendons we're going to have to do surgery. We'll evalute what's going on after six months." He recommended a weightlifting routine and other excersizes.

Weightlifting bored me. I couldn't get up for going to the gym three nights a week. Just four weeks into it I realized I was in trouble because I had missed more gym time than I made. I was explaining this to a fellow teacher when he recommended martial arts. He was then a brown belt in Shotokan Karate (getting ready to test for nidan now).

The idea of karate scared me. All I really knew of the art was what I had seen in movies and magazines. I kept thinking about those kicks and they scared me but the idea of doing martial arts stuck in my mind. During this same time another teacher in my building recieved his black belt in Taekwondo. This was the line in the sand. The teacher had played football as well - he was a punter. :rolleyes: A PUNTER! Now I felt like a wimp. How can you -"a big bad lineman" be afraid of something a punter is able to do.

I began to seriously ask questions of my friend, the karateka. I voiced my concerns about my knee and the kicking. He said that one of the higher dan ranks in his dojo also taught another martial art - Aikido. There wasn't much kicking involved with Aikido he assured me - with this strange sort of smile on his face. He gave me the directions to the dojo, located in a nearby YMCA and told me to show up and observe a class.

I showed up to observe and the instructor came over and introduced himself and said that he had been told I was coming and about my injury. He looked at me and said "Good you're wearing sweats. Come out and join class." He didn't give me time to protest that I was just there to watch. For the next three hours I felt like I was being tied in knots. Just when I felt like I might make it we started doing this wierd thing were we were trying to walk on our knees. ARGH!!! :crazy: After class he came up to me and asked what I thought. I told him I didn't think I could do that for three hour straight without having a stroke. He laughed and said, "see you next practice."

Five years later and I haven't had that stroke yet or the knee surgery. As a matter of fact, my orthopedic surgeon was amazed and began to do martial arts himself. He even recommends it for many of his clients. Shikko is still a personal hell for me but I can't imagine my life without Aikido.

Phil Allen

[Adman]

I was going to art school in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and was working at the local YMCA to pay the bills. One of my tasks, working behind the front desk, was to receive payments for a martial arts class for a small dojo located out back (something called aikido). The dojo was a seperate building and went largely unnoticed by me.

From time to time I would see the do-gi clad participants walking past to go out to the dojo (sometimes they carried sticks). Then after class they would walk past once more (they used the Y's locker room). This time they would be covered in sweat, gi tops falling out of belts, etc. The "sensei" (hey, I knew the word. Afterall, I took three months of tae-kwon-do in highschool) would usually be the last one by. His name was Peter and he wore a skirt. He was a small guy too!

Eventually, I asked a few questions and heard some interesting stories. Once, I had to give a phone message to Peter, and went into the dojo for the first time. I remember looking up thinking the ceiling must be too low since everyone was practicing on their knees, throwing each other and never standing up. That was around 1984. I left Florida at the end of that year. Peter's last name was Bernath.

Although interested, I didn't give aikido a try until 9 years later. I was newly married, just bought a house, and for some reason picked up a phonebook ... called a local dojo (St. Louis Ki Society) ... got some information ... and started the following Monday. I still practice at the same dojo.

thanks,
Adm