Edwin Neal

Good luck Cynthia, stretching is good no matter what physical activity you are doing... your boyfriend should be able to practice carefully, and avoid injuring, re injuring his shoulder... in my experience my college class was nearly identical to classes at the dojo... usually you bow in, stretch and warm up, practice some aiki taiso(aikido specific exercises), and ukemi(falling/rolling skills) then the instructor demonstrates techniques and the class practices them... a class usually ends with a randori(free form practice?) and bowing out... although this differs from style to style... just follow along and enjoy yourself... good luck...