My Aikido training began in college. One of the PE classes available was Aikido and I thought it would be a good stress reliever. Through the course of that class I became enamored with the principles and philosophy of Aikido. The following year I began training at the dojo in town. Ever since then I have been training and enjoying my time in Aikido.

I'm a real slow learner, but I've got nothing but time. I started Aikido 12 years ago, at the age of 44. My son and I used to watch Bruce Lee movies on Saturday afternoons, and he was desperate to become a ninja. So we found a Tae Kwon Do school near our house and he enrolled. He loved it. I'd watch his classes and promotions and thought to myself, "I could do this", so I enrolled and quickly learned that I couldn't. I felt old and out of shape and didn't enjoy getting knocked around by a bunch of 20 somethings.

My son's class was actually in a judo dojo. His teacher told me one day that there was a guy who taught Aikido in the mornings in the same dojo. Crack of dawn, next day I checked it out. Instead of people getting punched and kicked, I saw them doing what I thought were somersaults on the mat. I thought to myself, I can do this, it's just what I did as a kid!"

My aikido life did not start until I was 49 years old, and this was only after 2 years of contemplating several philosophical issues I had to resolve. I had the need in my life to find fulfillment for my artistic side and self-esteem, plus, I thought that there must be a way of expressing Christian love in a purely human fashion.

I had been an avid student of eastern methods of healing due to a lot of poor health issues, and found more success in accupressure, qi , etc.

This is how I started to practice Aikido. Up until my 15th b-day I had never heard the word "Aikido" in my life. Then in 1988 I saw a movie called "Above the Law" starring a guy named Steven Seagal, and immediately wanted to know what it was that this guy did.

I had a friend who practiced Aikido and I didn’t even know there was such a thing on such a small island as Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles). So I went to take a look and got hooked.

I never expected to get so much out of Aikido. I learned and am still learning a lot about myself and Aikido.

Although I got something very different from what I saw in that movie, I must say that I don’t regret for one minute having started.

I just started my Aikido training this week.

For many years I have had an interest in eastern philosophy, particularly Taoism. I realized recently that I live too much in my mind, so when I decided to become more physical it made perfect sense to train in the martial arts.

I called all of the listings for ‘martial arts’ in my local yellow pages, but was disappointed when the majority of the places that I called were more interested in contracts and quickie self-defense programs than respect, meaning, and tradition. I visited a few ‘schools’ and each time came away with an overly commercialized impression, completely void of meaning. I really wanted an art with a strong philosophical foundation. I wanted to find a way to be physical that would enhance my strong philosophical and spiritual life.

I started in college back in 1983. I took it one quarter on a lark, and it totally changed my life. I had to take a few classes to graduate, and saw a form of martial arts I hadn’t known.

There was a little Japanese woman teaching who learned from a man who studied under O-Sensei. She was an excellent teacher and did a wonderful job of introducing me to a new world and a universe of options in martial attitude and technique. In that one quarter, I came to believe that Aikido was an intelligent Way.

I first became interested in Aikido after reading Terry Dobson’s story called, I believe, "A Kind Word Turneth Away Wrath" in a Reader’s Digest sometime in the 70’s.

I got a chance to see my first Aikido at a demonstration given by Lorraine DiAnne and Paul Sylvain. I knew immediately that I had to do Aikido. However, their school was too far away from my home and so I had to put it off. About ten years later, DiAnne Sensei opened a school much closer to my workplace and I decided it was now or never.

I had done a great deal of reading and settled on the philosophy of Aikido as martial discipline for me. I had been looking for a Dojo that I could attend that was close enough to work and home to no avail.

I had told several people that I was interested in Aikido and it paid off. As it turns out a friend was doing some research and stumbled across a notification that the National Institute of Health club had an Intro to Aikido starting and let me know. I went and was very pleased with the instruction and my fellow practitioners.

I first learned of Aikido in a book of Japanese martial arts given to me by my father when I was in 6th grade. Reading the text describing the art, and looking at the pictures, I was completely unable to understand how it could be a practical martial art, as the book was very theoretical in it's description of Aikido. In 1991, I saw Steven Seagal in "Above the Law" and was amazed at the speed and grace of the techniques. I did the research, and finally began to understand what I had read.

I'm already three years learning Aikido. The first time I saw Aikido, I saw it on television. That was almost 8 years ago!

I found it so fascinating that I went to a bookstore and bought a book from Ian Onvlee who was the only one who had written a book about Aikido.

I wanted to look for a dojo, but there weren't any around, so I had to wait for a few years, but I never lost interest in Aikido.

Isn't it amazing, thinking back about those first few steps. Hasn't time gone by so quick !

I began my study in 1986 as a result of interest developed during service in the armed forces. I look back upon those days and can't help smiling to myself, remembering back then. "It's going to take me forever to get anywhere in this".

Some years on, when I look back especially at pictures and the odd video shot on seminars, I suddenly realise I can easily take for granted the meager standards I possess even today; ... Was I that bad back then ? Oh Jeez !

I began practice in another dojo in Rhode Island. I had always had an interest in martial arts, but had never had the opportunity to attempt to train in one. I am a parish priest, and one day in a conversation with a parishioner about my age, I found out that there was an Aikido dojo just down the street from my church.

He was worried about bowing in for class ... that it would compromise his own beliefs. I assured him that reverence for the founder (as I know O Sensei now) is appropriate, but that is another discussion.

I started at Aikido the age of 42. I started by watching my son practice and I wanted to help him so I began to practice also. It started out to be once a week and now I practice 4 times a week and I assist in the children's classes.

I was a High School student when I met an old friend from elementary school, who casually told me that he was training in Aikido.

I was surprised, so I asked to go with him to the training. He said yes and I was happy. I saw the training and from that moment I started practicing Aikido.

I trained for 2 years and now I have no time to go. The dojo in Poprad where I live, is small and the next Aikido dojo is 50 km away. The training sessions are not so frequent, but when I have time to go to the dojo, I always go.

Back in 1989 I was in my first long term relationship which wasn't going well. In our local weekly paper was an advert for Aikido at a near by sports hall.

We went together and soon after she left me. I however have stayed with Aikido since then and two years ago opened my own club.

My own joy of Aikido increases each time I practice, read an email or article on the internet. I can only hope that this will always be the way it is.

I started Aikido in October of 1992 after testing for shodan in Isshinryu Karate. The local Aikido Dojo had been in town for 2 years and though I had heard something of Aikido, I was unaware of the training and philosophy that encompasses this art.

I was unsatisfied with the art I was taking, and knew it was time for a change. I had a short chat with Moline Sensei and was invited to watch a class, however I asked if it would be okay to "jump right in" and see if this art was the one that I had been looking for.

I found all of the club members to be sincerely interested in my safety and very positive-minded and encouraging. The senior students in Dryden at that time were working on testing for their nikyu rank, and I found they all had the calm spirit that Moline Sensei had.

My personal Aikido training started four years ago, when I wondered in an old factory, which is used today as a dojo. There must be about 10 or more different clubs of various martial arts. There I found the bulletin board of Aikibudo, an Aikido club.

I started Aikido classes at age 50. Earlier in my life I had spent 15+ years doing Karate and Tae Kwon Do, and a bit of Judo. When I moved to Santa Cruz, I walked by the Dojo for 6 months before I stopped in to see what it was. Aikido!

I had read "Aikido in Daily Life" 30 years ago, but had not had the opportunity to practice. I vowed to start the very next month, with the new beginners class.

Well, I blinked and it was suddenly 5 years later and I had not started that class. A new friend was training and so I went with him, and have been training regularly for 18 months.

I began the study of Aikido in 1958 while a Drill Instructor in the USMC in San Diego, CA. SSgt Bob Tann was my sensei. It was my first exposure to Aikido after several years of Judo study and practice.

I have never stopped learning what has become one of the steadying factors in my life. Not only as a relaxation in a stressful life and profession, it gives me a peace of mind that is so deep as to be nearly impossible to describe to those who have never experienced it.

I decided to start doing some kind of sport, actually I was easily becoming ill before I started Aikido, so I wanted to do something which would make me more healthy and athletic.

It seems very funny now, but I had decided to begin Aikido or body building or fitness type exercises.

I was introduced to Aikido in June of 1981. I had just graduated from college, living in Somerville, MA, and had a roommate who had just started Aikido. She would come home every night and show me what she had learned. After flipping me in the living room one evening, I decided I wanted to see this art for myself, so off I went to watch an afternoon class.

I was very disappointed. There were all these tall guys in weird skirts doing a strange about face with their arms sticking out straight in front of them. I decided this thing was not for me. On the next block over was a Karate studio, so I went in there and watched a class. By the time the class was over, there was one broken nose, one black eye and a chipped tooth. This is a martial art! I said to myself. It was at least closer to the Tae Kwon Do I had taken while in College.

In 1985, I decided to give Aikido another chance. Sioux Hall, a friend of mine, also showed me a bunch of techniques that were terrific. The ease of movement coupled with the intense pain of nikkyo, for example, made me think there was more to this art. So, I went back to the dojo and watched a class every day for a week. That is when I realized how much there was to this art.

I was introduced to Aikido in the late 80's in Louisville, Kentucky. I was working at a psychiatric hospital and a co-worker would ask me every couple of months just to come watch a practice. So one Sunday afternoon, I drove to a church in the area to a demonstration, and watched a little Japanese man (I'm 6'2") do these wonderful things they called Aikido. It was amazing, but I was also very intimidated. I thought "You could never learn this stuff".

However, I went directly and bought John Stevens' book "Aikido, the Way of Harmony", and read it cover to cover several times. Aikido was working in my brain, but it had to "ferment" over the next decade. To make a long story short, this past December, I read some references to Aikido in a Joseph Campbell book, and that was the catalyst for me.

I had always been interested in studying martial arts. I was originally searching for a place to learn Judo, when I found an Aikido dojo near my home. I did not know what Aikido is. But after some research and a visit to the dojo, I feel that Aikido is what I really wanted. I started training a week ago, and I enjoy every part of it. My sensei has been very helpful and the learning atmosphere is great.

I got started in Aikido as a bet with my only child. She said that was doing something at night to inprove her health. I said I would come down and see what she was doing. My wife said if I would like she would pay for the first lessons. I said OK but I wanted to see what Aikido was. I have never done a martial art before only hand to hand in the army base traning.

I recently began Aikido after quite a bit of research on the martial arts. After seeing all the "popular" arts like submission grappling I decided that was not for me ... not my style ... looking at karate, that type of thing is too violent for me ... not my style.

Then I learned about Aikido, and it seemed like it could make a positive change in my life. So I looked in the yellow pages and saw the dojo. I watched a class, and after seeing it I immedately knew this was something I was interested in. The people especially made a big impression, they were very open and nice, and answered all my questions.

I had some experiences with Martial Arts before but none of the fighting styles caught my attention so much as Aikido did.

In 1989, I visited China where I studied Mandarin at Shandong Teachers' University in Jinan, Shandong, P.R. of China. Every morning I was passing the gym at the University where a couple of Japanese students and visiting teachers of Japanese practiced Aikido and sometimes Kendo. I asked one of the Japanese teachers to teach me some of that stuff. His name was Ogata-sensei and he taugh me some Kendo.

Almost every day I was doing some of the movements with a woodden bokken that Ogata-sensei made for me. Then I left China and stopped doing anything with martial arts.

At the end of 2000, I joined the Aikido Association of North America with headquarters in Philadelphi, PA, USA. My kancho is Yukio Utada and I practice Doshinkan style of Aikido (the offshoot of Yoshinkai style taught by Gozo Shida whose live-in student later became my kancho).

From the first training session, basic kamae was not a problem at all, shuffling forward, backward, open steps, pivots, body change movenemts came almost naturally.

If not for the lessons with Ogata Sensei and his constant stressing on the kendo postures, which is quite similar to Aikido's basic positions, I would have spent a lot of time on basics.

I originally started my training in budo practicing Goju-ryu Karatedo in a small group at work. I am 6'2" tall and weigh 220 pounds and, at the time, I was very full of a macho image of myself and the world.

What a difference ten seconds can make.

On a snowy day in January of 1983, my car decided to commit suicide by crashing head-on into a pickup truck. Unfortunately, I was in the car at the time. I smashed my right kneecap into powder and was out of work for five months. That was also the end of my Karate practice.

A year later, I began looking for an exercise program again. My knee could not take the snapping movement or impact of kicks, so Karate was out of the question. I also had attained a somewhat different outlook on life and knew now how fragile our hold on it can be. On the other hand, I had gained quite a bit of weight and I really missed the physical and spiritual practice of Budo. Luckily, my company has an after-work Aikido club. I didn't think I could do the techniques and I didn't quite grasp the philosophy all at once, but I decided to try it.

I first heard of the Aikido when as a child studying Kyukoshinkai Karate, my father would take an active and encouraging interest in my progres in this martial art, although never training himself. His brother, an acomplished karateka had for years made him proud, achieving great succes in competition, but had retreated from the mainstream of dojo life and only practiced occasionally and in private. On reflection I can see that my father wanted to enjoy similar succes for me.

It was during one of our many discussions that he told me of this magical individual that he had learned of who was unbeatable in combat, and it was the very nature of his non attacking art that made him invincible. He was talking about O Sensei and his Aikido. I thought this to be a great story and lapped it up with an obvious enthusiasm I knew my father enjoyed and had come to expect from this devoted listener, but unfortunately, a story I thought it to be. My father is an artist in storytelling. I grew up, stopped training and let life stomp all over me. I stopped thinking and dreaming and became one of the bobbing heads on lifes busy street.

A hint or two, a little reminder now and again but I chose to ignore.

Ripple mix forward in time and I make a new friend in my latest chosen proffession. He studies Aikido. The hints and reminders would now start coming thick and fast. "I've got a mate who used to do Aikido". "I used to work with a guy who trained in Aikido". I said a lot but still did nothing, and life kept sticking the boot in, sometimes literally.

Work was stopping me from spending quality time with my eldest boy, my beautiful handsome shining son. I thought that we needed to take up an activity together, something we both would enjoy, and when a mutual friend of my dan grade pal said let's find a dojo and check it out, I at last was setting out on a journey that I wish I had taken up when my dad first told me that magical story.

We joined a club after two months trial practice. I have now been practicing for almost two years, my youngest daughter and youngest son also attend a class for kids which I join in, but unfortunately my friend has stopped practicing.

I first started Aikido 10 years ago after deciding to try a martial art. First stop the local sports centre. All the posters were on the wall, karate, judo and one for an art that I had never heard of: Aikido.

I went to watch a class and started the following night. I trained for three years and then stopped.

I had just finished graduate studies at the University of Lowell in 1980. I wasn't able to continue the free karate classes they offered at the school, and although there weren't many martial art schools in the area I did decided to see what the local Aikikai was all about and to see what Aikido was.

It was late on a Friday night and the Sensei said class was over and to come back next week to see a class.

He then kind of chuckled and said if I was really interested I could always go in to Cambridge tomorrow and attend a seminar at the the New England Aikikai. Somewhat academic at the time, I thought it would be nice to attend a "seminar" and listen to a lecture on Aikido.

I had studied Judo for two years when I saw a person whom I did not recognize doing front rolls as we did in Judo practice. I asked him what martial art he practiced and he told me Aikido.

I first started Aikido back in 1996. For some reason, the people at that dojo did not bother to teach me how to take falls or roll, etc. So, when I started practicing, I kept falling hard on the mat and for about two weeks my body was in severe pain. Even though I had signed up for three months of classes, I never went back to that dojo.

However, I liked Aikido's philosophy of harmonizing with your partner. So, about three years later in 1999, I decided to look into Aikido again by visiting the New York Aikikai. I really liked the dojo ­ people were very helpful and, in fact, I noticed that the advanced students (some black belts, even) took time to work with the newer students.

After further inquiry, I learned about Aikido of Park Slope, which is affiliated with the New York Aikikai. I visited Aikido of Park Slope because it was closer to my home in Brooklyn. I watched a couple of classes and spoke with some of the students. I signed up on a monthly basis and started doing classes. At my first class, Rob, one of the black belts, taught me how to take falls and do rolls. It was great!

After a year of practicing, I decided to become a lifetime member of Aikido of Park Slope. I still practice there although lately I have been practicing more and more at the New York Aikikai.

When I started Aikido, I was taking 3 antidepressants a day, seeing my psychiatrist every month and my therapist twice a week. I had been raped, molested and abused for the first 10 years of my life and was pretty much barely alive. It was making it very difficult to raise my 2 grade school aged boys and be married to say nothing of enjoying life.

Wanting my children to be safer than I had been, I took them into the nearby Dojo. That was a lucky day for all of us. I watched them practice for 2 or 3 years before I got up the nerve to try it. It was tough letting some stranger grab my wrist and put me face down in Ikkyo the first time. I don't know how I made it through that first month, I was in and out of consciousness every other minute. But that wonderful Aiki spirit kept me from feeling threatened or alone. And safely blending with others under the watchful eye of the Sensei was beyond therapeutic!

That was a year ago. Now, I take Aikido at least once a day, sometimes more. Forward rolls are my antidepressants and tai no henko is my therapy. This is my happy childhood right here and now.

When I do Aikido, I am reclaiming my birthright; the right to safety, the right to enjoy myself and others, the right to take up space.

I was 35, when I found out in Tbilisi (Georgia) that there is an Aikido class in Tbilisi Wrestler's Club. My first teacher, Iralki Narmania Sensei has introduced this amazing world of Aikido to me. Before I did some Judo on amateur level and I found it too hard to stay with (especially with heavy and mighty judokas from Eastern Georgia). In my age (I was 30 that time)it was difficult to oppose to younger guys with sport ambitions. Finally, I got a trauma of my back and more than one year I was treating it.

In 1999, I found a class with Naramnia Sensei, found it very interesting and started reading about Aikido. Later, I joined the Tbilisi University dojo and I am still there with Zurab Gavardashvili Sensei (1st Dan), who teches us Iwama style of Saito Shihan.

I've always been somewhat fascinated by Martial Arts, but never really investigated them. Always thought it looked fun and challenging. Recently, I met a friend who claims is a 5th Dan. I'm not sure I believe him or not.... Anyway, after 6 months of waiting for my first dojo experience with this friend, I gave up on him, and began investigating dojos online.

I've been to my 7th class only last Saturday. I'm a real newbie here. So far I absolutely love it. I'm experiencing a lot of difficulty with forward rolls... my arm collapses of its own accord, but so far so good.

My "goal" right now is 2nd Kyu, 2 being a favorite number, and because I can't wait till I stop looking like a fish out of water. It's amazing and exhilarating how weird all the moves feel; I've never really had my body move like this before.

I first met Aikido at an "Embu" in my campus a couple of months ago. I was impressed by the movement of the Shihan, so graceful and very attractive. I started training a month ago, but I find it very different from my impression from embu. It's always easy to look how the sensei move, performing the style. But it's not easy to practice it on your own. But I enjoy it very much.

I have trouble remembering the movement, my friends say I don't have to remember it just let your body do it. But I read an article suggesting that we better visualize the example from sensei in our mind before we do it. Which one is true? Ok That's all from me, thanks.

I began training about 2 months ago. Having studied Chinese kickboxing and Taekwon-do, I became thoughtful regarding my way of defending myself. The only way I have of protecting myself is to inflict pain and damage by punching and kicking, something which I don't feel comfortable doing.

Since I was about 6 years old I have searched for many kinds of sects, religions and sciences (like psicology) to try to fill my life with some sense or meaning.

Over the years I had various encounters with Aikido: my cousin graduated as an architect in Japan and received his 5th kyu there (when he returned we lived together for about one year); there was a dojo near my house; I found a book by a local Sensei in a used bookstore and finally I went to a class with my cousin. On my 19th birthday I joined Aikido and felt that I had found what I had been searching for. Today I´m not training because of work. At present I am 21, and my life without Aikido is almost empty.

When I was 15 years old, I bought a book called "Aikido Locks & Holds". This book turned on a light that never dimmed. There were no Aikido dojos in the area at that time, so I was unable to learn first hand the art of Aikido. Time moved on and life carried me to age 38, where I joined a dojo only 10 miles away. The dojo only had one test in three years. This caused many students to leave, including me. I am now with another dojo and have been tested to 5th kyu.

Three plus years of training has taught me some very good lessons:1) Patience (need I explain); 2) Keeping one's eye on the goal.

During college and unable to decide what sports I should take part in, I decided to go to the school's ECA orientation to have a look, and the minute I saw the demonstration by the school's team, I knew Aikido was the one for me.

Luck wasn't on my side however, as I soon realised I didn't have time to dedicate to this art. Thus the thoughts of joining this art got shelved away until I started working.

Lady Luck finally smiled when I realised there actually was an Aikido club within our Dept's building. I joined their next available training session.

I started out wanting something different from the hard styles I had studied. My older brother(a Nidan at the time) had invited me to study with his group for years, but I didn't see it as a martial art for me. I was fortunate enough to attend a seminar and the instructor's techniques were amazing, his spirit was gentle and there was joy in what he was teaching. I was sold!

I started in Aikido in August, 1994. I took on the art without the benefit of having observed what it is about up close. My knowledge of it then was limited to what I had seen in Steven Seagal's movies and some tricks I learned from a friend in college.

I learned to roll and fall. I learned the moves - tenkan, irimi, kokyu and other exercises an aikidoist should be proficient with. It took some time before I got the hang of it. Indeed, patience is a virtue. It was amazing to know that a reed-thin fellow can pin down and throw a much bigger guy on the mat. Non-believers would say "impossible" but they don't know what they are missing unless they learn The Way. However, I learned something more important than pinning another person down or throwing him around. I learned that the practice of Martial Arts is not to seek the destruction of another person but to be one with him, to purify one's soul.

The hakama I wear reminds me of the seven virtues which to my mind are the essentials in Aikido training- loyalty, benevolence, piety, respect, justice, sincerity and wisdom. Seven virtues not always told students but which students should should feel in their hearts.

I have only attended two classes in Aikido so far, but it is a culmination of a lifetime of searching for just the right expression of Martial Art. I always liked Bruce Lee movies and watched many Martial Arts tournaments from the sidelines. I married a woman who is a Black Belt in both Hap Ki Do and Tae Kwon Do. Though her art was very stylish and physically challenging, I always felt it lacked real synergy. I hate to get "campy" but I was looking for an Internal Art and was inspired by stories of Ninja, Samurai and even the Star Wars movies as they spoke of the internal strength that draws on tapping into universal power (Ki). Earlier in life I felt Kung Fu would be the way to acheive inner strength as well as outer.

It's interesting to note that a lot of people on this site recall Aikido from the first Steven Segal movie. My first, and lasting, glimpse of Aikido was on an episode of the old "Dick Cavett" talk show. Dick was a student of Aikido and used "the unbendable arm" to put football great Lyle Alzado to shame by daring him to bend the arm of a man whom he outweighed by probably 100 Lbs.

Though I liked what I saw, it was a long many years before the opportunity to take Aikido (inexpensively and close to home) would present itself. On a whim I signed up for the class and ran out and bought a copy of "Aikido and The Dynamic Sphere" so I could see what I was getting into. To my delight, Aikido is a very effective Martial Art as well as a very internal Art at its highest form.

I also enjoy the fact that it is real. I have seen many Martial Arts schools where they kick or punch and either miss altogether (Hey, its practice !!) or light touch. At least in my Aikido Dojo I know that if my Shite executes a good technique I better be ready to fall or I will get hurt.

My first month learning Aikido was humiliating. I had my first taste of the importance of etiquette in Japanese martial culture when I attended my first Aikido class. These events took place 2 years ago. I was never given an introductory course to understand what was expected of me as far as etiquette or proper protocol is concerned.

During my first lesson, the instructor expected me to know etiquette and all formal procedures. After my first lesson, it was my understanding that all students were expected to show up for class at least once a week. Two days following my second class, I was involved in a car accident as a passenger. My right wrist had been broken in 2 places and I had undergone 2 surgeries to repair my arm. This was the second time my right arm had undergone surgery in 5 years.

The week after my first class, I showed up for class, but I did not intend on participating because my surgeon said,"no aikido for 2 months, if you want it to heal...". I sat on the bench and kept quiet, waiting for the class to finish so I could tell the instructor about what had happened. During class, most of the senior students were saying rude remarks about me and why I had not attended class in the last week. I thought about just ignoring them and explaining myself to the instructor about what had happened. I thought the instructor would surely be reasonable enough to understand that I was in the hospital this whole time.

At the end of the class, I tried to approach the instructor but she ignored me and went to the back of the training hall. I felt humiliated. I decided to write a letter to the chief instructor. Unfortunately, I forgot his name. When I went back the third time to, once again try and explain myself, the instructor told me to leave and that I was not welcome there. She said that the school was for serious students.

It was not until then, that I finally understood what it was to loose face. I was disgraced. I was completely humiliated and it was the worst experience I had ever had. Never in a class did I ever expect that type of treatment or did I ever see that coming. I gave up on Aikido and switched to Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I felt that Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners were much kinder and understanding. I recently decided to switch back to Aikido and not let a bad experience ruin my goal to learn Aikido. I have moved to another city and have decided to pursue Aikido at a dojo here in the coming months.

I'm training in the Netherlands. I started on Aikido through my younger sister. We wanted o start doing martial arts. We looked at several sports, which was quite discouraging.

We stopped when we found Aikido. When we saw it we knew it was perfect. Since then I've been doing Aikido. So far, it's been great. We've been having a great time.

Well I got started in Aikido about seven years ago. I just graduated and received my undergraduate degree in business management and promised myself to get back into martial arts.

I practiced Judo in high school for 2 years and was on hiatus from the martial arts til 1994 but I would still go to every martial arts movie that would hit the big screen.

I made rounds with other dojos and differnt stlyes of martial arts and then came across an evening class at Aikido Schools of New Jersey. I watched a beginner's class, asked questions and received literature all along within a friendly and respectful atmosphere. I was suggested to watch the following advance class to see the next level of technique and intensity.

I was hooked from that point. I saw some of the similarities with judo, the circular movements and ukemis and the breakfalls.

I'd always had an interest in martial arts, even when I was a child. I remember buying book after book on Karate, Judo, Jujitsu... and even one on Aikido (after reading an article in Black Belt on O-Sensei and falling in love with those hakamas)... but my parents never paid much attention to my requests to join a school. When I reached adolesence, however, my dad taught me how to box. Both he and his father before him had done a little amateur boxing, so I suppose it was sort of a family legacy.

In high school, I joined the wrestling team, where I had a seminal moment with regard to Aikido. We were practicing take-downs one day, and a kid was shooting in on me and bringing me to the mat time after time. I was getting more than a little discouraged when inspiration struck: I recalled reading in the book I'd bought that Aikido was based on circular movement. So when my opponent made his last shoot, I took a circular step out of his way, gently touched his back as he went by, and took immense satisfaction (being 18 and full of testosterone) in watching him go flying to the mat. Had there been an Aikido dojo south of Philadelphia that day (mid-1960s), I would have walked on my hands to get there.

In college, I did a brief stint in Shotokan Karate. It was during one of the classes that I learned to touch my knees to the ground while doing a 'butterfly' stretch. A visiting instructor (now a very well known Karate teacher in Europe) helped me to get past my limits by standing up on the insides of my knees to increase my range. I can still feel the pain... but ever since I've been able to take that stretch right to the floor.

It wasn't until I reached my mid 40's that I was finally able to begin learning Aikido. I had found an small classified ad in a local newspaper for a children's class, and signed up both of my sons as a Christmas present. When the class was eventually discontinued, they went on to practice at a local dojo--and asked me to join them. This was the chance I'd been waiting for, and since my kids had made the request, I couldn't very well make excuses for myself--too old, too out of shape, too stiff (all of which was true, by the way).

After my first day of practice, I knew I'd found my passion. My kids eventually left Aikido for other interests, but I stayed on. That was nearly eight years ago. I'll be 53 this year, and I'm still practicing 4 days a week. With a little luck (after a certain age, injuries start to become a real problem), I'll be taking my Shodan test this year. And if it happens that I don't, I'll still keep coming on the mat every chance I get--you don't get rid of me that easily.

Back around 1997, I was tired of searching for the secrets of Martial Arts. My health was declining because of an unknown illness, later diagnosed as Meniere's ( a disease that attacks the auditory nerves, and feels like a hangover with the flu on a ship in a hurricane, during episodes of dizzyness.) Kempo Karate/ Wally Jay Jujitsu,Judo, and Gracie Jujitsu, which was more like wrestling, became an epic journey to get through each practice. So, as I was taught by my first Karate teacher, there was only one more leg in the Japanese martial arts square of learning: Aikido. At this point I had six years of practice in my early forties.

All four Martial arts were important to balance the training of a true martial arts spirit, and with the rigorous workouts beyond my physical endurance, Aikido seemed like a way to enjoy many of the Jujitsu techniques and maybe get back to the gymnastic type rolls and falls that would allow me to lose and regain balance while throwing someone or being thrown. Boy was I in for a shock. Aikido was not at all like the Judo, or requiring the strength and force used in previous martial arts studies.

You know what? It took two years for some on my fellow practitioners to, finally trust I would not rip their arms out of their sockets, or throw them across the room with gorilla brute strength. Yeah I am about two hundred and sixty pounds, built like a professional wrestler ... and when I worked in Connecticut I scared the Mean Street Posse so Vince McMahon and some wrestlers came by to see if I wanted to wrestle - but that is another story.

I got into Aikido for the purpose of control without strength, balancing my angry side with a calm and loving spirit, and still being able to keep the other skills I had painstakingly learned from other arts at the price of physical injury to myself and others. Aikido was the window to linking the four arts together in movement of form, and finding the benevolent spirit without anger or the superiority complex of many trainees found in other martial arts.

My Aikido training started way back in the year 2000. Actually a martial arts movie got me interested in the art.

I'm an employee in one of the biggest construction companies in the Philippines and a simple family man. Fortunately, I learned that there was an Aikido dojo within the vicinity where I live. I visited the dojo enrolled in the beginner's class and since then, I got hooked.

I practice three times a week. I also visit other dojos together with my fellow aikidoka to learn more from other senseis. Aikido for me is a unique martial art, and the more you learn and practice, the more you become graceful in the way you move.

This is in reply to Post 48.

I'm totally suprised:
Your mind as blank as your white belt should know everything about dojo etiquette ?
Your arm/wrist wrapped up in gypsum and nobody notices the injured place(s)?
Have you told the teacher that you could not join the training while staying in the hospital ??
I think I missed something.

I wish that I could hear the teacher's point of view too.

Respect...

I first learned of Aikido while I was at college in Albany, NY. Back then, I was constantly studying in the library until it closed. When I'd get home, I was unable to sleep because my mind would be racing from all that I had read. I was exhausted for two reasons: I was somewhat of an insomniac and I did not get enough physical exercise!

It was during this time that one of my classmates noted how jaded I looked and suggested a new form of exercise - Aikido. My immediate response was, "NO, I'm not into that 'karate chop kind of stuff'." Fortunately for me, he was persistent and insisted that I go to watch a class. I attended a class and was not sure why those people were falling so easily. I needed more proof that it was a real martial art. I spoke with the sensei, took a lesson and was convinced--that stuff really works!

I started Aikido 2 years or so ago. In Holland I practised kempo karate and I saw a demonstration of Aikido in Arnhem. My mom was delighted at the mere sight of it, but I was still too narrow-minded to look at other arts. Then 7 years later, already living in Curacao, I had to quit karate because the school was moving and I was bored. My mom got to know this guy at work who practised ... yup ... Aikido! So I took a first lesson right away and I was hooked!

I have learned so much and got so many things out of it. Fellow pupils used to pick on me before I enrolled in Aikido, but Aikido changed me, therefore changing everything. The art also helps me when I feel bad - it always takes all the anger and stress right out of me. There is also nothing like Aikido Camp!

I started Aikido about a year ago, and so far it has been a blast!!! But up to now I have wondered if Aikido is meant for older people and persons who can't perform perfect athletics. Many articles are about older people who couldn't keep up with their Karate or Judo class, so instead they tried Aikido and suddenly they were able to follow the class very well again.

I mean no disrespect, but I have wondered, does Aikido work on the street if you should be in that unlucky situation ? (thank God I haven't been). Or is Aikido more of a slow ineffective martial art? It's just that I have never seen or heard of anybody ever using it in self-defense, and it would be nice to find out if it really works should the situation arise.

I am French and have been practicing Aikido for about 4 years. It has drastically changed my life and the way I perceived it. The only real paradox that I have encountered is not the training in Aikido itself, which undoubtedly takes a lot of rigour, discipline and time, but the politics involved in the art, that has changed and distorded it in various ways (i.e. too many competitions between clubs and so on). Since I have been practicing in two different countries, in different clubs, I have noticed different behaviours and the whole concept of AI-KI-DO has been changed from its true nature.

It is very hard to explain since there is probably no ultimate truth, nevertheless, the atmosphere of the Dojo and the teacher's ways to introduce the techniques and its insights and philosophy are so polymorphic that it has confused me a lot.

Reading the prolific papers, books, articles published everywhere, I was certain that Aikido was universal, bringing everyone under the same sacred roof where we could all practice, leaving our ego, in simple but authentic and sincere harmony.

I was originally introduced to Aikido when I was living in Guam, I was about 8 years old and it was the early 60's. I remember being very excited about practicing and one of the more senior students worked at the day care center where my brother and sister waited for our parents after school, so I even got some practice in there.

Unfortunately a few months after I started training a typhoon struck the island and destroyed the school. The new dojo was much farther away and I couldn't continue. When we were transferred back state side we ended up in Cheaspeake Va., then Long Island, NY. Though I still dreamed of taking up Aikido again, good dojos were hard to find, at least within my limited range of travel.

As I got older I always kept and eye out for Aikido dojos and found one in the early 80's. It was being run by a sensei not much older than me who had great credentials and who I would have liked to trained under, but my career did not allow for it in my schedule working mainly nights. I ran into this sensei again several years later in a new dojo he was opening much closer to me. As the problem of my schedule still remained, I could not dedicate enough time to do justice the practice, so I put it off again. Finally towards the end of August this year I stumbled across another dojo near by set up in a church no less. The sensei there was a student and deshi of he previous one and I immediately felt comfortable with his teaching style and his off mat sincerity when I visited his dojo several times.

I started Aikido in 1991 when one of my supervisors asked me how come I was walking like I was in pain. I explained to him that I was hurt while competing in a Judo tournament. To my surprise, he told me that he knew what I was talking about because he also studied Judo when he was younger. We started talking about techniques and how rough the art can be. I told him my father was A Judo and Jujitsu instructor and had taught me and that I had been trying to follow in his footsteps ever since he passed away in 1984, and that I had tried many different martial arts to try to find the right path for me.

All the arts I had tried were either too aggressive or the instructors were just in it for the money. He then told me that he taught Aikido and that he thought that I might like it. I asked him "what is that! " He said just come see. So I did, and I was somewhat afraid to try as I was always afraid to be thrown around.

So off and on I tried for about 2 1/2 years, and then something terrible happened to one of the other instructors where he lost his eyesight. But that did not stop him. He came back slowly and started teaching again. That was all I needed to realize that I was on the right path. If the spirit of Aikido was that strong and the people as kind and understanding that it had given this instructor the ambition to continue, then just maybe Aikido was for me.

I started Aikido when I was 41. I was an Instructor in the English Department of a well-known university. That year a 50-year-old PhD named Tony joined the department, and he turned out to be a Judo and Aikido practitioner. A bunch of undergraduates formed an Aikido club and asked him to teach. So Tony got permission from the FFA, and invited me (a new friend) to join the group. I had heard of Aikido only vaguely then; and I didn't know exactly what it was. But I was in a sort of crisis period in my career and life, and needed physical activity to clear my mind. Plus, I trusted Tony. So I joined, and I've been practicing for 12 years now.

I find that Aikido helps in my teaching and family life and my other personal relationships, because of its principles of harmony and humility. And as long as I practice I don't get the back pains that I often get when I'm lazy. Tony still teaches at the club today, I have become Assistant Professor in the same department, and have become the moderator for this campus-based Aikido dojo, with two other colleagues. Recently we opened the club to Faculty, Staff, and Alumni as well, since students come and go but we old ones remain.

Way back in 1972 my brother and I had just started training in Karate. This is something we had been trying to do for several years, but our father made us wait. So we had finally found a dojo and got started. Several months into our studies we attended a Karate-Jujitsu tournament in Harlem NY. We stayed for the finals, because some of our seniors were fighting and they promised to have terrific demos of other martial arts.

How I started Aikido is a little odd. I had practiced Tae Kwon Do for a few months many years previously but knew about Aikido due to role playing (Cyberpunk 2020 for anyone who knows what I'm talking about!). So it interested me deeply as I knew that Tae Kwon Do wasn't for me. Especially as me and some friends had been beaten up and I'd been unable to do anything. I just froze when we had been attacked.

I can remember my first day in Aikido like it was yesterday. No, wait. It was yesterday. I had tried other Arts when I was younger and enjoyed them even though I didn't stick with it as long as I would have liked.