Essential Aikido

I started looking at different martial arts to find an activity that would get me out of the house and improve my quality of life. I wanted self-discipline and self-defense without aggression. Essential Aikido has not only gotten me out of the house, but has also given me a unique, powerful perspective. It showed me how to see my “failures” as feedback on how to improve. Since I joined, my confidence, decisiveness, and fitness have increased. Now I know my strength and value and I can use that to impact the world around me in a positive way.

I've always been interested in learning a martial art to help integrate my mind, body, and spirit. Aikido appealed to me because of it's spiritual nature, and the perspective of viewing an attacker as a partner as opposed to an opponent. Our dojo helps me achieve my goals while also teaching me practical self-defence principles. During Covid, we came together to support each other, and Aikido provided a wonderful social activity despite the chaos happening around us. Aikido has also helped me stay in shape, improve my posture, and build my confidence.

When my 13 year old daughter told me she wanted to begin martial arts training, I knew that it would be something she would enjoy, but I needed to find a dojo that offered a nurturing environment with people her own age and size. After the first session with Sensei Tom, we knew that we had found the right place! He is incredibly supportive and engaged with his students - from teenagers to middle-aged adults. I would watch each class and was impressed to see the changes in my daughter. As she continued her training, her self confidence grew, and she became much more engaged with her fellow students. I am pleased to have her studying Aikido with Sensei Tom and feel that this environment is a great one to get otherwise tentative students out of their shells and into a great and positive martial arts environment!

I wanted my two teenage sons to learn how to defend themselves but I didn’t want aggressive martial art, Aikido is the perfect choice. My sons really like the dojo, they learn self-defense techniques, discipline and still have fun at the same time. Everyone in the dojo collaborates and helps each other.

I have been looking for a non-competitive martial arts for my teenage son and knowing that Aikido typically meets that requirement I signed him up with Sensei Tom. Over time I myself grew to appreciate the benefits of this martial art training and specifically Sensei Tom’s way of teaching and combining the technical side with the spiritual mind-centric side of Aikido. So I decided to join the dojo for myself as well and am so glad I did. The benefits of practicing Aikido are definitely worth to me. Aside from the increased flexibility the Aikido training and especially Sensi Tom’s personalized attention helped me regulate my mindset as well and provides a whole new perspective not only on what I can do with my body but on everyday life as well. I am really looking forward to every training session we have and will be continuing to do so. As Sensei Tom always says “Just keep showing”. This is the first step to an improved myself.