Article Contributed on: 1/11/2008 10:57:31 AM
I belong to a school of martial arts called Castle Rock Aikido. This is a pure Aikido school with no mixing of styles. It is registered with the international Aikikai association.
Jeff Albright is the teacher and though he was born in the United States the majority of his training happened in Japan. He has trained with 25 Aikido masters, and his wife who also teaches was born and raised in Japan. Jeff is one of the most light hearted people I have ever met, and half the time in class you are laughing as much as you are learning.
Aikido is a different from other martial arts in several ways. Aikido means the way or the path to Harmony. There is almost no striking and the only striking is used for distraction and no harm. It is about learning to blend with the attack and so it is defense only. You cannot successfully attack with anything taught in Aikido. True Aikido is solving any conflict in a non violent way. Despite this the techniques you learn are very effective. Many law enforcement schools in Japan and other places in the world use Aikido, or Aikido based techniques because you can disable the attacker without doing him or her real harm.
The founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) believed that it was time for Martial Arts to evolve into a peaceful art used to help bring harmony for the world. He has a book on many of his sayings called "The Art of Peace". If you want more info about the specific school that I attend visit http://www.craikido.com/ Class starts tonight at 8:15pm and runs about 90 minutes. The school is 18+ only at this time. It is like a playground for adults. First time to try is free.