Frequently Asked Questions

Aikido is a Japanese Martial Art, but purely based on self defense. It aims at diffusing an aggression without injuring the attacker. Sytle wise it looks like a mix of Judo and Jui-Jitsu without any punch and Kicks. Please read more about what Aikido is in the Aikido Section of our web site.

It depends how you judge efficiency. Aikido is a purely defensive art and it strives at not hurting the opponent. In doing this it is not only very effective it is absolutely unique.

Many other "Defensive" art will teach to dispatch an opponent with as few blows as possible to put the opponent in a state that he can't fight back. Aikido's goal is that he does not what to fight because it would be futile and pointless.

Aikido is a relatively new martial Art, yet still of very noble decent.

Its founder refered to as O-Sensei is Morihei Ueshiba. He was born in Japan at the time of the Meijin Revolution which saw the abolition of the Samurai Class. For those who have seen "The last Samourai" he could well have been one of the very young lad in the background ;-)

His father and grandfather were both Samourai and noble. They raise and trained Morihei as a warrior. Given the social context in Japan at the time he was also very involved with various ZEN school. In fact the concept of Aikido is said to have come to him in a moment of Zen enlightenment.

It is them with his extensive background in Martial arts that he focused all his energy to create and art where both people entering a fight could come out uninjured.

O-Sensei died in Japan in the 60s

Aikido is an art of suttleties. If you read the textbook what it says is that aikido seeks to redirect the opponents negative energy away from the attack.

What that means more practically in many technique, is that instead of blocking a blow, the Aikidoka learns to move out of the way of the blow, absorb the blow and blend with it, and through various technique use the force behind the blow and add his own force in essentially the same direction. By doing this the opponent is is put off balance momentarily.

Once this is achieve, the aikidoka learns to keep his opponent off balance just enough to bring him where he needs him to be. Either away or simply down. At no time is the aikidoka overpowering the opponent through strength and Force.

Aikido is a gentle art, where little force is needed. This is why it is ideal for people of any size, health and stature.

Good observation! Indeed because Aikido emphases a non-egocentric dicipline and promote peace through internal self-dicipline that are no outward marking of rank. There are only two belt colours, black or white. The actual black belt is most often not even seem as it is worn under the Hakama or dark colour pants that are also reserved for black belts.

Becasue of all the finess and subtleties of Aikido, it is common to see even avid students take 7 to 12 years of training to obtain a black belt. Therefore thare are pictures of students that look like they are doing advance technique simply because indeed they are advance students.

All techniques have various level of intensity, and as the Aikido phylosophie strive to never injure an attacker, beginners are never put outside of their comform zone and are brought to progress at their own speed.

The short answer is 7 to 10 years. That is much more than many other martial art but that is due to the level of finess required to effectively use Aikido.

It is much simpler to block a punch than to learn to blend with the incoming punch and to take control of the force that it delivers. Please I encourage you to read more on the phylosophie of Aikido in the section Aikido on this web site.

That is strickly up to you. Having learned other martial art except maybe Judo would only make very little differences. Likewise, having learned Aikido first would not necessarily be any advantage in learning another art.

Note, that the phylosophie of Aikido is significantly different from other martial arts. Read more...

Aikido is in many Dojo taught to Children of as little as 8 years old. The philosophie, the health benefits and the building of the self-determination to striving at an art are all excellent for chidren.

The reason that our club and many others do not have active classes with children is simply because of demands. Should there be enough demands to support a children class we would entertain its creation.

Should you be interested please contact us either through Email or by phone.

Aikido is an excellent martial art for women for the following reasons:

Emphasis is in Balance, no force require (this is actually actively taught)
It is purely defensive, there is no aggressivity.
There is no sparring (often disliked by women)
promote peace, the word "Aikido" is often translated by "the Art of Peace"

You are never too old to start Aikido. The intensity of any technique is always controled and dictated by the intensity of the attack. Therefore in a sense you are always in control of how far you want to go. We not only encourage you to go at your own pace but we will also slow you down as often as required.

No one gains anything from injuries! What you will gain is better flexibility, agility and balance and the passion of learning an art that is endless in what it can teach us.

Aikido is for everyone. Our emphasis is that a student does the best that he or she can. Never will be push someone to do or participate in someting that he or she believes is not within their capabilities.

All this being said, if you are not sure we strongly recommend that you cousult you physician. Also feel free to come and see us. And please, if you do come to see us make sure you talk to us before leaving so that we can explain what it is you may have seen. Some people get scarred after seeing a few minutes of training not knowing that they have just witness two students that have done Aikido for 5 years together. There are only two belt colour black or white.

Of course Mandala-Aikido is open to anyone you would like to practice Aikido. Please look at the section "classes" to validate class time.

If you are not sure, come a see us. Plan to stay for the whole class and even come early so someone can sit with you and explain what you would expect to see in a class. This is important becasue at times the classes are at a higher level because all the student on the mat are at a higher level. As an outside observer everyone is wearing a while belt at least until you are black.

remember Aikido is our passion, give us a chance to share it with you!

Yes. you can come and join us for a full week to get the feeling of what a class is and see how Aikido was made for you.

Visitors are more than welcome.

If possible give us a call before at (514) 457-6641but if you can't we will still be please to have you over.