Mission Statement.
Aiki Spokane is dedicated to the teachings of Aikido and its philosophy of cooperative peaceful living as well as personal character development both on and off the mat!
Our Training
Aikido is a practice that can be started at anytime of your life and can be continued throughout your life. Through the intentional practice we explore physically, mentally, and spiritually, what it means to harmonize with energy.
We find the natural, spiral movements of the body help to stretch us, strengthen us, and balance us. As we continue to explore the movements we begin to understand how the lessons in the dojo are lessons of living a peaceful and constructive life. We feel the power of harmonizing and creating rather than fighting and destroying.
Aikido has been described as moving meditation, therapeutic, empowering, relaxing, energizing, challenging, fun, and yes it is a powerful martial art, all of this is true. What Aikido is for you will depend on where you are in your journey and what you bring to the table. We take that and grow from there.
We are accepting new students,
no experience necessary.
Join us on the mat to begin your exploration of Aikido. You are welcome to visit us to watch class and discuss your place in our dojo. Better yet wear loose fitting clothes you can move around in, and jump into class. Classes are for adults and teens, only, at this time. Keep an eye here for information on other upcoming classes.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 7:00pm-8:30pm Please arrive 10 minutes early
The Parkwater School Building 5634 E Commerce ave Spokane Valley, WA Off Fancher Near Felt's Field
As a dojo we are a community that cares for, and respects each other on the mat.It shows in personal hygiene, in our etiquette practice, in how we work with our partner, and in how we care for our personal health.
As the times are changing and the pandemic emergency rules are closing down both on the state and federal level we will no longer require Covid-19 vaccination to train. We do highly recommend them. If circumstances change we will adapt. That is part of what Aikido teaches us to do, to not be stagnant. Aikido is after all a moving, living art.
Regular Monthly Dues $120. Introductory rate $85 for the first month.
“The samurai is the first to suffer anxiety for human society, and he is the last to seek personal pleasure”.Morihei Ueshiba
In the practice of Aikido we engage and embrace those who would attack so that we may better understand and re-mold the action of the conflict. In this way we actively choose to include the attacker in creating a solution to the conflict rather than destroying the attackers offering. It is difficult to create a supportive community if we destroy those who conflict with our own ideas.It is equally difficult to embrace that which we fear and disrupts us. Through our training in Aikido we learn to maintain a calm center as we step into the chaos of conflict. It is from this centered, not fear based position, that we can begin to constructively engage with the conflict at hand. Here we can begin to re-mold the conflict into a constructive addition to our community.In this way we create a stronger more harmonious community.
"As soon as you concern yourself with the good and bad of your fellows, you create An opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing,competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you."Morihei Ueshiba
Aikido teaches us to engage without judgment.It shows us how to frolic in the middle of chaos. Able to move freely about it is easier to find the place where we fit in.The place where we are safe and can begin to work the problem at hand.Whether being attacked with a sword or with words the Aikido student strives to stay calm, move to a safe place to better understand and begin to work with the energy. Coming from a safe and centered place we can then begin to develop technique, to work out a solution.
I do not study Aikido to learn technique. I study technique to learn Aikido
Training in a traditional martial art such as Aikido or Karate-do is not about learning to fight.It is easy to learn to hurt, break, or destroy.It is in the martial struggle that we explore a way of bettering ourselves and thereby bettering our community.We are challenged to use our learning to avoid the destruction and violence.We learn to respect each other as we train, helping each partner to grow.This strength built up in our inner world allows us a more positive, fearless, engaging, and constructive reflection to the outer world.The art of Aikido challenges us one step further to not fight or compete with but instead blend with to do as little harm as possible while creating an organic solution that supports creation over destruction."katsujin ken"The life giving sword".Through training in traditional martial arts the inner strength we develop means that when we are attacked verbally we are not in fear and so do not respond with vulgarity and profanity. Instead we open the door to dialog.This is a step toward a more civil society.
In Our Dojo
Flexibility
We emphasize flexibility in our practice. Maintaining a supple, flexible body keeps us safe from injury, allowing us to dissipate the energy of the attack into a smooth, fluid response. Our bodies and minds begin to open new possibilities that push on previous limiting boundaries of movement and perspective.
Life Practice
Our challenges, our conflicts, the attacks we feel seldom line up nicely one at a time for us. They come many at a time and from all directions. In our Aikido practice it is with this in mind. We train with the awareness of our surroundings and conditions so that we do not get stuck, but instead move freely from one challenge to another.
Aikido for All Ages
Aikido is practiced by all ages and physical abililty. We all have something we can work on in the Art of Peace.
Train with Fierce Joy
We train hard, not to defeat an opponent, but instead to make ourselves into better human beings and members of society.