A review posted on Yelp.com by Jenny H. on February 14. 2010.

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My husband and I have always been quite adamant advocates of resolution of conflict through the use of constructive verbal communication. Alas, the world is not always responsive to that ideal.

Our 6 year old son recently has experienced several incidents in school where bullying was involved. Fortunately, none of those incidents were serious, nevertheless, he came to us and asked if we could teach him how not to feel so, in his words, "helpless".

Besides being thoughtful and empathetic, our son also tends to avoid conflict and competition, so karate, tae kwon do, and silat are out. My husband suggested aikido because of it's philosophy of defense. We eventually made list and checked out the dojos.

When we finally visited Aiki Zenshin, we instantly noticed the absence of trophies. Non-competition driven, check. We stepped into the tatami room, and were instantly greeted with not a combative athletic studio, but a large, clean, and quiet place of reflection. Calming peace, check. Except for the occasional cooing of several doves, the utter silence almost compels you to forget the days worries and just exist.

Sensei Sunny, is well, as best as I can describe, a larger than life grandfather-esque figure with a white mustache, but his calm soft spoken voice only serve to highlight the fluid efficiency of his physical demeanor. His presence seem to say that he's purpose here to teach and has no need to prove his aikido prowess.

First impressions dovetailed so well with my son's personality, that we decided to give it a try, and after that first hour, we instantly observed the following:

1. Respect is top priority. Respect of the art, the sensei, fellow students, the dojo, and the parents is intertwined into all entrance and exit rituals.

2. Discipline is maintained. Goofing off or loss of focus are never allowed to escalate since they are immediately addressed in a almost magical way. The sensei simply separates the offending student from the rest of the class for a minute without ever raising his voice.

3. Confidence is projected. This really has a lot to do with the underlying respect each student is expected to have with everyone in the dojo. More experienced students are encouraged to work with novices in a way that not only brings up the skill level of the newbies but also solidifies their own.

4. Focus and purpose is woven into every move and instruction--even down to the Japanese vocabulary the students are expected to remember eventually.

Check, check, and check.

Speaking of focus, several months since his first class, our son is started to show a quiet confidence in himself that we've never seen before. While sledding during the Holidays, he crashed into a fence when my husband was tending to our daughter. When we finally noticed that he was sitting by himself in the snow, my husband approached him and inquired if he was okay. His lip was bleeding. Aparently, he crashed his sled into the fence earlier. Only a few months ago, if this had happened, he would've been inconsolable and hysterical at the sight of even a small scrape where blood was involved--let alone a bloody lip. Instead, he was just sitting there with palms clasped and eyes closed...meditating! Wow! He was able to calm himself down on his own simply by focusing his thoughts. Unbelievable.

It was in that moment, none of the check boxes mattered. What mattered is the purposefully beneficial effect aikido has had on our son. The point was driven home for my husband and I that aikido, specifically Sensei Sunny, is going to be an important and positive influence on our son for a very long time.

We are very lucky to have found this dojo.

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Last Updated on Thursday, 18 February 2010 13:57