
Testimonials
Tacoma Aikikai is a uniquely wonderful dojo created and operated by highly-skilled, kind and dedicated teachers. We are truly lucky to have them in the PNW. I recommend this dojo to absolutely anyone.
i keep thinking about other people out there with what tiktok might call “neurospicy” or neurodiverse brains, peeps who need positive obsessions to “sink their teeth into” mentally. for me personally, finding aikido and investing in myself by showing up for it has had the most positive overall mental and physical health improvement benefits of any commitment i have ever made to myself. i do it because i need a schedule and a group to get my body moving and i need something to focus on just cos brain go brrrr. i do it because i’m in love with the dojo and the energy that practice brings with “exercise-related endorphins” and the reward of challenging myself to get up and try again to go to practice, get up and try again to fall more gracefully, get up and try a technique again. a major part of aikido’s benefit to me derives directly from the nature that it starts out difficult and it stays soooo difficult every time especially when i get better and stronger. i want to tell literally all of my friends to come join me at the dojo, because of the joy and light that practice has been shining for me during this pandemic era.
I began training at Tacoma Aikikai almost a year ago with my son, and couldn’t be more pleased with our choice. We looked around at, and heavily researched, a number of other dojos (Aikido and martial arts) and found the atmosphere of Tacoma Aikikai to be the best for us by far.
Teachers, students, and the dojo at large are welcoming and engaging from the very first, encouraging all of us to meet the challenges of aikido with grace and humor. Shared sweat will often make for quick community–but beyond that, there is a care and diligence that pervade the dojo that I have seldom found elsewhere.