City Aikido

I am a woman who has been training in Aikido for 16 years and I’ve been at City Aikido for 13 of them. I got my start with another teacher who was one of Nadeau sensei’s students in the North Bay, and when I moved to San Francisco, I joined City Aikido.
As soon as I walked through the doors and into Nadeau sensei’s class, I was hooked. One of the first things I noticed right away was the powerful and energetic atmosphere of the classes. This is largely due to Nadeau sensei’s emphasis of O’Sensei’s Process, and it’s one of the aspects I love about training at this dojo. I’ve found that the Process has helped me to reach a center of power that I can draw from not only during my training sessions on the mat, but also out in the real world. Aikido is an immensely therapeutic and transformative physical art. It’s also a whole lotta fun!
The head-​teachers at our school are all highly skilled (5^th, 6^th, 7^th degree blackbelts) and each bring their own embodiment of the art into their classes. In each class you will practice a variety of techniques and you’ll train harmoniously with different partners at a variety of levels.
We have classes every weekday in the evenings from 6:15 — 7:15 pm (fundamentals/​all levels) and 7:15 — 8:15 pm (intermediate/​advanced). We also have noon classes. And for you early birds, we even have morning classes on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:15 — 8:15 am. I teach on Monday mornings and would love for you to come join me. Aikido is a great way to start the day!
Stop by the dojo. Check it out. Hope to see you on mat.

I’ve trained at City Aikido for over twelve years and with good reason. I have visited many dojos in the Bay Area and Europe. They all appear to bring something to the table but City Aikido stands out in a singular manner. Nadeau Shihan (7^th Dan), has over 50 years in Aikikai Aikido, trained under the founder Morihei Ueshiba (O Sensei), established a personal relationship with O Sensei and has subsequently devoted his life to teaching people how to transform themselves through a process of orderly refinement within Aikido. Unlike many formidable and laudable teachers he has chosen to pursue O Sensei’s process rather than merely techniques. In parallel with his unique and acclaimed teaching style he continues to highlight the self defense aspects of the art. In addition to his leadership, this dojo has a wealth of veteran teaching staff. The atmosphere in the dojo is friendly, welcoming and comparatively casual while honoring the martial and cultural etiquette inherent in Aikido.
City Aikido truly offers something for everyone. Beginning students are closely mentored and guided through the basics while advanced students can explore a veritable tomb of experience from veteran teachers such as Nick Scoggin (6^th Dan), Jack Wada (6^th Dan), Richard Moon (5^th Dan), Elaine Yoder (5^th Dan), Laurin Herr (5^th Dan), Ross Madden (4^th Dan) and Roy Johnston (4^th Dan). Meanwhile, intermediates (such as myself) keep coming back to explore the ever growing and changing possibilities which we uncover in any typically diverse class.
Give City Aikido a try, you won’t regret it and might just be the start of that personal transformation you’ve been searching for.

I love training at City Aikido. Everyone (adults, anyway… no children’s classes) is welcome, all you need is the desire to improve and the willingness to give it a try. City Aikido has a friendly, non-​intimidating environment where all are accepted. Aikido is not about winning or beating someone else, it’s really all about you… are you developing and growing, becoming more centered and grounded?
Besides, aikido is a great way to play and have fun. There are classes every weekday in the morning, at noon and in the evening. Weekend classes are in the morning on both Saturday and Sunday.

I am a black belt who has trained at City Aikido for ten years. This is by far the most experienced and highest quality dojo in the bay area. Nadeau Sensei is one of the highest ranked teachers in the world and was a direct student of O’Sensei – the founder of Aikido, which carries tremendous weight in the Aikido world. He has taught many of the teachers in Northern California (has 40 dojo’s under him globally), was a pioneer in the development of Aikido in America, and is highly respected worldwide for his unique approach and profound mastery of the art. I can’t express enough how training at City Aikido has helped me to develop as a human being over the years. Having trained in many dojo’s: California, New York, Europe, Japan, etc, I can justifiably say that the entire teaching staff is phenomenal – the level of sophistication, breadth and quality of instruction is unmatched. Students are encouraged to develop in a natural way and importantly, are each given what they need as individuals to progress, alongside a strong grounding in the fundamentals. The dojo itself is clean and has a vibrant, spiritual feel, with nice calligraphy from O’Sensei himself and others. The community is welcoming to newcomers.

Very welcoming atmosphere. I had never tried Aikido before, and loved the class. I had an excellent first class and signed up on the spot for a trial month membership. I went a few times a week for a month.
I didn’t really get to train with the Sensei or even most of the regular instructors. But that was okay. I really liked training with the black belt students. There was a nice balance between tradition and proper technique, and just having you throw yourself into and get the feel for the martial art. And even in the first class I got the chance to feel how powerful Aikido could be, even against a much larger opponent. If you really want to study Aikido, and this dojo is convenient for you, I would recommend it. There was a great mix of female and male students of all levels (still more men than women; but there was always at least one senior female student in each class I took).
What I liked most was that, most of the experienced students come early for the beginning class. To refine their form for themselves but also to encourage and train beginners. I loved being able to train with other beginners as well as experienced practitioners as well.
Ultimately I decided Aikido itself wasn’t for me, and so I don’t go anymore. (I just don’t like to roll around on the ground that much; and if I am going to spend that much money I would like to also have access to a full gym where I can work out).
One caution in general. Aikido is hard on the knees. So if you have bad knees, then Aikido might not be for you. Otherwise, it really is a beautiful art form.