Welcome to the study of Aikido! I'm psyched by how interested you are. :)
I'd had 4-ish years of Aikido Kokikai experience, plus a smattering of 6-8 months of time spent at various aikido styles around the world, before I moved to Somerville and started dojo hunting. I'm also MIT affiliated.
I visited Shobu Aikido, and was super impressed. They seem to have a very active dojo and a welcoming community! Their style seems to be more traditional than that of Kokikai (my 'home' style, which is extremely modern). I personally was turned off by the location and the price. I'm a graduate student and a pedestrian; getting to Shobu regularly was going to be a problem.
I have heard excellent things about NE Aikikai, and met several of their practitioners. I'm sad to say I have yet to visit their dojo. I will soon.
I studied briefly with the Aikikai branch at Harvard, under Hall Sensei. She's excellent. The classes (I was there over the summer) were smaller than I expected them to be - most classes seemed to weigh in at about 3-4 people, but I liked the personal attention. It was a good workout. One of my housemates practices there regularly.
I studied briefly with the Aikikai branch at MIT. That's a slightly bigger crowd of slightly older (30s+, generally?) students. Their sensei, I'm blanking on the name, is also fantastic. Very gentle. They seem to have a regular practice schedule involving 5-6 students.
I landed permanently at the Kokikai branch at MIT. I love it here; in my opinion, the people are remarkably friendly, intelligent, and responsive. Kokikai at MIT is fun, intellectually and physically stimulating. We're more 'modern' than most dojos I've practiced in; not only is our home style (Kokikai) relatively new, but our dojo leader spends a lot of time thinking and innovating on his own. We have a mixed body of students ranging from college-aged to 40+ years old; practices can range from 3-4 students to 20 or so. It can be hard to 'get into' MIT dojo, because practicing with us requires access to the MIT gym - this can be quite expensive.
Good luck, and feel free to contact me off-forum if you'd like me to elaborate, or bring you to a first class. :)
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Date: 2011-04-01 05:55 pm (UTC)I'd had 4-ish years of Aikido Kokikai experience, plus a smattering of 6-8 months of time spent at various aikido styles around the world, before I moved to Somerville and started dojo hunting. I'm also MIT affiliated.
I visited Shobu Aikido, and was super impressed. They seem to have a very active dojo and a welcoming community! Their style seems to be more traditional than that of Kokikai (my 'home' style, which is extremely modern). I personally was turned off by the location and the price. I'm a graduate student and a pedestrian; getting to Shobu regularly was going to be a problem.
I have heard excellent things about NE Aikikai, and met several of their practitioners. I'm sad to say I have yet to visit their dojo. I will soon.
I studied briefly with the Aikikai branch at Harvard, under Hall Sensei. She's excellent. The classes (I was there over the summer) were smaller than I expected them to be - most classes seemed to weigh in at about 3-4 people, but I liked the personal attention. It was a good workout. One of my housemates practices there regularly.
I studied briefly with the Aikikai branch at MIT. That's a slightly bigger crowd of slightly older (30s+, generally?) students. Their sensei, I'm blanking on the name, is also fantastic. Very gentle. They seem to have a regular practice schedule involving 5-6 students.
I landed permanently at the Kokikai branch at MIT. I love it here; in my opinion, the people are remarkably friendly, intelligent, and responsive. Kokikai at MIT is fun, intellectually and physically stimulating. We're more 'modern' than most dojos I've practiced in; not only is our home style (Kokikai) relatively new, but our dojo leader spends a lot of time thinking and innovating on his own. We have a mixed body of students ranging from college-aged to 40+ years old; practices can range from 3-4 students to 20 or so. It can be hard to 'get into' MIT dojo, because practicing with us requires access to the MIT gym - this can be quite expensive.
Good luck, and feel free to contact me off-forum if you'd like me to elaborate, or bring you to a first class. :)