Free Aikido

I call it "Aiki Without Sweat"

This is another of my visitor's questions, originally published in my Aikido eLetter in August 2004.

It covers the teacher/student relationship in Aikido, or most martial arts. And it touches on what's free and what needs to be paid for...

Dear David,

I am very much interested in learning Aikido. I have done martial arts when I was a teenager in Tea-kwon do.

I have read what you said and I respect it very much. It is hard to find a master that will totally understand you and one that you can trust in these days in our world. I am 5 ft 7 inches tall and weigh 298 pounds. Yes am overweight, but I have not lost my agility. I wish to seek to learn martial arts again, but with a master I can trust and that will understand me as well.

As for as money goes it will be hard to afford classes where I live which is in Studio City, California. I wish to seek a master that I can trust as a friend and a brother and will not limit me from learning what he or she knows. I would like the master to understand me as an individual and trust me as well. I seek a true master of the old ways of teaching a student. It will be hard to find in these days of the world we live in. Money is tight, but if I cannot find this then I will learn in books and read and practice. Everything in our world of today is about money, and not like the old ways of teaching and it is sad. So get back at me when you can, ok.

Alberto Del G.


Dear Alberto,

You cannot expect to have a close relationship to any master until you have proved yourself a worthy student. You do this by attending classes regularly, and by training diligently... for three or five years!

You say money is tight, but dojo fees need to be paid. The building has to be paid for, and there are insurances, equipment, water and electricity, repairs, advertising and other costs... not to mention the wages of the Instructors. There are overhead costs to be met, even if the instructors themselves do not get paid.

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