Finding a new dojo

In an interview, when Paul Linden Sensei was asked about how someone should choose a dojo one of his points in the answer was the following: go and visit several dojos and see how people treat each other. If you want to be treated like the people there are treated (either by other students or by the sensei of the dojo) it's probably the place for you. I intended to keep this in mind when looking for a new dojo in the Netherlands.

After arriving to my new country of residence, I knew I had to find a dojo as soon as it's possible because I knew that the further I would postpone it the less likely it would be to restart my aikido studies with an initial high enthusiasm. Also, I had to start looking for a dojo because I didn't want what had happened to me before: visiting several places, losing hope to find a good and affordable dojo and giving up training for a while. So I did some research online and found a good number of dojos I could visit.

There were a couple of factors that I wanted to take into account (the order does not necessarily reflect importance):

1. Rank of the instructor and number of yudansha (people with dan grades) - ideally, both numbers should be high.
2. 'Style' of aikido they do - ideally, they should do and explain things similarly to what I am used to, so I don't need to adapt too much and perhaps accept explanations that do not seem logical with the explanations I have heard, seen and accepted in the past.
3. The way people treat, train with, and teach each other - I was looking for a friendly atmosphere and a training style that is not too soft and not too hard.
4. Type of trainings - weapons trainings would be considered a plus, as I wanted to learn more weapons and improve my timing and distance keeping skills. Cutting shomens at home was certainly not enough.
5. Number of trainings - I found that two trainings per week might not be enough to improve steadily. Two trainings is good, but more would be better.
6. Accessibility - if I want to attend trainings frequently and regularly it might be a good thing if I don't need to travel an hour to get to the dojo.

Since writing the above points I realised that there is one that probably summarises some of them and thus, can be the most important thing when you need to choose a dojo. Here it is:

• The way they move - look at the people at the dojo, especially at the sensei and people above your grade, and ask a simple question from yourself: "Would I want my body (and mind) to move like that? Would I want to move like them?" You can ask a related question, too, but for this you will probably need substantial experience in aikido: "Would they allow me to move slightly differently if that seems to work better for me or if it feels more comfortable (and it still works)?"

Since writing the above - logical looking - points I have realised that they are nice, ideal, and completely rubbish. I don't care about the pros and cons when deciding to stay with a dojo. I don't make a list and above X% of the ticks I decide to stay. All I care about is whether it feels good or not. The rest are just justifications or excuses. I feel good so I will try to find logical points to support that. And you can be sure I will find logical supporting points when it feels good. Then if I don't feel so good I will certainly find points and requirements that are not met by the place. So I think one should let go all the intellectual, logical stuff and focus on the emotional experience and various types of sensations.

The above ideas will probably be refined over time, so don't consider them final, or complete. It's a topic that I don't think I can simply leave and not think about any more. Changing a dojo is a too big thing to just do it and act as if it didn't happen or as it 'just' happened and that's it.

In the next post, I will describe my experiences with the first dojo I decided to visit.