[ ncsu : student organizations : aikido : beginners ]

Beginner Information

Please read this before coming to practice. There's no need to memorize it, as it is just to give you an idea of what to expect.

Dressing for Practice

The practice of Aikido requires loose-fitting clothing. As a beginner, you may not have a martial arts training uniform. The next best thing to wear is exercise clothing or gym clothes. For most people, this will be a T-shirt and sweatpants. If you have a martial arts uniform, go ahead and wear it, or at least wear the pants. Longer pants are preferred over shorts. However, we won't turn you away from practice if you aren't dressed exactly right, so don't worry too much.
Please note: your jewelry, watches, and belts will probably have to come off - they will be uncomfortable and get in the way. Shoes also come off, although some people opt to keep their socks. If you're embarrassed about foot odor, put deodorant on your feet, it works very well.

Etiquette

When you come for the first time you may feel awkward because you don't know the procedures of bowing and such. Not to worry, everyone gets confused at first. Here's a quick guide to bowing:

When you first step onto the mat you must bow to the front of the mat where there will be a picture of O-Sensei. This is to show respect to the founder of Aikido. Normally, this bow is done from a seated position. But it is acceptable to do a standing bow (hands at your side and bend at the waist).

Then, you should sit in line with the other students and wait for the teacher to get on the mat. The teacher will go to the middle of the mat and bow to the kamiza (the picture of O-Sensei). The entire class will bow with the teacher. Then, the students will bow to the teacher and class will begin.

The basic format of the class is that the teacher will demonstrate a technique and the students will partner up and practice while the sensei (teacher) watches over the class. So, when the teacher is finished demonstrating, everyone bows to the teacher then finds a student to work with and bows to that student.

At the end of class the procedure from the beginning of class is repeated. Then, students bow to all the people they worked with. At this point class is over.

When getting off the mat bow to the kamiza just like when you got on the mat.

The most important thing to remember is that if you get confused, follow what the people with uniforms are doing.

Whenever you are on the mat and not practicing (either the teacher is explaining something to you or you are working in a group of three) you should sit down.
During practice there shouldn't be a whole lot of talking going on. If there is any talking it should be about the technique being practiced.
If you or your partner are confused about something it is ok to get the teacher's attention.
When practicing aikido, one person is performing the technique (nage, pronounded 'na-gay') while the other person is having the technique performed on them (uke, pronounced 'oo-kay'). The role of uke is not to sit there like a training dummy nor is it to try and resist nage. You want to act in such a way that the nage can learn while you as uke will not get hurt. In class you will learn how to do this.