How to choose the perfect place to train P 1

If we search the web we found tons of suggestion about how to find the perfect discipline for us. Yet, you will find almost nothing if you seek advice on choosing the perfect place to practice it. This is because the guiding factors in our choice are often logistical, and we fail to see their real meaning. Instead, the choice of where to train holds decisive value in our satisfaction with the practice, and the aspects to consider are numerous and often not intuitive.

Today, I will guide you through the maze of considerations before choosing the perfect place to train, starting with the example of choosing an Aikido dojo.

In this first part, I will share my story – how I chose my practice location.

Next week, we will recap together, starting from my experience, all the little tips to keep in mind to avoid making this crucial choice wrong!

Comment on the episode post on Instagram to share your story: How did it go when you chose your favorite place to train? And send me a DM to suggest content for upcoming episodes and help grow this community https://www.instagram.com/ritsu_aikido/

And if you are in Rome, we look forward to training with you in the dojo! All the info here: https://kohakuaikidoroma.com/

For further information: 

DOJO: 道場, a Japanese term indicating the place where martial arts practice takes place, originally inherited from Chinese Buddhist tradition. It originally referred to the place where Buddha attained enlightenment and, by extension, places designated for religious practice in Buddhist temples. The term was later adopted in the military and bujutsu practice, influenced by Zen tradition during the Edo period, and is still widespread in the martial arts community. NOGAKU: 能楽 is one of the traditional styles of Japanese theater, composed of the Noh lyrical drama and the comedic kyogen. Traditionally, both types of theater are performed together, with kyogen interspersed between various Noh performances during the day. 

FUJIMOTO YOJI: Fujimoto Yoji Sensei, 8th dan, Deputy Educational Director of Aikikai in Italy. 

HAKAMA: 袴 It is a traditional Japanese garment that resembles a wide-legged pant-skirt or a pleated skirt. It is tied at the waist and is approximately ankle-length. Nowadays, the hakama is used for tradition in some martial arts descended from Bujutsu (a collection of ancient Samurai practices) such as Iaido, Kenjutsu, Kendo, Kyudo, Daito-ryu, and Aikido. Hakama used in martial arts are made of cotton, silk, polyester, or a blend of these three fibers. The hakama is also a ceremonial dress, and in this case, it is made of silk. In the case of Shinto ceremonies (the Japanese polytheistic and animistic religion), the priest wears a white hakama, male assistants wear light green hakama, and female assistants wear red-orange hakama. The folds of the hakama symbolize the virtues of Budo (the Japanese martial way).

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Transcript

What's up cuties, this is The Ritsu’s vibez Podcast and if you're looking for that moment of inspiration that comes when you least expect it, then you're in the right place. In this space we talk about what happens to us every day through a special lens, the martial way of the samurai, which that genius Ueshiba Morihei transformed into the art of Aikido. What? Don't you know what I'm talking about? Then stay with me.

Online there is an almost unlimited offer of suggestions regarding the choice of the sport best suited to us, the best martial art for us, the discipline in general best suited to us. Yet if you search you find almost nothing on what evaluations should be made to choose the most suitable place for us. Let’s suppose we have chosen to practice Aikido.

Aikido is practiced in the dojo, the dojo is the place where the Martial Arts Path is studied. How do we choose the most suitable dojo for us? Because it's not just about choosing the place closest to our home. The place where we choose to begin an experience that we will perhaps continue throughout our lives is crucial and there are truly more than one factors to take into consideration.

For today, let's talk about this, my personal experience on choosing the dojo and my suggestions on the things to take into consideration to find the space that will change your life. Let's go! 

As I was saying, the choice of the place to practice concerns whatever type of discipline we choose, not even necessarily a sporting discipline, but in order to simplify the suggestions I give you, let's use Aikido as an example. As I told you, Aikido is practiced in the dojo.

Dojo is a word made up of two kanji. One simply means street, Do, Michi. In Japanese is commonly used to talk about the road but metaphorically it also indicates the Way, in the sense of path. Jo is literally the place where martial arts are practiced, so the dojo is what we would commonly call a gym, but as a concept it has a much higher value. We have decided to start our adventure with Aikido and we are looking for the right dojo for us. It is crucial to understand where, not only because many schools seem qualitatively high and then they are not, but above all because the school we choose must resonate with our spirit and our motivations linked to the study of martial arts.

In fact, very often we start from logistical reasons, but the most important point is why we chose a certain discipline. What are we looking for in that discipline? For example, I chose to practice Aikido for a very unphilosophical reason. My back hurt after years and years and years of volleyball. I absolutely needed a discipline that would help me make my back more flexible. I have never been particularly good at practicing disciplines such as yoga, pilates or simply activities in the gym. They weren't suited to my style because I have always played sports, especially team sports at a competitive level. So I have always seen sport not so much as something to stay fit, but as something that with a discipline to be learned with rules, practice partners, goals, exams. I saw it in a very structured way with a real path largely linked to competitiveness.

I have been extremely attracted to martial arts since I was little. My parents were the classic parents who wanted you to do swimming or athletics because they were complete disciplines. So basically it ended up that, having moved on to volleyball, I literally didn't touch my toes because I had never done any discipline that had structured stretching.

And when I was around 26, 27, 28, I was extremely coordinated, I was very good at the sports I practiced, but I really didn't feel flexible. This thing pissed me off guys like hell. So martial arts had always seemed to me like something that was done, that was practiced by very flexible people with crazy body control.

In my mind it was like: how cool must a guy, or even better a girl being a martial artist, wow, strong, maybe beautiful…top, for me that was truly the top. It must be also added that I really liked Japan, always, I liked manga, I watched anime on television, cartoons, in short I'm one of those who grew up with Bim Bum Bam, so practically all the anime that back then came out as cartoons highly censored, but which in any case gave us a taste of Japan, it has always fascinated me so much, therefore a Japanese martial art…fantastic, top. I'm saying top a lot. 

And so in my interest in Japan I had met some kids with same interests, friends who were passionate about Japan, passionate about manga and also passionate about Japanese theater who studied at university and some of them, one in particular who among other things now lives in Japan, so he also made a life choice, he was very interested in Aikido and he sent me information and I was fascinated by the fact that Aikido was not an aggressive discipline, the circularity fascinated me a lot, I remember this drawing of the Vitruvian man dressed in the hakama and I found it philosophically wonderful as an image and then I have to be honest, I liked the idea of ​​being able to do a martial art that was physically demanding but which could be started at any age, did not require particular starting flexibility, as in the case of artistic gymnastics for example, to be started very young. Aikido can be practiced even at 70 years old, it depends on how intensely you practice it, so the fact that it was a bit an accessible martial art, that anyone could in some way practice, made me think that it could also be approached by a person totally unsuitable to practice it, like me. 

Therefore summing it up the interest in Japan, the fact that it had a philosophical aspect, many rules, the fact that it made the back very flexible, the fact of falling into acrobatic way was crazy cool for me…I really started to consider to try and where I could do it, also because there was another aspect, it wasn't competitive, it didn't have competitions and I, coming from a life of racing and exibitions, I was very fascinated by the idea of ​​being able to do something just for the sake of doing it, so I start looking the dojo.

I lived in Milan at the time, I'm the kind of type who does real assessments when has to choose something and always goes for the top tier, so what did I go looking for: the central dojo of Milan and what was the biggest association? the Aikikai. The largest dojo inside the Aikikai? The Aikikai Milan and the dojo Sensei was even a Japanese one, Fujimoto Sensei: perfect. I sent an email and they told me to start anytime but a week later my boss who was based in Rome called me and told me that after Christmas, it was already December, after Christmas I had to come back to Rome. I was like: “how am I in Rome?” And he said: “oh no, we're moving you because a big program needs to start, it's internal to the company on the development of an anti-corruption set of rules, we want to include you in the team and the team is based in Rome” and that was the classic offer that couldn't be refused, especially in a phase of my life in which I had not yet turned 30 and I was still someone who really believed in my career. I was also coming back to my native city even though I loved Milan, I obviously accepted the offer and so bye bye dojo… I went to Rome and with the change, in short, a lot of time passed by before I said: “no, okay, come on, let's go back to this thing I had thought of” and at that point Rome isn't Milan, I rode around on my bicycle in Milan, I went everywhere, so wherever the dojo was I would had no logistic issues, but when I returned to Rome I had a whole series of different issues so at that point logistics became important, so what did I do? I looked for the classic dojo closest to my house, completely at random. I found three, I still remember it now and I looked at the web pages, the one that seemed more structured but above all the one that had the most available training times was the one I chose and I went to see the teacher… What happened next, but above all, what my story taught me, the aspects you absolutely need to consider when choosing the ideal place to train, I will tell you in the next episode. Stay tuned because some elements, truly, would never cross your mind, and yet they are essential! Comment the Instagram post of this episode on Instagram and tell me our personal story…how did you chose the perfect place to practice? I wanna know! 
Thank you for being with me and I’ll see you in the next episode!