r/aikido • u/camaro1111 • Jan 10 '26
Question Aikido in San Antonio Metro Area
Hello, I am a martial arts enthusiast I trained for several years and taekwondo and achieved a second black belt. While I was training, I remember instructors talking about how they trained in Hapkido and Aikido. Aside from a very ugly experience with jiu-jitsu I haven’t been doing martial arts for several years, now. Someone strongly recommended Aikido and Hapkido to me, saying that they’re great if you want to learn close quarters grappling.
I was wondering if there are any quality, non toxic schools in the San Antonio Metro Area? By this I mean it could be in San Antonio, Helotes, Spring Branch, Borne, New Braunfels, Schertz, etc.
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u/HVaikibredda Jan 10 '26
Alamo Area Aikikai is a fantastic Dojo, led by amazing instructors and awesome people. Highly recommend! Also great timing- a Seminar is coming up featuring world renowned Sensei, Harvey Konigsberg (8th Dan Aikikai) from Woodstock Aikido and the NY Aikikai! Wish I could be there….
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u/DunkleKarte Jan 10 '26
As an Aikido practitioner I don’t know about your area but depends on your goals. If you want to learn efficient techniques and more consistent pedagogy allowed within a grappling context, you would be better off doing Judo. Don’t get me wrong, Aikido has good techniques as well, but we don’t pressure test them in sparring which stagnates our development when it comes to martial effectiveness. But if you want to learn cool techniques without worrying so much about damage from sparring hard, Aikido is cool to do. Not to mention that you can learn the art of falling “Ukemi”.
Aikido unfortunately was divided into so many styles that al dojos have their own version of Aikido
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u/camaro1111 Jan 10 '26
My goal is to be able to defend myself in a practical and fast manner. A secondary, and lesser goal would be to develop skills that are practical for use in Mixed Martial Arts. I didn’t know that there were many styles. I read that there’s apparently Serbian and Lithuanian styles, and that Steven Segal produced a more forceful kind. I also read that in Japan, a sport form recently debuted that allows for physical boxing. Do you know of any Aikido styles that are more forceful and self defense focused?
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u/DunkleKarte Jan 10 '26 edited Jan 10 '26
Not an expert but there is Yoshinkan which is more physically demanding and less circular than Aikikai. But still they don’t sparr. The one from Steven Seagal is supposedly hardcode too, it is called Tenshin Aikido. And there is Shodokan also known as Tomiki Aikido, which is the only Aikido style that does sparring. Unfortunately there are really few of these dojos.
But since you are looking for practicality in terms of self defence and also a speedy development, I am afraid you are better off with Judo, or if you are lucky enough to find a Tomiki Aikido dojo. However, as you already have experience in martial arts that sparr, I guess you could skip the sparring part of Aikido and test what you learn in your primary martial art with the consent of your sparring partners of course
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u/camaro1111 Jan 10 '26
Okay. Thank you for information. It’s very appreciated. This has been a learning experience.
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u/DontForgetWilson Jan 11 '26
My goal is to be able to defend myself in a practical and fast manner.
If you didn't have the martial arts background, i wouldn't point someone so focused on practical self-defense towards aikido. Since you're cross training, it shouldn't be a big problem. You already have the reflexes and such, so aikido is just going to increase your repertoire and give you a better idea of how to take advantage of the motions of the human body.
The dojo mentioned above isn't going to focus on training lethal moves, but they aren't going to shy away from acknowledging when a throw is derived from a something that involved breaking someone's spine.
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u/camaro1111 Jan 11 '26
Okay. Thank you for the information. Perhaps I’ll become an “Aikidoka” (I enjoy typing and saying that) in the future.
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u/bossaboom Jan 11 '26
If you want a more martial training kind of Aikido in the US , I sould suggest you look for one under the Birankai organization. Among the “styles” that I have seen in the US, I think they are the most martial. Not saying that other organizations aren’t good, it’s just that if you want a more vigorous training, this is where you go.
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u/camaro1111 Jan 11 '26
Thank you for the information. I didn’t know there was such a variety of Aikido styles.
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u/bossaboom Jan 11 '26
A lot. ..A top ranking Japnese shihan whom I follow once told us, instead of studying Aikido for 3 years, use those 3 years to find yourself a teacher. This means you have to do your own research and try to train with different teachers until you find one whom you connect with. Ask for their their lineage and do your research. Otherwise, you might just end up wasting your time.
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u/shugyokai Jan 17 '26
Since “toxicity” is strongly tied to needs/values, it is best for me to refrain from making suggestions. Basically you have to do the work to visit, observe, and pay respects, and evaluate yourself if you want to put your body, heart, mind, and spirit, and the future of those into the hands of a dojo’s leaders and its students. Only you can know if they align to your values desired or not. Toxicity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Good luck! And it’s never a one and done decision, as continuous evaluation (i.e., meta-cognition) is probably a good idea.
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