Cy-Fair Aikido Club

I had been practicing at another Aikido Dojo in the area since 2013, but recently I had been searching for a more congenial Dojo with "better atmospherics, better culture", and I still prefer one close to home. I found Cy-Fair Aikido Center, and I'm going to give them a go. Sensei Matt Poulson, who comes through the AAA/AWA heritage (The Founder M. Ueshiba > Koichi Tohei > Fumio Toyoda > Andrew Sato > David Galdamez > Matt Poulson) has good coaching skills and has been helping me to understand how what I've learned over many years at a different school fits into the context of the AAA/AWA heritage. The larger organization that Cy-Fair Aikido Center belongs to aims to be inclusive of different styles; they have students from different places. My 1st degree brown belt was fully recognized on day one of practice. Even though they use temporary mats, they are good mats, you can do hard ukemi on them, no problem, and they have a big area to work with. For those who don't know, Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by The Founder Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury. Aikido is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. This requires very little physical strength, as the aikidōka (aikido practitioner) "leads" the attacker's momentum using entering and turning movements. The techniques are completed with various throws or joint locks. Aikido derives mainly from the martial art of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, (a form of Jiu Jitsu) but began to diverge from it in the late 1920s.