The Aikido Institute is an amazing place to practice aikido. The dojo is a great community centered…read morearound learning in a safe and dedicated environment. The senseis are of high levels and the students from every horizon of life. I've practiced aikido on and off in different countries and both teachers and students rekindled my love for the sport through kindness and dedication. Classes are composed of people of different ages, men / women, teenagers, adults. Very family friendly. There are kids classes on weekends before the adult class. It is also easy to access and park around since the parking meters have been disabled in the area, and there are plenty of public parking spots thanks to the various churches around.

The Aikido Institute of San Francisco is a great family dojo…read more The instructors are kind and patient when teaching. The scale the type and level of teaching to fit the age and level of the student. If the student is younger or less experienced they are treated in a more gentle manner and instruction is more focused. If the student is experienced, instruction is better described as traditional. Additionally, the instructors always ensure that younger students get picked up by a guardian. The dojo itself is a tad small, but it can accommodate approximately 15 students per class comfortably. Any more students and everyone is pressed for space.

Ving Tsun by any other name (Wing Chun) is still Ving Tsun…read more I finally dived in and started my training at the school after a little help from purchasing a living social deal that was good for one month. it's been so great I just recently paid for my 5th month. (Next paragraph for Wing Chun Geeks) ---------------------------------------------------------- The schools lineage runs strong. Sifu Victor, the instructor had 2 instructors himself. His first instructor in Philadelphia (Pete Pajil a battle tested Sifu) as well as Grand Master Moy Yat an Artist. (Look them up.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (Back to my experience so far) The school is all you can eat kung fu since it's open 7 days a week. I would come everyday if I could. The Sifu lives close to the school so he comes in pretty often. The school is a welcoming coed community where the older students work with newer students. There are no sashes or formal uniforms. You do have to earn your school shirt though. I really like the structure of teaching/absorbing kung fu. The structure for my training was that they would send an older student for 15 min to work with me or refine what I've learned. After 15 min I would get to work with another older student. I would go through about 4 or 5 older students depending on who was available. So it was almost 1:1 teaching from my point of view for the first 3 months. There is also conditioning but I want/need to do it so I can improve my endurance while training the fundamentals. The school is the right choice for me because I wanted to learn Ving Tsun and it's finer details. I also wanted to learn an effective martial art that I could grow into as I get older since it's not about brute force or strength. Also who doesn't want to learn what's behind the 1 inch punch ;) (Answer: My sifu's horse) As an additional benefit to joining the school they share some of their space with yoga instructors and students are allowed to take a couple classes a month as part of my membership. I plan on sticking with Ving Tsun Sito as long as I am able to.

What's more exciting than learning Ving Tsun (aka Wing Chun) Kung Fu; the same type of Kung Fu…read moreBruce Lee learned from Legendary Ip Man (aka Yip Man)? ANSWER: Learning Ving Tsun Kung Fu from Master Victor Chung (aka Moy Yook) who studied directly under Grandmaster Pete Pajil (Moy Bah Hugh) and the venerable Grandmaster Moy Yat (1938-2001) who studied directly under IP MAN! Sifu Victor Chung emphasizes the maintenance of "Traditional" Ving Tsun Kung Fu and is very generous with his time in lectures and in hands-on training. From learning Ving Tsun Kung Fu, I've gained a considerable amount of Knowledge in Self-Defense, the meaning of Kung Fu, Family, and Culture. I've also gained a newfound respect for Ving Tsun Kung Fu! Thank You Sifu & VTS Family!

Felt a need to update this page given the last review was posted 11 years ago (!!!) and a lot has…read morechanged post-pandemic. I am new so I cannot give any details on the quality or nature of the training. I attend classes for the sake of practicing energy and breathwork, for grounding, and for some self-defense. The teachers will adjust to your needs. Currently, I believe the schedule is MWTh classes at 7pm, Saturday weapons practice at 11am (usually outdoors at GGP), and Sunday classes at 1pm. Different instructors take turn teaching. Mondays are for belt test prep so it's good for beginners. Overall, everyone has been kind and gentle. They are very welcoming of new members and you can always observe a class first.

I am a woman who has been training in Aikido for 16 years and I've been at City Aikido for 13 of…read morethem. I got my start with another teacher who was one of Nadeau sensei's students in the North Bay, and when I moved to San Francisco, I joined City Aikido. As soon as I walked through the doors and into Nadeau sensei's class, I was hooked. One of the first things I noticed right away was the powerful and energetic atmosphere of the classes. This is largely due to Nadeau sensei's emphasis of O'Sensei's Process, and it's one of the aspects I love about training at this dojo. I've found that the Process has helped me to reach a center of power that I can draw from not only during my training sessions on the mat, but also out in the real world. Aikido is an immensely therapeutic and transformative physical art. It's also a whole lotta fun! The head-teachers at our school are all highly skilled (5th, 6th, 7th degree blackbelts) and each bring their own embodiment of the art into their classes. In each class you will practice a variety of techniques and you'll train harmoniously with different partners at a variety of levels. We have classes every weekday in the evenings from 6:15-7:15 pm (fundamentals/all levels) and 7:15-8:15 pm (intermediate/advanced). We also have noon classes. And for you early birds, we even have morning classes on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:15-8:15 am. I teach on Monday mornings and would love for you to come join me. Aikido is a great way to start the day! Stop by the dojo. Check it out. Hope to see you on mat.

I'm surprised to see so many glowing reviews for this place because from when I was a student here…read moreyears ago I was bullied beyond belief along with other students Shihan Saito did not "favorite". He would insult us in front of others and especially liked picking on certain students, including me. It was more than tough love to me, it was just plain mean. I also had several friends quit because of the treatment. I should've spoken up long ago but I was too young. I stuck around till I barely got my black belt and left, at that point Shihan barely bothered to talk to me anymore. The only saving grace was Sensei Jill, I still remember her after all these years. If you're not a paying parent, cute kid, or respected adult, don't bother.

I spent my last semester there before heading back home in 2010. It's a place that made me fall in…read morelove with martial art. Saito sensei is extremely knowledgeable and he trained along with students . No BS. Just sweat a ton !

I am not qualified to write this review as I have never taken a class here, or any Hapkido class…read more This is simply my review of my inquiry experience. I expressed my interest to try a free class over email, as I think that it might be smart to build self-defense skills as an individual woman going through 2025 in America. A staff member replied shortly after I submitted an enquiry. Unfortunately, I could not make it to the class due to schedule conflicts. I am also not sure why his emails keep getting flagged/marked down as spam in my inbox.

I've been coming here for Muay Thai since 2020. The facilities are clean, the instructors are…read moreexcellent and really care about the students, and it's a wonderful community. I highly recommend checking out this gym, and they also have fundamental classes for beginners. Great place to go whether you just want a great workout or go deeper in learning about martial arts.

I had heard of Capoeira, always imagined as something I could never do or something I should ve…read morepicked when I was much younger. One day by chance, I saw 2 people doing capoeira at a street event of the Center (an awesome place by the way) , who were students of Bill Stark (Tucano), it looked so fun and beautiful I wanted to try it myself at his school. The philosophy of the school is to make capoeira accessible to everyone, and this really shows when you go to their classes. Everyone I have met in class is very welcoming, friendly, has a really good atitude on their own work as well as helping others. The energy and inspiration you get off them is really high. I d never done Yoga, I had just been trying to keep in shape with gym and tennis sometimes, I have been doing 2 and a half months of Capoeira at CAQ, I can now do stuff I could never imagine myself doing and I feel stronger than ever, and this is only the beginning... Tucano is a very nice, friendly, inspiring guy. His capoeira is awesome and knows how to feed knowledge on his students. Once you got the most basic things right, he works on the details, one by one, making the move/sequence you are working on more challenging at every step. If you are a more advanced student, he still does this, there is always room for improvement in Capoeira!. He also talks about strategy at the games and gives you very constructive feedback when he sees something wrong. The place where we train is really nice and conveniently located at Lower Haight. Lots of classes - Mon-Fri 8-9AM , Mon-Thu 6:30-7:30, and a weekly roda (really a lot of bang for your buck) . First week is 18 bucks for you to try it out, then $135 a month. Join us!

Capoeira with Tucano at The Center is awesome! I've taken several classes there now, and have…read morenothing but great things to say. I'm a black belt in a Japanese martial arts, and a teacher in that practice as well, so I can say with great confidence that Tucano's class is a great blend of workout, theory, and play. As a beginner capoeira student, I really liked his pacing, though I've seen Tucano take on a mixed class of advanced and new students, and the more advanced students had a blast, too. I would recommend this school to anyone looking for mental, physical or spiritual exercise.

As I'm closing in on my first year at the school, I felt it a good time to convey how happy I am to…read morehave joined. The community of students here has been very welcome among both newcomers, veterans, and returners. I gotta start with my teacher, Sifu Philip Wong. It's easy enough to see his credentials, as there are many and well-published. What I did want to capture is how he interacts with the class I'm in. We have a spectrum of students across different ages and martial arts experience levels and he makes sure to get the best out all of us. He finds ways to get us to push ourselves a little more each day and is very present to ensure our forms are correct. And he genuinely cares about his students as people, able to connect with anyone from a variety of backgrounds. The facilities and gear are high-quality and up-to-date. There's plenty of sparring gear for different purposes; whether it's hand-held for punches or kicks, or padded dummies, it's great to have something for every need. And my thanks the top-of-the-line floor mats the school uses can't be expressed enough. As I'm pushing 50, making sure that the mats can provide me traction when we warm up, stability when we strike, and cushion when we practice falls is very important to me. I can feel safe, not worry about injury, and focus on the exercises. And bonus points for the workout playlist that makes me feel like a kid again.

Sifu Zhang is, IMHO, the very best Beijing-style martial artist in the Bay Area. She is extremely…read moreknowledgeable in so many forms of Wushu. But also able to demonstrate correctly and exactly.

Sensei is great and works well with both adults and kids in the class!!! My son loves it!!!read more

I started practicing karate at this dojo about 3 years ago, and the time has gone by so quickly I…read morecan hardly believe it. I have made some great friends here and I think it really speaks to the quality of Sensei Tomiyama-- not just as an instructor, but as a guy who lives the philosophy that he teaches-- that really talented and compassionate people come to practice here. I can also probably say that I'm in the best shape of my life since joining, and that no two classes are ever the same. I could go on and on, but let me just end by saying that if you are considering learning an authentic martial art taught by a dedicated practitioner, you could do yourself no harm dropping by the dojo to try out a class and see what its all about.