Frequently asked Aikido questions

Shoshin Aikido School have two clubs:

Dublin: Namiryu Dojo, 19 Greenmount Lane, Harolds X, Dublin 6 which is round the corner the Robert Emmet Bridge that spans the Grand Canal, just a short stroll from Harolds X Park.

The nearest bus stops are 1344 ( Buses 9,16, 49, 54A ) & 1291 ( Buses 9, 16, 6D, 49, 54A ) both a few minutes walk from the Dojo. The nearest Red Luas stop is Suir Road, Drimnagh, Dublin, a 10 minute cycle or 30 min walk. The nearest Green Luas stop is Charlemont, a 20 minute walk or 7 minute cycle.

Leixlip: Leixlip Amenities Center, Collinstown, Leixlip, Co. Kildare, W23 R942 beside Lidl on the Dublin Road, a short 7 minute walk from Leixlip train station and is easily reached from Maynooth, Celbridge and Lucan in under 15 minutes. Free parking on site. Dojo entrance is round the side of the centre next to the football pitch & Tennis courts.

Buses that stop beside the Dojo: C4 - C3 - L59 - L58 - 139 the stop, 6156, is only a few minutes walk from the Dojo.

There is plenty of street parking available at both dojos for those who drive.

View Our Classes Section

Our Aikido school has clubs in Harolds Cross Dublin & Leixlip Co. Kildare and is open to everyone who brings a respectful attitude to their fellow students and the club. If you feel you might have any difficulty, for any reason, just let the instructor know and they will advise.

Yes. Our Aikido classes take place in Dublin and are open to complete beginners as well as experienced martial artists. If you are looking for Aikido training in Dublin you are welcome to visit the dojo and try a class.

Yes. We run regular Aikido classes in Leixlip which are convenient for people living in Kildare or the west side of Dublin. Beginners are always welcome and you can simply come along and watch or join in a class.
Visit: Leixlip Aikido Class

Shoshin is a concept in Aikido that means training with a mindset that is always open to learning, that takes a fresh look at everything we do, free from preconceptions, confrontation, judgements & exceptions. 

Yes we have regular Beginners focused classes every Wednesday at 6:30pm as well as running beginners Aikido classes a few times each year & we also train with day one beginners in our general Aikido Classes, we have plenty of trained instructors that can guide you along patiently till you find your feet.

Click here for more about our Beginners Classes

The class will start with the instructor and all students bowing to the centrepiece of the dojo, usually a picture of O’ Sensei - the founder of Aikido - out of respect and then the students bow to the instructor and they bow to the students, a way of saying hello, lets start.

A basic warm up, light movement and stretching of the joints and muscles, follows. this is important to prepare your body for the class ahead. The instructor will then ask the students to sit on the edge of the mat while they call a student up to help demonstrate a technique. All the students then pair up and train helping each other with the movements, the instructors will also help there. That is then repeated with the techniques changing along the theme the instructor has set of the class. You usually swap partners after each move, sitting down at the edge of the mat between techniques. The class ends and we do some cool down exercises and repeat the opening bowing to say thanks for the great time.

Most Aikido students wear a white martial arts suit consisting of white trousers and a jacket top, like a karate suit, called a ‘keikogi’ with a white belt. Some more senior students also wear wide black/blue trousers called Hakama. In our Dojo we also ask you to wear Tabi (special shoes) or a pair of socks, better with some grip on the soles.

If you are new then it’s totally fine to come along wearing loose clothing, like a tracksuit and T-shirt. 

Yes and no. Most of our Aikido classes are mixed and everybody learns together, you will naturally become better at Aikido by regular practice. All students will remain white belts until they achieve the requirements for a blackbelt, including instructor & coaching training qualifications. After the successful completion the student will be awarded 1st dan blackbelt. Then incrementally from there. 

We do have a grading policy that maps out the techniques the student must demonstrate to achieve each grade up to blackbelt and beyond but as classes are not separated this can be difficult to implement. However if you feel that you need grading, just let one of the instructors know and we’ll help you out.

It really depends on the student, some have taken more then a decade but if a black belt is important to you talk to us after a while of training and we’ll get you on track to achieving your goal. 

We are founding members of the Irish Aikido Association, members of Irelands Aikido Advisory Board and members of IMAC, the national governing body for Martial Arts in Ireland and as such are fully recognised by both the Government and Sport Ireland. We are fully insured.

All our instructors and coaches are Garda vetted and Coaching Ireland Accredited. They are all qualified coaches through the Sport Ireland coaching program.

For both Aikido classes in Dublin & Aikido classes in Leixlip you can pay per week or per month, we offer direct bank payments to make things easy.

See our Fees page here

You can learn Aikido at our dojo through regular classes organised by Shoshin Aikido School. We welcome beginners and experienced martial artists who want to train in traditional Aikido.

If you would like to start training, see our Aikido class details here