New York Still Mind Aiki Shuren Dojo

Aikido - The Martial Art of Peace

Kids Aikido Classes

Nature of Martial Arts Training: Imagine a customer walks up to the counter in a drugstore and asks, "I would like to buy some peace of mind. What aisle do you have that on?" As we all know, true peace of mind doesn't come in a bottle. It requires commitment and hard work.

What to Expect in Class


Class Sampler
Highlights from Classes

Why Aikido vs Other Martial Arts


Aikido is unique as a martial art. Designed as a way to bring peace to the world, the techniques teach how to stop an attacker without harming them from the beginning. For younger children with less self control and experience than their adult counterparts, this approach is a welcome alternative. Any given conflicted situation by definition is between people who think differently from themselves. In a practice created during World War II as a vehicle to help create a more peaceful world, Aikido doesn't merely teach that we must all learn to get along and work with one and other, it shows how we can do it.

Chief Instructor, 6th Dan
Teaches Children's Classes
Jose - age 50

My two children have now studied aikido 3.5 years as well. Their growth has been tremendous in life and aikido. Their confidence has blossomed. Steve Sensei teaches them philosophy as well even though some of the students are as young as 4 or 6 years old. They hear it over and over and at some level it is getting into their persona...We need to be aware of our surroundings and our environment in life, to slow down our pace. I feel Scarsdale Aikido has offered this to our family..

Jason - mid 40's

...I’m in my eighth year of training, as is my son...and my daughter is going on her fifth year. We have all grown immeasurably from our practice of Aikido at Still Mind...Aikido has practical applications in my regular work day, in raising my children, and even in being a volunteer firefighter. Its principles can be applied to all of life, aikido is not simply relegated to being a means of self defense...

How we Deliver Benefits


The best defense is to just not be there...

As parents, we plan out our children's lives from an early age. When they get older, we realize there is another party whose input we will need to consider - theirs. So our job is to prepare them for their future life by introducing them to ideas and approaches that can serve them well. Our program is designed in just such a way. Some children will want to continue training, but for those who do not, they can still plant some important seeds to help them as they mature.

Target for the Program
  • Physical self protection through lineage based martial arts training
  • Complements academics/achievement with focus, learning the most efficient way to accomplish any task
  • Complements sports by improving efficiency in movement and improving conditioning
  • Learning to fall safely, a useful skill they can maintain throughout life
  • To learn about emotional hygiene by seeing the impact of constructive vs destructive emotions
  • To see the impact of peaceful conflict management on social interactions with other students
  • To be happier and more peaceful by experiencing an environment where people are disciplined
  • To plant seeds of experience where they may navigate back to disciplines producing these skills when older
  • 3-5 classes per week
  • 15 minutes agility/strength/conditioning
  • 20-25 minutes learning techniques
  • 5-10 minutes playing games based upon principles
Goku Homma on Teaching Children

"I have often asked myself, 'How can a person in my position - a fully "made-in-Japan" martial arts instructor who lives and teaches in the United States - provide the best possible method for teaching a traditional Japanese martial art to American children?' I have tried to look at the situation from both a traditional Japanese perspective and a contemporary American perspective..." (page 2 - 3)

"In many years of teaching Aikido for children, I have seen hundreds of children. Regardless of their ages and backgrounds, I have found that once they enter the dojo and participating in class, they all become - children. Children who run around the space, who jump all over, roll around, who get praised, who get scolded, who occasionally get into scuffles with other children, who make up, and again start running around. These children are at play. This play is a true learning place for them because they learn best when engaging in their natural behaviors

Using photos and illustrations it is possible to define what sorts of techniques and skills are used in Aikido. But the real value of Aikido training, I believe, is that it teaches students to deal with the kinds of situations they face in everyday lives..." (Page 7)

Children and the Martial Arts
An Aikido Point of view by Gaku Homma