I have been thinking about starting Aikido for a few years as a compliment to the mindfulness…read moremeditation I started. A couple of months after the COVID-19 pandemic started I found myself thinking I should look into finally starting my practice as a way to get some group activity into life. I first met with Sensei to discuss how practice would look like during lockdown. She was very helpful in our first meeting understanding and discussing the pros and cons of starting Aikido via Zoom only. I have now been practicing for almost three months with Emerald City Aikido and I am feeling the benefits of my practice in my day to day life during the lockdown. The practice work has mostly been foot work, and weapons training with Bokken, Bo, and Jo. I am even finding myself practicing solo on days between classes. :D If you are looking to find a way to connect with your fellow humans and find something mentally beneficial for day to day life I recommend connecting with Emerald City Aikido and joining the class today. Looking forward to seeing you online! - J

Sensei Joanne and her team of instructors are the epitome of compassion and discipline! My son has…read morebeen attending Emerald City Aikido since he was four years old; and he's now almost eight. We go every Saturday almost every week of the year and he never gets tired of it. It is such a blessing to be apart of this dojo and family. Sensei is blessed with a gift and special ability to actually make the instructional learning fun and engaging while instilling fundamental Aikido principles, physically, mentally, and spiritually. It's been amazing to watch the growth and development of skills and mind/body awareness; and we look forward to continuing this journey for many years to come. I encourage anyone with children to come check out a class and consider joining this great school and family.

I feel so lucky to have such a supportive dojo with deep expertise and multiple highly skilled…read moreinstructors. A nice place to learn, grow and stay fit. Without Aikido I'd have a strong temptation to just hang out on the couch, but instead I have a structure that helps me turn up and have a body as well as a brain! Also, I'm quite clumsy, so learning and practicing how to fall safely will always be a valuable life skill!... and you know, I'm a lot less clumsy than I used to be!

Love this place for physical activity for kids- teachers are kind, caring, and firm with a range of…read moreabilities and needs.

Highly recommend! Self defense and confidence booster…read more This is a great program in a healthy environment. The leaders are good people, developing good people. The skills attained here are VERY practical and if used properly, would be VERY effective. No need to be "flashy" if it's effective. My teenage daughter has surpassed me and is excelling.

My partner and I took a free trial course in Tsun Jo Kung Fu today. Everyone here, especially the…read moreinstructors, were very welcoming. Initially, we were asked to follow along with warm ups. Next, two different instructors worked with us as a pair. They reviewed proper stances, basic movements, punches, and a couple of blocks. We did some of this work with punching bags, the instructors and each other. They made it interesting, fun, and empowering. They were very encouraging. One was lighthearted and upbeat and the other more serious but patient and very nice. I enjoyed the intimate setting and small class size. In addition to classes they have a small gym that is available to students free as long as the dojo is open. I might have to finagle my work schedule to make this work but we felt good about this experience and plan on continuing with either the one month unlimited trial or five class pass. Based on my first impression, this is totally worth it!

My son has been coming here for a few months now and loves it. Joel and Jeremy are both great…read moreteachers and the kids all look up to them. Highly recommend!

Visiting Seattle from California recently, I needed some mat time and really appreciated my…read moreexperience with Gracie Barra Northeast Seattle. Professor Joel Townsend was awesome; super inviting, knowledgeable, helpful with details and even shared come fun and friendly knowledge/history about my home academy (Paragon). Gracie Barra Northeast Seattle has a great culture, with a strong community (as evidenced by how they all came together to help rebuild when a car recently drove through the front of their facility!), but were all so warm and welcoming to this visiting white belt. I never felt like an outsider. I stopped in twice on my 4-day visit and enjoyed every roll and every training partner. Despite the aforementioned auto incident, the spot is clean and comfortable. If you're visiting Seattle, or looking for a regular training home in North Seattle, regardless of level, I can't recommend them enough. You'll learn a lot and have fun doing it. Cheers!

I love Two Cranes! I go here a lot, and all of the Senseis are kind and nice. They treat everyone…read morefairly, and for kids they have games that let them learn Aikido. Two Cranes is a hidden gem. They also have nights for kids like a magic show put on by one of the Senseis. They have camping trips (one of which I attended). I would truly advise you to go to Two Cranes. Aikido is a Japanese Martial Art. It was founded in 1942 by a man named Morihei Ueshiba. O Sensei changed some of the techniques to make Aikido safer (Ai = love, Ki = energy, Do = path or way). O Sensei was born in 1883. In 1902, when he was only 19, he married a woman named Hatsu. He died in 1969.

My son has been going to Two Cranes Aikido for several months. The Senseis at Two Cranes are…read morereally engaged, thoughtful and present with the students. T. loves going and enjoys the games they play as well as the teaching. The things he is learning at Two Cranes is helping him in school - his teacher at school has remarked on the difference in his ability to sit still and focus, not so easy for a 1st grader. I know that what he is learning in TCA will help him grow for many years to come. Thank you Two Cranes!

We are having such a positive experience at Trinity. Chris and Nicholas are my son's favorite…read moreteachers in the world. They both have a gift for holding high expectations and doing it in a fun, engaging way that makes students feel safe and motivated. I've been in education for 15 years, and I can say with confidence that their teaching and guidance has inspired my son in multiple ways.

The instructor at this place is very intolerant to other customers in the vicinity. He actually…read morecame out and threatened to call the cops on my two children after I asked them to go walk down the sidewalk and work off their energy while I watched them from above the crosswalk. Definitely demonstrates a lack of classroom management expertise.

Versatile Arts is a warm and welcoming community for aspiring aerialists of all levels. There is…read morereally something for everyone here. Beginning lessons are completely accessible and the talented staff ensure you'll never run out of things to work on! I've had the opportunity to train all over the country, and this place is simply the best!

I truly thought that I would be giving this place a 5 star review, and I'm sad that wasn't my…read moreexperience. I am always looking to support the Arts, small businesses, museums, and such - especially now - and this seemed like a good way to do that while also having a fun, unique work-out experience. I have actually had this place on my bucket list for years, so I was super excited to go. My husband and I paid $100 for a 1-hour private aerial silks lesson. We decided on a private lesson partly due to COVID, partly because we were hoping for a class that was at least partly-tailored to us, since it would be just the 2 of us, and partly because I am at one of the least physically-fit points I've been at in my entire life. (My excuses are: a couple of severe medical issues that affected my weight and my energy levels, and my rescue cat who is very needy and loves to cuddle, but he's worth it... but really I just need to get my butt in gear and get fit again.) Despite my low level of physical fitness currently, my minor physical limitations, and my total lack of experience, I was feeling confident that I could adapt or modify anything that I couldn't do, hopefully with the help of the instructor. I didn't even necessarily expect to be able to do every move. What I didn't expect was to be able to do NONE of the moves. None of them. Okay, I'm not THAT lacking in physical fitness... at least, I didn't think I was? I've done many virtual physical fitness classes throughout the pandemic - though yelp, through a few friends of mine who are fitness class instructors and I wanted to support them financially while trying to stay fit, and a handful of other classes, too. For some of these other fitness classes, I wasn't able to do every single move, and I did have to modify some of the suggested moves. However, this is literally the first time in my entire life that I was able to do NONE of the moves. I started feeling frustrated by this. My husband mentioned that it seemed like the instructor, Jen, had no idea what to do when I started feeling frustrated. I certainly didn't receive a single word of encouragement from her, which might have been nice. Although she did suggest corrections, she didn't really suggest modifications or alternate moves for me to try. When I asked her if the private lesson had a set curriculum and was really similar to the intro class, just with only 2 people, or if she was able to adapt to our specific needs and limitations, she got really defensive and insisted that she had given me "another option" for a move. But there were only 4 total moves that she taught us in the entire hour, and it seemed like the "other option" was just the next thing on her list of moves in the pre-set curriculum. My husband also mentioned that Jen seemed ill-equipped to trouble-shoot if one of us was having an issue with any of the moves. He only really had an issue with the last move of the 4 (go, Leo! It was neat to watch him go!!), but the instructor gave him feedback 4 separate times but none of her feedback enabled him to complete the 4th move successfully so she clearly had no clue what the problem was. My poor husband, who is an excellent problem-solver in general, felt badly that HE, as a first-time beginning student, wasn't able to figure out what the problem was - isn't that a big part of the instructor's job, especially for a private lesson? My husband also commented that the instructor's energy was really "flat". I agree with this - she had zero enthusiasm whatsoever, and almost no encouragement. When I was encouraging my husband and cheering him on for the 4th move - by this time I was sitting on my mat letting the lesson be his lesson since I hadn't gotten anywhere on ANY of the 4 moves - she looked over at me and then said a couple of encouraging things to him herself. This was the first time in our entire lesson, with about 5 minutes left to go, that she had said anything encouraging. This seems weird for a fitness instructor, they usually have a pretty infectious energy that is really motivating, and I started out this class super excited to learn this. We sadly would not go back, unless maybe in 5 years when I'm super fit again (it might take that long, LOL), but if we did go back, we would request a different instructor for sure. I will say that our instructor was friendly and welcoming to me when I arrived. My husband was still parking, so I arrived alone for the first few minutes. This reminds me - parking is horrible at this location, and super hard to find. We went today, on a Thursday afternoon. We arrived almost 10 minutes early. By 1 minute until our lesson started, we still had not found a place to park near the studio. Really sad and disappointed. It was nice to watch my husband do 3 of the moves, though. I feel like giving 2 stars really, but their COVID precautions are/were A++ which matters a lot to us since we're super strict ourselves, and the facility was nice.

Found BJJ by accident online about empowered women program and looking for one in Seattle and found…read moreGracie Jiu-Jitsu. I think they're the only certified garage in Seattle area. The teacher, Kypros and my classmates are very encouraging and very helpful in helping us to master the move. I love how practical the lessons are and very friendly classmates.

Kypros, and all the instructors at Gracie Seattle have made class an encouraging and positive…read moreenvironment since day 1 of my training. Classes offered 5 days a week make it extremely easy to get in to train no matter your schedule. If you are hesitant to join, jump in and try it out! You will leave feeling challenged and accomplished, ready to come back for the next one. ~JD