Aikido training purifies the body, mind and spirit harmoniously.

Aikido is a martial art that was created by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1967) in Japan.

Ueshiba Sensei forbade competition for the sake of determining superiority. The aim of Aikido is to become aware of your own insufficiencies, of the transitoriness and ephemeral human victory, of human weakness, and the insignificant foolishness of vanity. It is a philosophical and cosmological education for the purpose of becoming happy and free. It is by no means a mere competitive sport for testing the superiority of power, muscles, or animal dexterity. Rather it is spiritual, philosophpical, moral, and cosmological. It is a methodical treatise on peace. It avoids all the cruel, barbaric, and futile conflicts which always lead only to more of the same. It is the avoidance of massacre. It is a means of self-defense which relies exclusively on the art of receiving, never on the art of attack. Aikido pacifies violent attacks, immobilizing the enemy by the least and simplest physical technique.

The Art of Peace by George Ohsawa

Shobu Aikido of the Berkshires is affiliated with Aikido Schools of Ueshiba (ASU) under the direction of Mitsugi Saotome Shihan.