Hapkido Vancouver

Best hapkido class ever! Came to visit Vancouver and took a couple of guest classes. The instructor was great and I felt at ease. Highly recommended

I have been training here for more than 4 years and I am still here. That says something about the training environment. The instructors are all volunteers who are passionate about martial arts. Safety of the participants is constantly emphasized and I can says that I have not received any injuries training here. The classes are well structured as there is a curriculum for students to follow. Aside from martial arts specific technique practice we also do physical conditioning drills whether they be calisthenics, weights, or multiple partner drills.
I have met students who are new to the martial arts as well as students who are continuing from previous martial arts experience. Everyone is encouraged to develop and learn at their own pace. I recommend Hapkido Vancouver if you are looking for a martial arts gym.

So last March, I was robbed on the RER B train into Paris from CDG airport. It wasn’t violent or anything, I just fell for the oldest trick in the book (someone «tripped» and dropped some coins in front of me, I help him pick them up, his friend takes my shoulder bag). Anyway, the experience shattered some of the rosy perceptions I had for living and working in Paris and got me thinking more seriously about what I would do if I was involved in a more escalated encounter.
So, being back in Vancouver for 2 months while my new Euro work visa processes, I thought I would take up martial arts, as a way to learn something to take back with me and get a good workout in at the same time. I had heard about Hapkido Vancouver from a friend and I was instantly hooked, which was surprising given the fact that I had a real sour experience as a child from one of those churn and burn dojos that rely on the enrollment of hundreds of kids a year for their business (I’m looking at you Kingsway Shito-​Ryu Karate).
Here I walked away from each class feeling like I learned something new and practical, things that are intuitive once you think about it, but nobody bothers to (eg, the wrists is not meant to bend it this way, or this pressure point hurts a lot when pressed). And it was nice to be told why we were doing certain things and why it would be useful in a real life setting. Every class was small (3 – 5 people usually with 1 – 2 blackbelt instructors) so there was a ton of personalized attention. It was helpful to have a clearly stated curriculum for each belt level posted so it was clear what you expected to know at each level and how long it would take to get there. The blackbelts teaching us were, in addition to being qualified, patient, effective and very friendly — zero egos here. While we are often being thrown around or taken down as part of practice, safety was priority and learning to fall or roll was the first thing we learned to do.
On the topic of being thrown around, I should tell you that was tossed and tapped out on the regular by both a young woman and and old man. So Hapkido works for all shapes, sizes, builds and genders.
The space itself is modest, occupying the second floor in not the best area of town. There are not too many people training here. They do not teach kids. All the instructors have day jobs and they do hapkido to stay in shape and because they are passionate about it. This all reflects the fact that this gym does not seem to operate like a traditional business and does not make decisions with profit maximization as an end goal. Rather this appears to be a place where people come together to learn from each other and better themselves. I’d recommend Hapkido Vancouver to anyone and everyone — if you reach out to them, I am certain they would be happy to take you through what Hapkido is all about without charge and let you try it out. I plan to re-​enroll when (or if) I settle back in Vancouver.

Learned more here, in a shorter amount of time, than anywhere else I’ve trained.