Martial Arts, Parenting and Life Education empowers children, teens and adults with the essential skills needed to find true inner strength, confidence and happiness from the inside out while cultivating the social intelligence for positive, healthy interactions with others.
Martial Arts: At Life Ki-do Martial Arts, we believe that the way we train should represent the way we want to live our lives. If we want our lives to be filled with inner strength, peacefulness and happiness, then our training should be filled with these elements as well. Life Ki-do training is based on a spontaneous flow of movements rather than rigid, pre-set techniques. In addition to being healthier for our bodies, we find this type of training prepares participants for the spontaneity of daily life. Students are learning to problem solve in the moment and deal with physical, mental and emotional scenarios that parallel what they are faced with in their daily living. The result is confident students who actually have firsthand experience in trusting their natural inner strength and ability.

Awards: Life Ki-do Martial Arts has been voted Best Afterschool Activity by the Austin Chronicle, Favorite Sports Education by KidsOutandAbout.com, and Best Youth Martial Arts Program by Austin Family and Austin Fit Magazines.

Parenting: With parents constantly asking for more information about how they could reinforce at home what their children were learning in Life Ki-do Martial Arts classes, founder Jonathan Hewitt along with his wife Lana have written an award-winning parenting book, Life Ki-do Parenting: Tools to Raise Happy, Confident Kids from the Inside Out.

Designed as a practical, easy-to-implement guidebook, Life Ki-do Parenting helps parents to empower their children with the skills to find true and lasting happiness from within instead of looking to others for validation and self-worth. The book gives parents the blueprint of the kid-friendly life skill system that is the foundation of Life Ki-do Martial Arts classes.

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Jane S.

Our family has been a part of the Life Ki-do community for 3 years. We joined when our oldest son was 3 years-old. Today, our boys are 6.5 and 4.5, and we couldn’t imagine family life without the impact of this community. Our children benefit from the physical training each week – even more importantly, our entire family benefits from the life principles taught during training.

We use the breathing and mindfulness practices throughout our day, bringing calm and awareness when ANY ONE OF US gets overstimulated (“Mommy, you need to use your breathing”). I observed my 6 year-old using breathing deeply and intentionally during a haircut to keep himself calm. Concepts of friendship learned at the dojo strengthen the boys’ sibling bond daily.

My favorite part of the approach is the invitation to tune into themselves, noticing how the activity or interaction is impacting their emotions and sense of themselves, training their attention to their own inner guidance vs. outside approval from others.

Our family would highly recommend Life Ki-do to anyone… and we do! Any chance we get.
2 years ago
Sheila C.

My 3 year old is not very good with organized activities & this has been the best class we’ve enrolled him in. It’s a great class for my son to spend quality one on one time with my husband while being active & learning good solid moral practices. Yes yes he’s done My Gym & Champions bouncing & tumbling etc, but this is quite different no frills just good ole rumbling & foundations for karate with his dad. It’s been great!
2 years ago
Amy N.

My son has attended classes here for 8 years, and it’s been a wonderful part of our lives. It has made him a stronger person in body and spirit. The senseis are wonderful mentors.
2 years ago
Daisy L.

Blended martial arts with a hefty dose of life skills.

Life-kido martial arts embraces a variety of martial arts traditions into a program that promote physical, emotional and social development. Children are challenged at their level and encouraged to do their personal best without yelling or negative aggression. The emphasis is on using your energy to achieve goals, and to open children up to the idea that even when “feelings” are strong.. they can control that energy for good. They call it River Energy, and it is all about regulating emotions and feelings to meet goals.

The staff is intentional in their approach of everything from greeting students, sorting behavior issues, and encouraging individually. We are continually impressed with their ability to speak to each student at their level and to listen.. really listen to their students and meet them at their level.

Then of course are the physical challenges, we have seen our child do some remarkable physical feats that we never expected… all with a smiling confidence that warms our hearts.

Being part of the LifeKido is good for our whole family.
2 years ago
Brandon J.

Like Kido is an absolutely fantastic place to learn and grow alongside your children. My son and I have only been going a short time now and I have already noticed a HUGE difference in the way we communicate and interact. Him and I have been more cooperative and sensitive to one another’s needs and feelings — a practice that was much needed in our everyday life. Things get hectic and it can become easy to fall out of flow. Life Kido helps you to be more sensitive to when you or your loved one is out of this flow, while also providing ways to check in and support one another in returning to the peaceful flow that is waiting to be reestablished. I honestly cannot recommend this place enough! The instructors, exercises, classmates, and life lessons are all beyond exceptional.
3 years ago