East Bay Seido, at the Berkeley dojo, offers traditional and safe karate, at very competitive tuition, for the whole family, at any age that can understand directions: An excellent school to learn karate basics and a good school to polish your foundations. Strengths: ~ Zazen class -- Zen sitting meditation with no religious overtones or content. ~ Strenuous -- Rigorous holistic workouts (please get extra gi as you will sweat early and often). ~ Safe -- Strong emphasis in creating a safe space for students to practice without the fear of serious injury. ~ Fun. Challenges: ~ Sparring (Point karate or "tag" style) is a part of the syllabus from the green belt and above, at the 4th Kyu grade (could take 18 months or more: You are here to learn the Seido program, prior non-Seido experiences may not hasten the time requirements) and sparring class is once a week, only on Sundays (but not on the 1st Sundays) with certain techniques and targets (face and legs) excluded. ~ This is a "stand-up" school, striking above the belt only. Falls, rolls, grabs, or take-downs are not among the basics that get repetition. ~ Infrequent in-class focus-bags or heavy-bag work for power and accuracy conditioning for self-defense. I recommend East Bay Seido Karate for its excellent instructors, honorable classmates, and vigorous workouts to build a foundation for the "stand-up" aspects of martial arts. However, if you're looking for more focus on practical self-defense, "fight" conditioning, and the real confidence to manage fear and thus to deter violence and do not mind having to heal from inevitable occasional injuries then you may need to look further. Seido Karate dojo is a special place where you can begin to learn to answer these questions.