Hi!
I don't want to insult anyone with my question, i am just curious. Do you think Aikido works? Have you or someone you know ever used it in self-defense? What are yours thoughts on this martial art ? I'm asking this question because i'm thinking of taking Aikido classes. Peace.

Steven Seagal is an aikidoka.. he seems pretty capable..

But I don't think people usually do aikido just for self defense.
The name means "the way of harmony" and is more about training the heart and mind.

I have seen many debate on this topic in other forums. And though they usually never come to a conclusion, I have my own conclusion.

#1: it's all a mather of how experienced you are at a specific martial art. All martial arts are good if you have trained it long enough. and some martial arts need more time than other to grow into something worth harvesting. The thing here is that what takes longer time to grow usualy give you more quality.

#2: what enemy you are facing is another variable. rock takes scissor, scissor takes paper and paper takes stone. There will never be such thing as a perfect martial art system. The thing here is that you can ether train for many diffrent opponents and be medioker, or specialize at one specific opponent and be great.

of what I have heard about Aikido, when it comes to point #1 it falls in the category of martial arts that need much time to grow.
As for point #2 I can only speculate.

What exactly are you looking for in a martial art?
And what do you mean by "if it works"?
It's a silly question because I kind of know what you mean. but point #2 makes it important to specify.

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Having just started training in Yoshinkan Aikido again after being away for 15 years, I've found that I returned to Aikido not to learn how to defend/combat but to develop physical strength, fitness & toughness, discipline and focus.

Through training I have learnt some basic self defense techniques that branch off from the basics of Aikido. However this may be due to my choice of Dojo (http://www.aikidoshudokan.com/).

Aikido as a system of forms and movements is about maintaining balance while controlling your partners/opponents balance. You'll find that most people will loose power once they are outside of their balance or off balance.

Give Aikido a go, also try some other martial arts! If you want to learn how to defend your self through being able to punch/kick etc I suggest you try Jeet Kune Do as this is a system that has been designed to get you up and running in a brief period of time!

But whatever you do, commit to it for a period of time... as you will only see development through a continuous effort.

If you aim for self defense only go for street fighting (what the more elite soldiers learn, different countries different names for it)

Be always aware that Martial arts is formalized fighting where you assume that your opponent follows certain rules and certain moves are off limits and your average opponent upholds a code of conduct.

There are a lot of dirty tricks you do not get teached if the teacher is more traditional and does not aim at training you for such situations but aims more for the mental and self discipline/meditative side.

So it depends a lot on your teacher if your martial arts training prepares you for such situations.

Staged fights aim at winning the fight, bar brawlers aim to hurt you badly first and foremost, and you have to deal with people who may be drugged and or drunk, shrugging off very painful and powerful hits.