Alex Wagner practices some moves during a session of the Kids Ki Aikido class at the Kansas Ki Society.

They all bow as they enter the room.

The 6-year-old boy in the stark white, magically clean martial arts uniform, the adolescent girl in street clothes, and the adult teacher.

They take their shoes off and bow in an act of respect for the dojo, or practice hall

Though their uniforms may hint at karate or judo, they have come for neither. This is a Ki Aikido class, and the difference is clear, even to uninformed bystanders.

The 10-15 students in the kids’ class do not practice punching and do not kick their sparring opponents. They do not even yell anything like the telltale “hiyah!” seen in so many movies.

That is not what Ki Aikido is about, said Melissa LeBar, the director of the children’s program at Kansas Ki Society, a not-for-profit division of Ki Aikido USA.

This particular form of Japanese martial arts is dedicated to topics other than fighting techniques.

LeBar said discipline and stability are just two of the things Ki Aikido teaches.

“It’s about mind and body coordination,” LeBar said. “You’re learning how to use your mind to direct your body.”

LeBar and her fellow youth class teachers, Owen Livingston and Pam James, do teach self-defense, just not necessarily by telling students how to hurt their attackers.

“What we do is more taking the force of an attack and moving with it to redirect it for self-defense,” LeBar said. “We focus on staying calm.”

For example, the kids pair off and one plays the part of the attacker, grabbing the other’s wrist, which is called katate tori. They run through a variety of different ways of evading the attacker.

A yank here, a twist there, and suddenly a roomful of mock attackers are facedown on the ground while the other children escape.

Another real-life lesson the kids learn in the Ki Aikido class is how to fall safely by adjusting their weight and learning a series of rolls.

“It’s a great way to teach them how to not get hurt if they fall,” LeBar said.

She added that she believed she has saved herself from injury in the past by rolling out of a fall.

LeBar has studied the art of Ki Aikido since 1991, almost as long as her husband Andrew, who is also involved in the Kansas Ki Society.

LeBar, a second-degree black belt has taught since 1994, but is fairly new to the kids’ program. Their son, Quinn, is in the kids’ class.

There are adult classes as well, which go more in-depth with the guiding principles and philosophy behind the art. But the essence of the classes remain the same.

They use breathing exercises and meditation techniques to calm the mind in order to move better. There are lessons in interpersonal communication, as well as self-esteem.

One difference between the kids and the adults, however, is that the kids class ends with a rousing game of tag. But not just any tag.

In this adaptation, kids can evade the tag if they correctly execute an art and escape the “it” person in time.

The teachers manage to allow the kids to have fun while teaching them discipline at the same time. And LeBar wants to get the word out about Ki Aikido.

“We don’t have an ‘Aikido Kid’ movie,” LeBar joked, referring to the “Karate Kid” films. She said Steven Seagal is the most famous person she knows of who practices Aikido, so they could use the exposure.

Kids ages 6-14 can participate in the class. The twice-weekly class meets at 11 a.m. Saturdays and at 6 p.m. Mondays in the shopping center on the southwest corner of 23rd and Louisiana streets.

LeBar said they will hold a grand opening Sept. 30 and the students would hold a demonstration of what they have learned.

Anyone who attends might notice that no matter how excited the kids get for class or how frenzied they are after the game of tag, every one of them stops as they leave the mat, and in a moment of self-discipline and respect, they bow.