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In an out-of-the-way corner upstairs at the YMCA, Greg Noble stands quiet and composed. Before him, there are a dozen young students, dressed as he is, in white martial arts attire.

Noble is teaching the art of Aikido, a traditional Japanese martial art that redirects the force/energy of one’s attacker. He’s the chief teacher, or sensei, of the Zenshinkai Aikido Association with 11 affiliated schools in West Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Ohio. He follows the teaching methodology of the late Fumio Toyoda Shihan and Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba.

“I have been training for about 26 years,” Noble said. His army-strong physique (he’s been active in the National Guard for 23 years) has helped him earn the rank of Godan (fifth degree black belt) Aikikai. He’s the former chairman for both the Aikido World Alliance technical committee and the national testing committee and his credentials also include long-term formal training in Zen and black belts in Iaido and Jodo. Iaido is a modern Japanese sword martial art, and Jodo is classical Japanese martial art for stick and sword.

“Aikido is a perfect fit for the YMCA,” Noble said. “It goes well with the philosophy of the Y. There is no hitting or striking. It’s a defensive martial art, using evasive body movements to get out of an attack.”

Aikido is relatively young in West Virginia, but worldwide, Noble said, it is very popular.

Noble has taught classes in Bulgaria and, most recently, in Poland.

The strength of character and confidence of this sensei is not lost on the young students. Their rapt attention is focused on Noble, as he stands in front of a small shrine-like feature in the blue-padded room. Noble said it wasn’t a shrine, but a “shomen,” or front of the room. It contains a picture of the founder of Aikido, a scroll with Japanese lettering spelling Aikido and other artifacts. Noble likened it to a mantle in a home with photographs of grandparents.

“At the beginning and end of class, we bow to the shomen,” Noble said. It’s all about respect, and tradition.

The students range in age from 3 1/2 to young teens, and they go through the paces of their class with quiet enthusiasm. When Noble asks them to move to a different exercise, they hop up quickly and line up efficiently.

Robert Clay Shriver, 12, acts as Noble’s assistant with confidence and authority. His father, Robert, said the young man enjoys the class and has learned many life skills from Noble.

Another father, Robin Huffman, said his two children love the class. Nicholas, 8, and Phota, 11, both go to Kanawha City Elementary. They worked on a defensive move together in a recent class. Their father said Noble made it clear in the beginning of the class that they are to take the lessons seriously or they will be dismissed.

Noble laughed when he said the youngsters might fight at home, but in class, they only defend.

On his trip to Gdynia, Poland, in October, Noble saw that children and adults train together.

“They don’t differentiate between kids and adults,” Noble said, noting that the concentration during class is unparalleled.

“They would be on the mat all day, without a break, even for a drink of water,” he said. Because many in Poland are impoverished, getting a uniform is a very big thing.

“They are very disciplined, and they take the role of teaching very seriously.”

The opportunity to work with students in Poland came through a relationship formed at the YMCA.

“We hosted an Aikido session here, and a gentleman from Poland came. He was a captain in the Polish navy, so we had the military connection,” Noble said. Through that association, Noble went to teach in Poland.

Noble is married with three children. The 10- and 7-year-old daughters are students in his class. He’s taught at the YMCA for more than 10 years.

You may have seen UFC, WWE or boxing, but Aikido brings something wholly different to the concept of martial arts.

“It’s different because you have to feel your attacker,” Aikido of Solano Roy Pippin said. “You can’t get in front and just combatively beat up on one another. We use our opponent’s energy to defeat their purpose.”

Time and again Wednesday at the Suisun City Library, Pippin showed how quick reflexes and simple motions defeat a wide range of oncoming attacks. His fellow instructors Joe Le and James Fulmer demonstrated a wide variety of rolling Aikido falls, designed to avoid injury.

O’Sensei Morihei Uyeshiba (1883- 1969) practiced all traditional martial arts of Japan, then invented the martial art of Aikido, focusing on harmony and peaceful reconciliation.

Pippin said Aikido takes effort and patience to learn. If you practice Aikido day in and day out for years “you can feel what’s coming. You can sense it.”

The concept is often foreign to today’s instant gratification way of thinking.

“To do anything you have to have the desire to do it, then you have to have the effort to do it and then you have to have the willpower to continue to do it,” Pippin said. “Most everybody these days has a Burger King mentality, they want it their way and they want it now.”

For those willing to practice and devote their time, the rewards are stark, as Pippin, Le, and Fulmar showed (see photos). The minimum age to start Aikido is 7 years old. The maximum age? Well, Pippin is 64.

Aikido of Solano is located at 502 A Parker Road in Farifield. You can get more information by going to www.aikidoofsolano.com or calling 707-469-0210.

Tracy Vega, who grew up in Sag Harbor, has made a career in being an expert on self-defense and she will be demonstrating some tactics on an upcoming national television show.

Now a Floridian, Vega and her husband Charley Vega run a program called Simple Self Defense for Women, which is designed for the woman who wants to know a few techniques on how to “Simply escape an attack and not stay and fight.” They teach workshops for businesses and organizations meant to empower women. There’s no punching, no kicking, no having yourself thrown around.

The couple recently appeared on “The Daily Buzz” and will be on Lifetime’s “The Balancing Act” on Feb. 29, demonstrating how women and children can escape the most common type of grabs.

Since 1 in 3 women are attacked in their lifetime, Tracy said it important for women to be ready to react in a situation, like the one a woman found herself in on Long Beach in Sag Harbor recently. When a man tried to lead her into his car, she hit him with her iPod and ran.

Charley has 28 years of experience in the martial arts and is a Master Instructor of Combat Hapkido. Tracy is also an experienced martial artist. Her grandfather was longtime Town of Southampton tax receiver George Kenney. For those old enough to remember George Ward ran Ward’s Garage with her father Donald and her uncle George.

Tracy, who said she used to live around the corner from Long Beach when she attended Pierson High School and the now defunct Sacred Heart Academy in Sag Harbor, had these tips to offer women about personal safety:

She offered these five tips:

1. If someone suspicious approaches you, put your hand up at eye level. It may make the person stop approaching, while also getting the attention of others around you.

2. Carry pepper spray. It keeps people at bay when you take it out. While we don’t recommend guns and knives, pepper spray is not lethal if you do deploy it unnecessarily.

3. If someone approaches you and feel like you are going to be the victim of an attack, throw anything with a little weight — like the woman in Sag Harbor did with the iPod — at the attacker’s face. It will make them flinch and might give you an opportunity to run.

4. If you are attacked when you have items in hand, throw the items in the opposite direction you are running. You never know, the the perpetrator might be after your goods and not you.

5. The most basic thing I can tell you is when you go somewhere, tell someone where you are going, who you will be with and when you are supposed to be back. This is extremely important.