In England, most martial art schools send leaflets to leisure centres or sports centres; otherwise, you'll have to search the net or find out through word of mouth.

Top advice Mike!

We have had several students who left our club to live elsewhere. In most cases there were karate clubs of the same style nearby, but the standard was not as high as they hoped. In the end they found better teachers in completely unrelated disciplines who nonetheless taught with the same skill and spirit that they were seeking. As Mike said, don't be hidebound by style, find a proper 'Sensei' and the rest will follow.

To me, the most important aspect in finding a school was the instructor. I have seen many different styles and dojos. Each has had their merits and draw backs.

The single greatest fault I have found, at times, with instructors and schools is ego. Ego in a sense of being superior to every other martial arts style and there being nothing to learn of value from anyone but that one instructor (or style). I know of some schools in my area that would consider it disloyal if you even sat in on a practice with another style. To me, this is closed minded and unacceptable.

My instructor takes the opposite attitude and that is what drew me into his school. He is remarkably humble for a guy that has been studying martial arts for over 20 years and has obtained 3rd degree in 2 disciplines. He will even ask that his adult students (at least us in our 30s -40s+) call him by his first name and not Sensei. Geez...we have been trying to get him to design a patch for the school for years but he won't do it out of respect for his teacher. At least 4-5 times a year he will have in instructors in another style so we can see and learn from a discipline outside of our own.

There is that old saying “when the student is ready the teacher will appear." While it is a bit hackneyed, it was true in my case.

If I could sum up my advice...first, find a good person to train with...then worry about the style.

You can watch a few classes, but there's no substitute for joining in -probably more than one class in each dojo - before and making up your own mind. It can be a painful way to do it, but it is also 'the way of the warrior'! :)

At our club, we like people who step onto the mat without scouting it out first. That takes spirit and earns our respect. Unsurprisingly, these people are also the most likely to stay.

I am curious, how does everybody else find martial arts schools? I use the internet and word of mouth as much as possible, but sometimes it can be tough to find a dojo (dojang/school/etc.) around my area. Also, what criteria should you judge a school on?