Posted on

Courage Beyond Grit | Sisu, Aikido & Inner Strength

A Conversation with Dr. Elisabet Lahti

The Finnish word Sisu is often translated as resilience, grit, or perseverance, but none of those words fully capture its meaning. As Dr. Elisabet Lahti explains in this conversation, Sisu is the hidden reserve of strength that appears precisely when we believe we have nothing left to give. It is the mysterious “second wind” that enables us to endure great hardship while remaining connected to something deeper than mere willpower. Although rooted in Finnish culture and history, Sisu points toward a universal human capacity that exists within all of us.

Posted on

Polishing The Spiritual Mirror

Removing The Blocks Of Our Own Design

Across spiritual traditions, there is a recurring insight: the path is not so much about becoming something new as it is about uncovering what has always been present. In Buddhism, this process is called purification. In Sufism, it is described as polishing the mirror of the heart. In contemplative traditions around the world, awakening is less a matter of acquiring and more a matter of revealing.

Posted on

Spiritual Resiliency & The Moral Dilemma

War Is A Koan Series

We are living through a time of enormous uncertainty, conflict, and moral complexity. In periods like these, spiritual practice is tested. It is easy to become overwhelmed, reactive, emotionally shut down, or polarized. Yet it is precisely during difficult times that practice becomes most essential. Spiritual resilience is not about avoiding hardship — it is about developing the inner strength to remain conscious, grounded, and connected to our humanity in the midst of hardship

Posted on

Seeing The World As It Is

What Is "Bare Experience"?

It is said, “We don’t see things as they are — we see things as we are.” This points to one of the deepest insights of meditation practice: our experience of reality is shaped by conditioning, identity, trauma, preference, and habits. We are only partially seeing the world — we are also seeing the filters through which we perceive it.

Posted on

War Is A Koan

Learn To Love The Question...

How can you keep your heart open in the midst of a moral dilemma? In times of conflict, we are often confronted with moral dilemmas that cannot be easily resolved—questions of action and restraint, justice and compassion.

Posted on

Meditation and the Dark Night of the Soul

The "Dukkha ñanas"

As mindfulness meditation deepens, insight does not unfold in a straight, ascending line. For many practitioners, the path includes periods of fear, grief, disorientation, or loss of meaning—experiences traditionally referred to as the Dark Night of the Soul. The experience of the “Dark Night” can feel like everything is falling apart. But in Vipassanā meditation, these experiences are not signs of failure, but natural stages of insight known as the dukkha ñāṇas. In other words, these experiences are the very arising of wisdom.

Posted on

What Is Integral Budo?

Are You Practicing In Flatland?

Are You Practicing In Flatland? In a recent dialogue with Zen teacher and Kung Fu Sifu Keith Martin-Smith and Integral consultant and karateka Charles Crutchfield, we explored a question that cuts to the heart of both spiritual AND martial arts practice: Are we training in a way that includes the full depth of our humanity—or are we inadvertently practicing in flatland? Flatland is the collapse of complexity: reducing practice to technique without presence, spirituality without embodiment, or meditation without shadow work. Our conversation opened up the multidimensional nature of Integral Budo as a path beyond that flattening.

Posted on

Aikido, Process Work, & Deeper Currents of Conflict

RAW Podcast w/ Gary Reiss & Miles Kessler

What does it mean to meet conflict—not with reactivity or avoidance—but with presence, clarity, and a willingness to go deeper? In a recent episode of the RAW podcast, my colleague Dr. Gary Reiss and I sat down with host Anouk Louri to explore these questions and share our experiences in trauma healing, martial arts, and group facilitation.

Gary shared his insights from his work in Israel and the Palestinian territories, including collaborations with trauma experts on both sides. Drawing from Process-Oriented Psychology, he explores how we can access the wisdom hidden within personal and collective tension—even, and especially, in heartbreaking times.

I shared the perspective of Aikido, a martial art rooted in harmony and non-resistance, and how its philosophy can help us engage conflict with grounded strength rather than force. Recorded during Gary’s recent visit to Tel Aviv, where we co-facilitated “healing the healers” events, this conversation invites you to reflect on what it means to respond—not react—amid profoundly uncertain times.