The “Shu-Ha-Ri Dialogues” series started on a lark when I reached out to Ellis Amdur Sensei for his thoughts on the way I was using these 3 stages as a teaching model in my dojo. That short interaction between Ellis and I morphed into some 360 participants, in 6 sessions, with over 10 hours of dialogues between myself and 4 other Koryu and Aikido teachers. On Sunday, Feb. 28th the “Shu-Ha-Ri Dialogues” series culminated with an all sensei panel discussion.

“Shu-Ha-Ri” Audience Q&A

In this final session of the “Shu-Ha-Ri Dialogues” series, all the sensei from this series gathered for a panel discussion. Together with Ellis Amdur Sensei, George Ledyard Sensei, Paul Manogue Sensei, Toby Threadgill Sensei, and myself, we reached out to the audience for questions that came up during this series. While we didn’t always agree in our answers, all the sensei brought their depth of perspectives which left us with a deeper sense and meaning of Shu-Ha-Ri.

Here are just a few of the questions from you, the audience:

• How do you reconcile between the necessity of “preserving” the forms and traditions, and our innate nature to innovate.
• Does the process of SHR also shape a person’s character?
• How can the Shu-Ha-Ri concept be applied to the development of internal power?
• Why are so many essential concepts of the old way are lost in modern Budo?
• What are the indicators that help us recognize which level somebody is at in the Shu-Ha-Ri theory?

Check out the replay below:

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