On July 12th, 2020 the Integral Dojo held a Community Call with Ginny Whitelaw. Ginny is a Zen Roshi, Aikido Sensei, a former NASA Biophysicist, and an author. In this post, I’m publishing the replay of this community call where Ginny Roshi lead a mini-workshop on the title of her soon to be released book “Resonate – Zen And The Way Of Making A Difference .”
Aikido is not the “Way Of Harmony.” Harmony is the result of Aikido when done well – a “positive-sum” process that leads to the resolution of conflict and the restoration of wholeness. But the “way” of this “Aikido process” inevitably takes you squarely through conflict. This is reflected in the recent events and story of Janice Taitel Sensei who last year organized a petition for gender equity within the United States Aikido Federation. She followed her Aikido intuitions and ended up in the middle of a considerable amount of conflict… within her own Aikido organization! Nevertheless, she persisted.
The recent killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin has unleashed a torrent of protests against systemic racism in cities across America, that have also echoed throughout the world. Regardless of where you stand on the issue of systemic racism, there is no denying that we are a society in conflict. To better understand the urgency of this issue, I invited several of my fellow Aikidoka to join me on a panel discussion & community call where we explored the question, “What is an Aikido response to systemic racism?”
Over the past 4 years, I have written close to 100 blog posts at the intersectionality of Aikido, meditation, and personal development. In one way, or another, all of my blog posts explore the same essential question: What does it mean to walk a higher path of practice? A question that is very relevant in these uncertain times. I went through my archives and picked out 10 posts that I think will support you through these uncertain times. With Love.
How can Aikido support us in the face of the current Coronavirus and COVID-19 crisis that we all find ourselves in? This is the question we held as we came together with over 100 teachers and practitioners from our global Aikido community for a special 90 min. call. This Community Call replay includes a Dojo-Cho panel discussion, breakout practice sessions, and community sharing. Join us as we collectively explored the issue of “Aikido In A Time Of Crisis.”
Part of any commitment to a higher “Path” of practice (martial arts, meditation, yoga, etc.) is the need to put in the time to develop skills in your given field. But whereas developing skill is indispensable on any Path, gaining Mastery is an entirely different matter. The development of skill is in the realm of the possible. Mastery, on the other hand, is in the realm of the mystical. To gain mastery you must commit to the inner Path of learning from the Tengu.
Is awakening a sudden experience, or is it a gradual process. Do you wake up with a radical explosion into seeing the non-dual nature of reality? Or do you come to “unity consciousness” through a series of smaller steps of insight until gradually you are living a life of non-duality? In this Dharma Bite meditation teacher Patrick Cassidy speaks about “Integrating The Non-Dual Perspective.”
In the Zen tradition, they often use the metaphor of “the finger pointing to the moon.” The “finger” here, refers to practices that point towards the moon or, a non-dual awakening. But even though “fingers” point the way, the pointing practices themselves cannot get you to a direct experience of the moon. Simply put, when it comes to non-duality, you can’t get there from here. If this is the case then we should ask, what exactly are the conditions for Non-Duality In Aikido?
Nothing is more separating than conflict. Nothing is more unitive than spirituality. The martial art of Aikido attempts to walks this impossibly thin line as a “spiritual martial art.” If this is the case, then what does an expression of Aikido’s spiritual essence look like? If we are all spiritually connected, ultimately One, or not-two, then how can we express this non-duality in conflict? These are the questions I explored with Dan Messisco Sensei (6th dan Aikikai) in our recent Aiki-Discussion on Aikido & Non-Duality.
What does it mean to “embody conflict resolution”? In the below “Darma Bite” I continue the series of Dharma Discussions with Integral Facilitator & Zen Sensei Diane Musho Hamilton. In this excerpt from our discussion, we talk about conflict resolution in the field of mediation as compared to Aikido, and how they are in essence the same thing. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this short excerpt on “Embodying Conflict Resolution”.
