Category Archives: Personal Development

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RETURNING TO THE MARKET PLACE

The Embodiment Podcast

My good friend Mark Walsh of “Embodied Facilitator” has launched a new podcast called “The Embodiment Podcast.” Mark is a teacher and leading voice in the embodiment movement and he has been rocking it on youtube where his instructional videos on embodiment have gotten over a bizillion views. So I was happy to hear that he was moving into the podcasting space with his long overdue launching of “The Embodiment Podcast.” It was my total pleasure to be invited to be a guest one of Mark’s first episodes where dove into the challenging topic of “Returning To The Marketplace.” 

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“5 Aspects Of Development”

ALE Masterclass Introduction Session

Ever wonder if you are developing in your practice? How do you know? With all of the ups and downs, wrong turns, pitfalls, backslides, and seemingly endless plateaus, development can be quite a messy affair. It will not always be clear to you if you are developing, or not. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a blueprint for development? A checklist of aspects that if you could cover them all, then you could rest assured that development is happening. As it turns out such a blueprint exists. It is called “The 5 Aspects Of Development” and when you cover all of these aspects to a satisfactory level, development just happens.

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The Buddha’s Advice To An Aikido Sensei

5 Qualities Of A Spiritually Mature Teacher

The early Buddhist term for a teacher is a  “Kalyanamitta” – which means a “Noble Friend.” I love this phrase because it reframes the role of the teacher and student, and how this holy relationship impacts your life. In this blog post, I will share with you the advice the Buddha gave in his teaching on the 5 qualities of a “Nobel Friend.” As Aikido is a higher path of practice, I think that these guidelines are especially relevant to Aikido teachers. This is the Buddha’s advice to an Aikido Sensei.

Miles Kessler Sensei
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2 Teachers On Self-Reflection In Aikido

w/ Wendy Palmer & Miles Kessler

The practice of self-reflection is essential for growth at any stage in Aikido. As a teacher, having the chance to practice and reflect with other teachers is something I highly value.

Wendy Palmer & Miles Kessler - Self-reflection

This past May I had the great pleasure of hosting an online global tele-summit called Aikido At The Leading Edge. It was an amazing event that brought so many gifts to my life, and the lives of over 2,300 people. Perhaps the greatest gift for me was that I had an opportunity to connect with 46 amazing teachers from the global Aikido community.

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Aikido AT The Leading Edge

Interview With The Edgar Ortega Radio Show

If you’re a serious practitioner of Aikido then I am sure you are no stranger to the occasional struggle. Like every other developmental practice, hitting personal limitations and working on the edge of your comfort is unavoidable. As true as this is in ourselves, so too is it true in the world.

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The Wisdom Of Awareness, Tolerance & Allowing

Dharma Bite w/ Stephen Fulder and Miles Kessler

I have recently been conducting a series of “Dharma Discussions” with several of my friends who are meditation teachers. These discussions are exclusively for our current “Meditation For Aikido” course participants. However, these discussions are so good that I’ve decided to take some “bite-sized” excerpts and share them with my blog readers. I’m calling them “Dharma Bites” and here is the first many more to come. Here is an excerpt from a Dharma discussion I had on “The Wisdom Of Awareness, Tolerance & Allowing.”

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To Inner, To Outer, To Online

A Spontaneous Conversation With Mark Walsh, Part 1

Well, I’m back from the Dead Sea Seminar for about 10 days now, and my life is finally getting back to normal. I’m still catching up on things, but I thought I’d make a quick blog post here of a video my friend Mark Walsh from Integration Training made with me out at the Dead Sea.

Inner, Outer, Online
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The Mindfulness Of Aikido

5 Characteristics Of "ZANSHIN"

The biggest trend in personal development these days is “mindfulness.” The popularity of Mindfulness today is especially interesting because even though it is adopted as a post-modern practice, it has been the core transformative practice of spiritual awakening traditions for millennia. Mindfulness also happens to be the primary awareness training that lies at the heart of Aikido practice. We call it “Zanshin” – the mindfulness of aikido.

Zanshin