Aiki Principles

I Love Wikipedia! I just zoomed over there to look up the genus of “irony” and found featured on the home page the history of Aiki Jujitsu the martial art I practiced! It’s rare to ever find references to it. Since moving to a new city, I have been missing my Sensei, Ric Cameron. He knows so much about the history and principles of the art as well as the practice.

Being “poor student” I have not retained nearly as much as I would have liked about the art. Takeda Sokaku innovated Aiki JuJitsu just prior to the turn of the 20th century. The Ju Jitsu part is mostly about joint locks and bone crunching techniques. But where things get interesting is in the Aiki part.

This quote* from Sokaku’s son Tokimuni, “Aiki is to pull when you are pushed, and to push when you are pulled. It is the spirit of slowness and speed, of harmonizing your movement with your opponent's ki. Its opposite, kiai, is to push to the limit, while aiki never resists.” (Read about my conversation with a buddhist monk tomorrow for more on this idea).

Aiki Jujitsu greatly influenced Aikido founded by Morihei Ueshiba. My life continues to be informed by Aikido’s main precept which is: “to fight so that no one will lose”. I admire the wisdom inherent in that phrase. The philosophy behind Aikido is that of the skilled warrior first being compassionate.

Wow. Imagine that! How would global conflict change if our warriors’ first skill were compassion?

I see corporations moving to this stance of fighting so that no one will lose. Instead of Competition being the main driver, Cooperation and Collaboration is emerging. Instead of “us against them”, there is “us with them” mentality that is more pervasive. The Gen X’ers have insisted--in fact they would say “Us IS Them”. And Boomers looking for more meaning in their lives are searching for a new alignment of the personal and meaningful with corporate vision and mission.

(Except maybe in broadcasting and online video distribution)/


* = Pranin, Stanley (1996). Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu: Conversations with Daito-ryu Masters. Tokyo: Aiki News. ISBN 4900586188.

Toronto Rocks!

Returning to Calgary from a trip to Toronto, I was walking through Terminal 1 behind two guys dragging giant duffle bags. One guy had a lacrosse stick over his shoulder. Not a common sight, so I looked down at the bags and saw the Rock’s logo.

I knew I would be elevated to Awesome Aunt status with the nephews if I could score an autograph. But felt too timid to ask.
The two voices in my head were arguing about if I had the guts when I stepped forward with my pen. How could I not ask? What would I say to my nephews, “I would have got the Rock’s autograph but I was too scared...”?

The wonderful Aaron Wilson took me over to where the rest of the team were checking in for a flight to Edmonton and I got my autographs. THEN I remembered, just in time, that my Macbook Pro had a camera! Sweet! Here I am with the gorgeous-and-talented men from the Toronto Rock. ( This is where the Dare and Do have a little bit more power than just the Dream!)

Hey Tommy and Jamie, who’s your favourite aunt now? Oh yeah, I’m right over here...

Void your Warranty!

Did you ever have friends who used to take stuff apart?
You know the toaster, the dishwasher, the lawnmower, the TV? I had a cousin who was amazing at this. Jimmy could take anything apart and fix it. And I wish I’d hung out more while he did.

These days with disposable mindsets, we tend not to fix stuff. Or if we want to, don’t know how or where to go to find out. If we didn’t have parents who encouraged deconstructing to build understanding of how things function, then we are likely at a loss.

The other day my daughter kicked my fancy iron off the counter--she was dancing on the island at the time. The iron smashed and Lauren looked glum. “Oh good!” I exclaimed, “Now we can take it apart and see how it works!” Imagine the look on her face.

We need to know how the world around us works. We need to be unafraid to tinker. To explore. To change things up.

When the maintenance man came to fix my dishwasher, he told me that there was no one to take his place when he retires. No one with communication skills who could also tinker with stuff until it worked. This is NOT GOOD. So I got him to agree that if I got some kids in a room with an old dishwasher, he’d let them wield tools and take the sucker apart! And the idea of Tinkering Studio, or whatever we’ll call it, is born!

Saturday I met with some like minded Tinkers--or is it Tinkerers--who want to make it ok for kids to explore the mechanical and technical world around them. I was as excited as a kid with a toy train! We made some progress on where this could and would go.
And soon we’ll be opening a Tinkering Space where kids can come and take stuff apart, build new things out of old things, and generally do what adults get to do in their own workshops. Get curious and busy!

More to follow. It’ll be great!

Fired in Line of Duty

A friend I met through a consulting gig just got fired today. She called because she was worried about what she had or had not done right to get fired.

I told her we could go down that path. But it might be more helpful to realize that the job and the company had changed, and that the role she was required to fill did not now fit with her genius or her passion.

It’s hard to realize that the context we’re operating in is changing--as are we. When we start to feel friction, it’s because things that before weren’t rubbing up against each other, now are. It’s important to notice what’s causing the heat--see what fuel there is for us.

In this woman’s case, she was having trouble completing her tasks. Now, she’s more of a Starter personality type, full of ideas and vision, and less interested in the details, so she might have trouble finishing most things. But, now she was finishing less.
This lack of focus, or motivation, is usually as sign that you aren’t living your passion, and not working from your innate talents.

I don’t know this woman well enough to be certain of her innate talents, but she’s highly articulate, philosophic, and wonderful at building relationships. She was in Marketing--which seems right for her at first glance. She could have hired a Finisher for the details. But the actual daily work involved in the job changed--it went from idea generating and strategizing the plan to administering the plan. What the job needed now was more of an Administrator. Not an Idea/Relationship generator.

She lost energy and heart while filling out forms, writing direct mail, following up on process. Not surprising that things were left undone. Or that she got fired.

I am sooo psyched! For almost a decade, I have longed to work with my two sisters. My dream was that we’d design, build and run a school together. This was not their dream. I managed to get my older sister, Neville, to act as President to my start-up, What If? so that I would have to be accountable to someone other than myself. That went brilliantly for me. I’m not sure she got anything out of it . After my accident, I took Doon’s advice and wrote down the 10 Things I want to Do before I Die. I misunderstood him and wrote 101 Things. oops. #37 “Work on a book with my little sister” is now in progress! During my last visit to my parents’ in August, I overheard my little sister, Grins, say that she’d written a children’s book: she had had it illustrated, and she felt less than satisfied. My little sister had found time to write a book!?! She’s the hyper-involved mother of 3 under 11yr olds, a teacher and busy community-outreach programme coordinator and she found time to write a book! (Shades of Harry Potter!). I asked her if I could give illustrations a go. (That’s the beauty of knowing what’s on your 10 Things list. It’s EASY to spot opportunity). My sis sent me her draft manuscript, and I’ve tried some preliminary drawings. Check it out! One is above--that’s Shady, the Newfie Dog and character in the book. I tell you it feels GREAT doing these sketches! Who knew that I could draw dogs? I’d never before tried. Also great, is #82 on my list was “Do more art or creative each day with tangible result.” Ahhh. I love efficiency. Especially when it feels THIS GOOD! Good thing I didn’t listen to the night monkeys when they came and whispered, “You don’t know how to draw dogs!@#$@” Those night monkeys better watch out, or I’ll draw a cage for them. Here’s Jinx, Shady’s sidekick: 

Reconnecting

I've been absent for a while.

I could blame my crashed laptop. I could blame a busy summer, or my brush with death...but really, it was that I had too much to say and couldn't figure where to start, or rather stop.

So I've been throwing it all down into a sloppy-joe of a manuscript.

Recently, nutritional healing for my heart, mind, body, soul came from my sojourn to www.webofchange.com. An assembly of folks transforming their corner of the globe, this event defies description. I came away feeling like I'd attended a family reunion where I discovered that all the truly enlightened, brilliant cousins had been kept secret from me for decades.

I was lucky enough to be a presenter and test drive some of my learning with others. Hard to pack everything into a mere 75 minutes. More soon...

Back in Saddle--sort of

Fear is that little dark room where negatives are developed.
Michael Pritchard

Sorry to have been absent for so long.

My laptop charging pin snapped off the motherboard, so no laptop (new MacBookPro on order). And my cell phone fell off the kitchen island and it’s charging pin bent so I couldn’t recharge.

Hmm. Is the universe trying to tell me something?
Like, “you aren’t recharging” or “disconnect for a while”?

So I listened.
I returned to the Elbow River to the scene of “the incident”.
Sat quietly, overwhelmed by the sound of the water. It was the sound I remember most from hanging there in the river.

I cried a river.

Then I walked downstream put my hands in the rushing water, and my eyes to the sky and thanked the River Gods for releasing me.

And I paddled.
First a canoe. On flat water of beautiful Lake Minnewanka.
My sensitive, sweetie, Michael packed an elegant picnic complete with china, wine (in real glass stemware!), and a wildflower bouquet. Terrific.

Next, a canoe in the swift water of the Kootenay.
That was scarier. We arrived at our campsite riverside after midnight, so we slept in the back of the van with the back flipped open to hear the water and feel the stars.

I couldn’t sleep. I panicked and started walking down the highway--heading back home. I was irrational. Freaking out imagining all the ways I could die if the canoe overturned. Michael talked me off the ledge. I got back into the van and fell asleep.

In the morning, I was glad. It was a star day, perfect for paddling.
The azure blue river took us to the take out--safe and sound.

Next kayak was on Murtle Lake with some canoe support.
Perfect despite the rain.

And finally, I took myself down the Bow downstream of the Falls in Banff. Easy-peezey. I had done this 20 times on my own and felt totally at peace. This time, every fallen log looked menacing--and there was a lot of dead fall lurking off the banks.

What helped was focusing on the areas of the river I had never explored. The little tributaries and marshes that wended away from the river’s body. Some times in life it pays to get out of the main current, and take a look around.

So, I’m officially back on the horse. Well almost. Paddling the Ottawa with Janee and Susanne will make it official.

I am still looking forward to trying ocean surfing. And now I’ve even more reason to. There are no logs! All the surfing action a girl can dream of...but only the sand and surf to smack me upside the head. I’m heading to Cortes Island off the coast of Vancouver Island in September. Maybe Tofino is a place to park and play?!