On Saturday 6th July, I received the 4th Dan in Aikido by means of Aikikai Japan, directed by the Sensei Moriteru Ueshiba, in behalf of the Aikido Diffusion Center, headed by the Sensei Leonardo Sakanashi.

The Aikido transforms the Being at the Making.

Taking what I have heard from Humberto Maturana as one of his Systemic laws “everything said is said by an observer to another observer who can be himself or herself”, all I say about Aikido is not what the Aikido is; it is only how it happened to me all over these 23 years of uninterrupted practice.

On my way through the world of professional tennis, I experienced the pains and joys of what this world means.

I strongly felt the necessity to understand the human thing, the behavior, the inner development. I watched movies of Samurais; and was impacted by their particular way of learning, of training and their continuous improvement.

That curiosity lead me to enter the world of martial arts and oriental disciplines.

I started in 1986; this August of 2013 will be already 27 years at this fascinating path. I achieved a First Dan of Karate Shorin Ryu at the School of the Sensei Shoei Miyazato.

In 1990, I met Sensei Masafumi Sakanashi; I felt very curious about what I saw of him and the kindness and respect the practitioners were moving.

I kept on practicing both disciplines for some time; until the Aikido occupied all spaces of physical activities, as mental and spiritual ones too.

There is no definition about what Aikido really is; any explanation falls short capturing its essence and what is said, is only an explanation of whom is telling it.

This is my history; which makes sense to me to tell, happy for the achievements I reached until today and towards the confidence in what follows in a future.

The word Aikido is composed by AI (harmony), KI (energy) and DO (way or path)

 

The AI of harmony.

Harmonize with oneself, with the others and the environment.

The poetry of these words brings the challenge of being aware that we permanently live within a constant flow of harmonizing and disharmonizing; of action and reaction, of resistance and flowing.

The constant training is realizing interruptions and recovering harmony; each time I realize and can, in a present moment.

Like a phrase I read of the creator of Aikido, O‘Sensei Morihei Ueshiba “My students think I never lose my center, I always lose it; my expertise is to recover it in the best possible time.”

I understand the ‘AI’ as they describe it in the Orient; navigating the river through the middle.

Broadly speaking, we all seek to avoid suffering and having happiness.

Harmonizing this path centered with integrity at my feelings, in that middle way that keeps me entire, centered and at an emotionality that integrates, contains the multiplicity of emotions generated by these two great emotional tensors.

Our nature is harmonious; we feel well when we are.

We do not like to be fighting, imposing nor dominating others.

We like collaborating, helping others; we feel well when we do this.

We also cause harm to others or to ourselves; and in order to feel integer, we look for explanations justifying our actions.

The explanations are often not enough, unless if we feel a coherence between that explaining and that feeling at our emotion.

 

KI, of energy

The energy flows through us in a field much larger than what we can understand and explain.

That ‘something’ we feel and which we cannot explain, or which we give multiple senses. Some refer it as God, Cosmos, Vital Energy or whatever else.

Yes, we feel that this energy keeps us alive, weakens us or empowers us.

At the daily action, at the rest, we distribute this vital energy in a conscious or unconscious way.

Food is energy that nourishes us or not, depending on how it does.

Within the daily life, emotions play a crucial role with this energy.

Anyone recognizes those situations, where we say that this conversation took my energy away or filled it with.

Emotional states are a source of energy.

 

Here we have the first articulation of these two words ‘AI’ and ‘KI’.

The ‘AiKi’ is the coherence of every one of us at the making; at an interlacing of the flow of the emotion, the making, the conversation, in relationships with others at the achievement of purposes and projects.

We are all harmonious by nature; we feel well collaborating and our wellbeing keeps us living close to some others.

 

The DO, way or path; is the transit at the living of each one within a present moment, changing and continuous.

That path maintains a historical consistency in the way of doing things. It shows that in the explanation we do of that way, there are things we want to keep and others we do not; because they do not allow us to achieve certain things we want.

What we want to keep because it does us well, gives us trust and confidence facing a future.

What we want to change because it does us no good, gives us uncertainty facing the future.

The ‘Do’ is the present path or way.

Neither the past nor the future exist; at least from what I know about those planes of existence.

Both past and future are an explanatory narrative we do to speak of two moments, which are not now.

This carries along the consequence making us believe that this past and that future are real; and not only explanatory constructs we do in the present, and which also take us out of the present; and of what our sensors record.

I have read that the true ‘DO’ cannot be named or explained.

I understand that the ‘DO’ is composed by two dimensions, the one of the present which is recorded at a complete presence by our biology and the way of explaining, agreeing, proposing with others, although it may be undertaken in complete presence; but belongs to the world of language, of emotions and of feelings, within the cultural environment in which we have lived.

 

On my way of learning and research as to the integration of my work linking my understanding of Biology, Culture, Systemic thinking, Aikido and Coaching, I studied and worked with different referents.

 

Those reference persons marking turning points were Marcela Sagrada, Sensei Masafumi Sakanashi, Humberto Maturana, Ximena Dávila, Peter Senge, Fernando Flores, Julio Olalla, Jim Selman and all people interacting with me over all these years in the professional field.

 

Marcela Sagrada, partner of Taishi Consulting, since already 15 years developed the consultant firm and the approach that articulated these distinctions jointly with me.

Sensei Masafumi Sakanashi showed me techniques and Aikido movements as the relation with its living.  He referred me to other masters and with an organization, the aikido Diffusion Center, today represented by Shidoin Leonardo Sakanashi, and allowed me to lean more from him there.

 

Humberto Maturana and Ximena Dávila, showed me the understanding of the human.  Out from the abstraction of their Systemic Laws and working together with Ximena Dávila and the Matríztical Team, once Humberto told me: “What you do are not Aikido exercises, they are dynamics of psycho-corpo-sensorial harmonies, which bring wellbeing because of the particular movements and the breathing”.

 

Peter Senge I knew thanks to the Matriztical School, several times being invited to assist research and development cloisters.

Peter said that “what you do at the integration of Cultural Biology, Systems Thinking, Aikido and Coaching at learning communities, is true Systemic Intelligence”.

‘Your work brings in the articulation of Mind, Heart and Hands’

In my understanding, the complexity of the Mind of each one exists is in our biology and culture. Heart is the world of emotions and language, and Hands are the appropriate actions we decide and ponder to do in the present moment.

Fernando Flores, with whom the project of ‘Aiki Training’ becomes rigorous at the program of the Entrepreneurial Club.

 

Julio Olalla, allowed me to present ‘Aiki Training’ at the Newfield Graduates Program, at several global conventions and at an organizational process.

 

Jim Selman, who allowed me to investigate, awoke the curiosity in me and encouraged me to see this possibility; besides being my first professional formation at Coaching.

 

The International Coach Federation, which allowed me to present ‘Aiki Training’ at global conferences in Orlando and Fort Worth, to found the Chapter in Argentina and coordinate projects in Latin America.

 

The schools that rely the development of their students with these practices.

 

The customer companies that trust us the development of the persons and the teams.

 

I wish to thank the people now integrating ‘Taishi Consulting’, my friend and partner Ricardo Mayer, Sandra Fajn, friend and an outstanding coach, to Alvaro Castresana for all the communication support; to all coaches with whom we have integrated teams and collaborated at different projects all over these years.

 

To my family, Marcela, my daughters Juliana, Eugenia and Camila, for being there; accompanying me at the commitment all over these last years and for accepting all that 27 years dedicated to martial arts and the 23 years of uninterrupted practice of Aikido.

 

Also to many other people, which contributed in one or another way.

 

This represents my Making and the impact in my Being, from my world at the Aikido.

 

Many thanks to each one of those intervening to me nowadays doing what I do and being what I am.

Proud of what I do, of my contribution towards a better living and the systemic impact in this world.

Omar Ossés

July 2013