Integral Aikido Tel Aviv

Here's the latest video just posted from Integral Aikido. It's an introduction to the dojo, some of the students and our aikido. We actually did the filming back in February this year but it took a while for us to put it all together. A big thanks to all the students and especally to Ittai Meyer who did the filming and editing.





Of course, as soon as we finished this one we're already thinking about the next video project. Could be the birth of our own AV department.....

Cheers!

On this past weekend of Sept. 12th and 13th Integral Aikido held a workshop on the “Evolution Of Response”. I’ve been teaching aikido seminars both here in Israel and abroad for some years now, but as for the “Evolution Of Response” seminar this is the first time I’ve offered it here in Israel.



This seminar is an excellent way to grasp what “Integral Aikido” actually is as it deals directly with “levels” of consciousness. Through out the workshop we look the way we respond to stress and conflict from the different lower and higher perspectives, and the technologies that naturally arise from each level.



I’ve posted about the “Evolution of Response” before but basically what we do in this seminar is to start by identifying with our “lower intelligences”, which are fear based ways of dealing with conflict. By bringing out our more basic tendencies it helps to integrate them into who we are and then give an orientation for our higher intelligences in responding to conflict.



We had 17 participants for the workshop and in addition to aikido students we had participants from dance and other martial arts as well.



Over the weekend in addition to aikido we practiced movement, meditation, inquiry and dialogues as well. True to the integral method we covered practices for the body, heart, mind and spirit.



It was a great pleasure for me to do this seminar here. A truly Integral Aikido community is slowly taking shape and I’m looking forward to more explorations and development together in the future.

On Saturday, Sept. 13th Integral Aikido held it’s first “Aiki-Contact Jam”. I lead this evening together with Noam Carmeli who is both an aikido student and Contact Improvisation teacher. Contact Improvisation had its beginning in the states some decades ago and some of its original influence came from aikido.



Both Noam and I are interested in finding the common ground of dance and martial arts and  how they lead to growth and discovery as it is manifested in the body. We feel there is a great learning potential in bringing the two arts of aikido and contact together.



We began the evening by leading the group in alternating basic aikido Tai Sabaki (body movement) and contact improvisation exercises.



The participants were a combination of aikido students and contact dancers, plus a few others who were new to both. This combination made for a very “yeasty” evening and sparked a nice creativity between the two disciplines.



After the class we had a special “purification ceremony” followed by a demonstration of both arts. We were very fortunate to have Makiko Sakurai with us for the event. She give a performance of an ancient Japanese Buddhist chanting and purification ceremony, which included a beautiful chant followed by the spreading of flower pedals in the space.



Following the purification ceremony I gave a demonstration of aikido with Einav Freedman which was followed by Noam and Yaniv Mintzer giving a demonstration of contact improvisation.



After the demos we opened the space for a “Jam” where all the participants entered the space to dance and explore where aikido and contact meet.







We were happy to host some of Noam’s friends who played for the event, which created a wonderful atmosphere for the Jam.







Both Noam and I are still not sure what will come out of this merging of aikido and contact but it is clear that a beautiful potential exists for creativity and self development. We’ll be holding our next “Aiki-Contact” Jam at the end of October so if you are around Tel Aviv then please do join us.

"This image comparison, first featured in The New York Times, definitely gives one something to think about. On the left is a microscopic image of a mouse brain's neuronal network produced by Mark N. Miller of Brandeis University's Nelson Lab. On the right is the Max Planck Institute's computer simulation of the vast dark matter network (purple) connecting visible-matter galaxies (yellow) across the universe. “Together,” observes New York Times journalist David Constantine, “they suggest the surprisingly similar patterns found in vastly different natural phenomena.”



Part of the awakening of Integral is that as we are increasingly able to take more and more perspectives on reality, our intuitive understanding of the Kosmos grows. And as we grow, gradually the "Integral Map" becomes the "Integral Territory". From the microscopic patterns of physical phenomena, and the extreme subtleties of meditation, all the way to the infinite vastness of galaxies, and the dark matter in the Kosmos, fractal patterns repeat themselves again and again. And this understanding begins to enter into us as a felt and intuitive sense. We begin to actually get what Ken Wilber means when he says: "Turtles all the way up, turtles all the way down."

Taking a new point of view is essential for growth. But it is just the beginning of a good Integral Practice. We must first take a perspective and then we must make a contemplation of it. Contemplate, contemplate, contemplate. Contemplate to the point where the outer merges with the inner, where the microcosm is seen in the macrocosm, and where fractals are seen all way up and all the way down. This is an extremely  necessary  part of the practice so that the perspective fully sinks into consciousness.

When a perspective fully sinks into us at the level of consciousness, the felt sense is that it hits home. The perspective then arises as an intuitive insight, and it becomes ours. It  is no longer an intelectual perspective that is "out there", but rather it becomes an intuitive perspective that is "in here".  It becomes an expression of who we are, and we become a manifestation of it.  A gift that naturally radiates outward and is expressed onto the Kosmos.

OK. So, then what? Well, then we write poetry....

Sting - Send Your Love


Finding the world in the smallness of a grain of sand
And holding infinities in the palm of your hand
And Heaven's realms in the seedlings of this tiny flower
And eternities in the space of a single hour

Send your love into the future
Send your love into the distant dawn

Inside your mind is a relay station
A mission probe into the unknowing
We send a seed to a distant future
Then we can watch the galaxies growing

This ain't no time for doubting your power
This ain't no time for hiding your care
You're climbing down from an ivory tower
You've got a stake in the world we ought to share

You see the stars are moving so slowly
But still the earth is moving so fast
Can't you see the moon is so lonely
She's still trapped in the pain of the past

This is the time of the worlds colliding
This is the time of kingdoms falling
This is the time of the worlds dividing
Time to heed your call

Send your love into the future
Send your precious love into some distant time
And fix that wounded planet with the love of your healing
Send your love
Send your love

There's no religion but sex and music
There's no religion but sound and dancing
There's no religion but line and color
There's no religion but sacred trance

There's no religion but the endless ocean
There's no religion but the moon and stars
There's no religion but time and motion
There's no religion, just tribal scars

Throw a pebble in and watch the ocean
See the ripples vanish in the distance
It's just the same with all the emotions
It's just the same in every instance

There's no religion but the joys of rhythm
There's no religion but the rites of Spring
There's no religion in the path of hate
No prayer but the one I sing

Send your love into the future
Send your precious love into some distant time
And fix that wounded planet with the love of your healing
Send your love
Send your love

There's no religion but sex and music
There's no religion that's right or winning
There's no religion in the path of hatred
Ain't no prayer but the one I'm singing

Send your love
Send your love