Ki / Chi Energy DEVELOPMENT & Training

  I seek to participate with those that possess a keen desire to discover how to consistently maintain an intentional and conscious connection with the "invisible"  energetic realm.

One's tangible connection to invisible energy can be validated and reinforced with distinct  physical experience. I refer to that physical experience as Natural Balance.

I seek to bring individual awareness to the essential difference between Natural Balance and unnatural balance.  I am passionate about facilitating this widely overlooked, life-altering experience. By facilitating a transformative training, I assist individuals to re-identify the behaviors, thoughts and words that are essential to maintaining a consistent experience of Natural Balance, thereby affirming a consistent connection to the invisible energy referred to as Ki (Japanese) or Qi (Chinese).

Participating in the the wonder and joy of rediscovering and reconnecting to the innate potential of who we have always been is a truly rewarding experience!

Every infant arrives in this world endowed with an innate potential to experience Natural Balance. (Unless it's health has already been adversely affected in the womb) By the time a healthy infant sits up for the first time it is already participating in the experience of Natural Balance. Unfortunately, the infant's experience of that innate balance is inevitably compromised by a variety of societal influences.  They inevitably exert a corrosive influence on a child's natural connection to Universal Energy. Consequently, as adults, very few of us are still consistently connected to the invisible, energetic realm. 

So, what is the reality of our "normal" balance? 

Paradoxically, what we experience as "normal' is wholly unnatural. It is unnatural in the sense that it represents a disconnection from invisible energy, the energy of the Universe. "Normal" balance can only be maintained thru a physical, mechanistic effort and gradually results in an impaired physical, emotional and mental health. It is a limited experience that has come to be accepted as "good enough".

Why is "normal' balance not "good enough"?

 It can be observed that our "normal" balance fundamentally creates an unconscious sense of vulnerability, insecurity and separation. To compensate for these sensations we begin to create an expanding variety of personal identities. And we then mistakenly come to believe that this accumulation of identities represents our "self".  For too many of us, an attachment to this array of personal identities has become an unquestioned norm. An attachment to a mistaken self-identity results in a variety of abnormal and harmful thoughts, behaviors and language that create an incessant experience of background stress.  This chronic stress leads to a literal dis-integration. This, in turn, creates a significant obstacle to participating with Ki / Qi.

 What are the benefits of re-gaining Natural Balance?

Natural Balance is the essential, foundational physical experience that validates a consistent connection to and participation with the invisible energy of the universe. This connection and participation becomes  a powerful aid to harmonizing all aspects of our lives. It enables us to live more powerfully, intuitively, and fearlessly! As we engage in the practice of re-establishing our Natural Balance we also begin dissolving the attachment to our limiting personal identities and every aspect of our daily lives is de-stressed and  re-energized.

 Every component of The Entire Concept is intended to guide participants to an immediate, tangible, physical experience of Natural Balance. With continuing practice, practitioners learn to more consistently connect to and participate with the invisible energy that always surrounds us,  As we continue to evolve in our practice, a whole-being "feeling" of living in an "awareness" of our connection to everything begins to unfold. As Sensai Koichi Tohei suggests - we can evolve towards developing a Universal Mind and becoming "one" with the Universe.  

The Language of Connection is essential to consistently maintain our connection to Ki / Chi and our experience of Natural Balance.  Training in The Language of Connection shifts the intellectual perception of language.  We learn that a word is more than a symbolic representation of an idea. We become aware that individual words are infused with an innate energetic content that exists apart from semantics, context or intention. This innate energetic content exerts a direct effect on our energetic connection to Natural Balance.

The Language of Connection is also an indispensable tool to effect the transformation of our subconscious mind. It ultimately enhances all of our efforts to restore a feeling of unity and harmony within ourselves and others. It provides a basis for a distinctly more transformative and unifying experience than language derived from dualistic perceptions such as what is "positive” or “negative” / "right" or "wrong". 

There is only one criteria for any word to be included in the vocabulary of The Language of Connection. The word must inherently support our connection to invisible energy and thus our experience of Natural Balance. Words that do not satisfy this criteria are avoided and they are replaced with words that demonstrate the ability to maintain our energetic connection to Natural Balance. 

For this reason it is also an integral and indispensable component of Hsin Shin Aikido.

To our knowledge, the pedagogy of  The Language of Connection is unique to the content of this training. Whether you are a beginner or an expert on your current life-path, the insights acquired in The Language of Connection facilitates a powerfully enhanced journey.

When everything is said and done, the words that we  have thought and spoken into being have ultimately created the content of our experience. 

So, engagement with and practice of The Language of Connection promises to strengthen our spirit, unify the experience of our mind and body, while enhancing the well-being of the world around us. "In the Beginning is the Word!"

 The Motto-

 "Let us have a Universal Mind that loves and protects all creation and assists all things to grow and develop. To unify mind and body and become one with the Universe is the ultimate purpose of our training." - Koichi Tohei 

My Beginnings

In the early beginnings on my life-path, in my twenties, I trained in Shotokan Karate, Judo, and Tai Chi, However, it was over 35 years ago that the training in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, as promulgated by Koichi Tohei, distinctly captured my imagination and spirit. It appeared to me as the most direct path to accessing the mystery of a "mind over matter" - a concept that fascinated me and inspired my initial interest in the martial arts. 

And while my former trainings held out the possibility to eventually reveal the secrets of "mind over matter" I sensed there was "something" that was absent from those trainings.  Then one day on a visit to the book store, looking for a book on Karate, Koichi Tohei's book,  Ki in Daily Life, literally turned my head. His book spoke about "ki" directly, visibly (photos) and explicitly. His willingness to elaborate on the "invisible"  and point to a tangible way to experience it and make it visible remains unique to this day. These were the "secrets" that I had indeed been seeking!

My Question

So, even though the path to union with "Ki" was made explicit and accessible in this new training, a distinct question arose. Early in my training I asked one of my black belt instructors this:  In Aikido, how does one combine "the spirit of love" with "the spirit of protection" as suggested by Koichi Tohei?  My instructor admitted that he did not know the answer to my question.  (And to this day, even though it is in the motto, I have never heard the word "love" expressed in the content of any Aikido training) And thus the personal quest for an answer to my question began. 

An Answer Evolves

Hsin Shin style of Aikido now offers clarity to the question that I posed to my instructor years ago. It provides an effective path to integrating "the spirit of love" and the "spirit of protection for all creation" as expressed in the original intention of Koichi Tohei's invitation. It effectively dissolves the paradox between the apparent vulnerability of a loving demeanor (physically and emotionally)  and the aggressive, dispassionate demeanor and often injurious techniques that are often taught in the name of  "self-defense".

Hsin Shin Aikido resolves this paradox by directing a practitioner's primary attention to an internal  "center" that is distinct from the traditional concepts of  "hara", "tanden", or "dantian". It is a center of focused attention that is is identified in archaic Chinese as the "hsin".  Consequently, "hsin shin" in this training, is given to mean "mind within Mind". This point of attention contributes to the most consistent and powerful experience of Natural Balance. It is the point where love and protection harmonize as One. Attention to this center as practiced in Hsin Shin Aikido,  will powerfully serve those who sincerely seek a highly accessible, ever-expanding connection to the Energy of the Universe.

The style of Hsin Shin Aikido that I have introduced, practice and facilitate today is emphatically an "internal" art. It provides viable, powerful tools to implement an "energetic", legitimate and effective non-violent self-defense. This integration effectively facilitates the experience of a more joyful and peaceful heart and a more fearless warrior's spirit; even in the face of an "attack"; whether it be physical, emotional or psychological. This style also powerfully enhances the functional effectiveness of every Aikido technique.

In Aikido what is Truly Modern and/or Traditional?

While Aikido is generally acknowledged as a "modern" martial art, most dojos still typically adhere to an environment of "traditional" formalities that most often include "uniforms" and "belt" ranking systems that are regarded as traditional, and yet history suggests that these practices started being widely implemented only as lately as the 19th century. Hsin Shin Aikido dispenses with those formalities and returns to the even earlier traditions of "village" training where those who trained showed up in their everyday, working attire. Consequently, Hsin Shin Aikido provides an opportunity  to participate in a "come as you are" environment and paradoxically appears as "unconventional" in contrast to more formal trainings. 

Emphasis is placed on the training itself, giving attention to the more requisite and essential  internal practices and experiences while de-emphasizing concern for one's attire or "rank".

It must be noted that although this external informality is accommodated, the expectation is maintained that practitioners will engage with behaviors of courtesy, respect and thoughtful regard for one another.

Quite often, Japanese and Chinese martial art is promulgated as a top-down hierarchy. It predictably only embraces that "knowledge" which has been passed "down" from the "highest" ranks. Consequently in these dojos there is little flexibility to contribute spontaneous, paradigm shifting insights from practitioners themselves at every level of experience. As a consequence, many trainings become dogmatic and "in the moment" intuitions and insights are easily overlooked .

As a facilitator of this training I seek to dissolve this pattern of rigid hierarchy and dogmatism. I seek to  share my personal experiences in an effort to propel each individual's experience along a path that encourages their own "in the moment" intuitions and insights.  This training, as it currently exists is a result of shared intuitions, insights and realizations that have occurred as a result of interactions with fellow practitioners at all levels of experience and engagement.  In the acceptance of this dynamic, the training is a continually evolving experience. As Dan Millman -The Way of the Peaceful Warrior - reminds us, "The quality of our moments become the quality of our lives."