I spent 15 years practicing the martial art of Aikido. It taught me so much but it taught my body even more. You see the mind is simply not able to think fast enough to pull off the techniques at the speed of advanced martial arts practice.
But the body that is fully “centered” (as they say) can perform techniques brilliantly and beautifully no matter the speed. So what’s the point that we can use to help us in our business and personal lives?
Just this. In Aikido to be “centered” is really to have skillfully connected the body and mind. It is doing what Einstein meant when he told us that no problem can be solved at the level of thinking that created it. He was talking about paradox. He was talking about healing and transcending the everyday paradoxes we all face. He was talking about making both/and our mantra.
So on the mat, when I was centered I had the feeling that everything was slow and easy even though others watching would objectively describe the action as fast and hard. On the mat when I was centered, I could take bone-crunching high falls that felt like gently rolling in deep grass. It really felt good, but it shouldn’t have.
How does this work? I’m not sure, it just does. Perhaps it was that Aikido has a wild promise at its core. It begins with the impossible goal (aka paradox) of demanding that “no one get hurt” especially the person that is attacking you! In fact, there is a wonderful principle in Aikido which says that he who has the mind to fight… has already lost. Pickle yourself in that thought for awhile!
So what paradoxes in your business or personal life do you need to heal and transcend?
- Perhaps you must finally take control by giving it up?
- Make faster decisions by way of slow, deliberate reflection?
- Handle the hardest challenges with the softest skills?
- Increase your freedom by giving yourself more boundaries?
- Fall in love with your work so you can finally leave it?
Remember, what you are looking for is really looking for you. And when you are centered, transcending paradox and conundrum without effort … it will find you.
Homework: Take about fifteen minutes. Think of a paradox you are currently working with. Grab a comfortable seat with your posture good but not rigid. Take a few deep breaths and concentrate for a moment on the center of your body, just below your navel. After a few minutes take out pen and paper and just begin to write like crazy about anything that comes to mind regarding your paradox. Don’t force anything. Don’t try. But don’t let yourself off the hook either by just rehashing the old solution. For me I like to add reading a poem or two to this exercise, especially ones that have lots of surprising metaphors and paradoxes built in. If you decide to do the homework, let me know how it goes. But one caution … you may start to like this exercise and just do it for fun.
