Aikido is not an individual practice but you can practice at home. Breathing is a great place to start. It is helpful to see what we talk about when explaining meditational breathing but most instruction just shows a very relaxed person telling you to breathe deeply, expecting you to automatically find it easy and relaxing empty out all of your air and hold your breath without passing out. Continue reading Breathing Basics
Category Archives: Centering
How can aikido help you achieve a centered, non-oppositional state?
Performing Under Pressure and the Cost of Anxiety
Standardized testing season begins in the Spring students will be placed in “high stakes” scenarios that produce “test-anxiety” which is shown to dramatically affect performance. We all face anxiety in our day to day lives but the practice of Aikido can reduce the impact and support performance that reflects our best abilities. Continue reading Performing Under Pressure and the Cost of Anxiety
Standing, Breathing, Moving, its about how it makes you feel…
Research continues to show that what the body does “makes” us feel something. Our bodies play a major role in producing emotion but sometimes our bodies are playing the part of a different story then we are in at the moment. Studies show that if we change what our body is doing our feelings change with it. Continue reading Standing, Breathing, Moving, its about how it makes you feel…
The Weight We Carry and How It Affects Our Perception
It is amazing what is studied… research shows that the weight on your shoulders affects perception, judgement, and motivation. The studies put heavy backpacks on participants and demonstrated effects that may make you question how each of us experiences the world. Continue reading The Weight We Carry and How It Affects Our Perception
You are stronger than you “look”
Appearance has been the driving force of how we interpret what it means to “be strong”… but the things we do to look and feel strong do little to improve our stability or capacity to withstand force. Continue reading You are stronger than you “look”
Don’t meditate under fire…
Meditation should occur in a place of safety and security. If your house is on fire, if something is about to happen, if you have a wound that needs imeadiate attention (physical or otherwise) goal-oriented action is a better move. Continue reading Don’t meditate under fire…
Death by narrative and the primal response
A cold shower is synonymous with suffering as if one has entered a apocalyptical path to darkness. This is an example of how narrative can equal automatic reactivity. Cold showers as are available to us in the 20th century are actually a healthy chance to build self-regulatory skills while giving us a nice push toward wakefulness.
Continue reading Death by narrative and the primal response
Breathing is a form of stretching…
As air enters the body your muscles and organs have to adjust to make room. If you are tense or in a rigid posture, deep breathing is not going to be comfortable because you are essentially squishing your internal organs to make room for air. Breathing is a great way of improving your level of relaxation and body alignment if you use how it feels to breathe as a guide for adjusting your body and releasing unnecessary tension. Continue reading Breathing is a form of stretching…