(Robert Kent)
Tuesday, September 21 is the UN’s International Day of Peace - a ceasefire day throughout the world during which the Red Cross and Red Crescent (among others) are able to go into conflict zones and immunize hundreds of thousands of children, transport humanitarian aid, etc. The story behind the UN Peace day is an inspiring one -- English rock documentarian and actor Jeremy Gilley came up with the idea at a music festival in 1998, and for the next three years worked tirelessly to convince NGO’s, government representatives, heads of state, and UN officials of the very simple idea that on one day each year there should be no war.
www.aikidomideastpeace.info
www.peacecampinitiative.org
www.budoforpeace.org
In a stunning and tragic irony, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution establishing a day of global ceasefire on September 7, 2001, four days before the attack on the World Trade Center four miles away. The stark contrast between such lofty hope and such terrible violence could not be more clear, and serves to underline what Martin Luther King, speaking of the Civil Rights Movement on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, referred to as the “fierce urgency of now”. Now is the time to stop the wars, cease the violence, and strengthen the bonds that connect each of us to one another. Now is the time to work towards resolving the conflicts in our communities, our families, and ourselves. Now is the time to make peace more real for ourselves, for our countries, and for our planet. Now is always the time.
Intr-o ironie tragica si uimitoare, Adunarea Generala a ONU a adoptat o rezolutie care stabileste o zi globala a incetarii focului in Septembrie 7, 2010 cu patru zile inaintea atacului de la World Trade Center si la patru mile distanta. Marele contrast intre o astfel de speranta si o astfel de teribila violenta nu poate fi mai clara, si este folositor sa subliniem ceea ce Martin Luther King se referea, vorbind la Civil Rights Movement la picioarele Memorialului Lincoln, ca la o "teribila necesitate a acum". Acum este timpul sa oprim razboaiele, sa inceteze violentele si sa intarim legaturile care ne conecteaza pe unii de altii. Acum este timpul sa muncim pentru rezolvarea conflictelor din comunitatile noastre, pentru tarile noastre, pentru familiile noastre si pentru noi insine. Acum este timpul sa facem pacea mai reala pentru noi insinte, pentru tarile noastre si pentru planeta noastra. Acum este intotdeauna timpul acela.
Most schools don’t teach kids about better ways to handle conflict, and far too many people spend their entire lives not knowing that such techniques even exist. It is our lofty hope that you can help us change that, starting this week, by sharing the valuable insights OSensei has helped us acquire with as many new students as possible. Obviously not all visitors to your special Aiki Peace Week classes will join your dojo and start training regularly, but it is still enormously valuable to plant the seeds of peace everywhere you can, as a single exercise performed for 5 minutes in your dojo might be enough to stop a fight in a bar from getting started, or an exasperated parent from yelling at their child.
Cele mai multe scoli nu ii invata pe copii despre cele mai bune cai de a gestiona conflictele si prea multi oameni isi petrec intregile lor vieti nestiind ca asemenea tehnici exista. Este speranta noastra generoasa ca voi puteti sa ne ajutati sa schimbam asta, sa incepem aceasta saptamana, prin impartasirea valoroaselor ganduri pe care O Sensei ne-a ajutat sa le dobandim, la cat mai multi elevi posibil. In mod evident, nu toti vizitatorii de la orele voastre speciale Aiki Peace Week, vor intra in dojo-ul vostru si nu vor incepe practica regulata, dar este oricum de un enorm ajutor sa plantati semintele pacii oriunde puteti, pentru ca un singur exercitiu practicat timp de 5 minute in dojo-ul vostru poate fi indeajuns pentru a opri inceperea unei batai intr-un bar sau pentru a preveni ca un parinte exasperat sa tipe la propriul copil.
Kenshin dojo takes part in this action and all keiko's will be dedicated to peace.
Kenshin dojo participa la aceasta actiune si toate practicile vor fi dedicate pacii.
Today’s hopefully inspiring message comes from Paul Linden Sensei, a 6th Dan who teaches Aikido, Feldenkrais®, and what he calls “mindbody education" in Columbus, Ohio. Paul is the author of several books, was a founding member of Aiki Extensions 12 years ago, and most importantly was one of the people who came up with the idea for Aiki Peace Week nine months ago (the other, Bertram Wohak Sensei of Germany, will be featured tomorrow). Here is his message:
An Aiki Moment
In my Aikido classes, from day one, in addition to teaching waza, I emphasize learning how to replace physical feelings of stress, fear, and anger with calm alertness and compassionate power. One of my students, who had been practicing about a month, told me about his aiki moment:
I went to Wal-Mart, me and my wife. I was coming out, and I noticed this lady driving down the lane. She wasn’t stopping, and I pulled my wife back. The lady almost hit my wife, and just went by, didn’t even look our way. I shouted out, “You jerk!” I didn’t mean to say that, but I did. Her son was standing behind us, and he said “ That’s my mother you’re calling a jerk, (insert here an incendiary racial epithet I’m unwilling to print).” I thought about what he said, and I thought about Paul and the classes I’m taking, and I kept my control. By that time the lady drove back, and I said to her “I apologize for what I said,” and we kept right on walking. The guy looked at me kind of puzzled. The lady even looked at me puzzled. We got in our car, went on home, nobody went to jail, nobody went to the hospital. My wife even gave me a high five, saying “I never saw you do that before, I’m very proud of you.”
My student gained control of himself and the situation. That certainly counts as successful Aikido. Even more, it may have planted the seeds of nonviolence in the driver and her son. That is a living example of what the IAPW seeks to bring into people’s awareness.
I’d like to end with a request. I would like to write a book titled Accidental Perfection: Moments when Aikido Training Works. It would be a compilation of experiences in which Aikido training clicks into place and allows one to function with unaccustomed ease and effectiveness in some area of life. I would appreciate it if people could send me one or two page descriptions of their Aiki experiences. (I can read German and French, but English is much easier.) PaulLinden@aol.com
=================
The other part of each day’s Aiki Peace Week message is a short profile of one of the programs we offer. Today seems the right day to introduce you to MAP - the Mideast Aikido Project, a program run by Jamie Zimron Sensei, a 5th Dan and LPGA golf teaching pro who has been doing Aikido-based peace work for more than 15 years:
THE MIDEAST AIKIDO PROJECT
Ongoing events in the Middle East continue to intensify conflict and suffering, making peace between Jews and Palestinians seem a distant dream. Dual forces of occupation and terrorism feed cycles of violence, leaving a legacy of death, destruction, hatred and fear plaguing the Holy Land.
www.peacecampinitiative.org
www.budoforpeace.org
In a stunning and tragic irony, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution establishing a day of global ceasefire on September 7, 2001, four days before the attack on the World Trade Center four miles away. The stark contrast between such lofty hope and such terrible violence could not be more clear, and serves to underline what Martin Luther King, speaking of the Civil Rights Movement on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, referred to as the “fierce urgency of now”. Now is the time to stop the wars, cease the violence, and strengthen the bonds that connect each of us to one another. Now is the time to work towards resolving the conflicts in our communities, our families, and ourselves. Now is the time to make peace more real for ourselves, for our countries, and for our planet. Now is always the time.
Intr-o ironie tragica si uimitoare, Adunarea Generala a ONU a adoptat o rezolutie care stabileste o zi globala a incetarii focului in Septembrie 7, 2010 cu patru zile inaintea atacului de la World Trade Center si la patru mile distanta. Marele contrast intre o astfel de speranta si o astfel de teribila violenta nu poate fi mai clara, si este folositor sa subliniem ceea ce Martin Luther King se referea, vorbind la Civil Rights Movement la picioarele Memorialului Lincoln, ca la o "teribila necesitate a acum". Acum este timpul sa oprim razboaiele, sa inceteze violentele si sa intarim legaturile care ne conecteaza pe unii de altii. Acum este timpul sa muncim pentru rezolvarea conflictelor din comunitatile noastre, pentru tarile noastre, pentru familiile noastre si pentru noi insine. Acum este timpul sa facem pacea mai reala pentru noi insinte, pentru tarile noastre si pentru planeta noastra. Acum este intotdeauna timpul acela.
Most schools don’t teach kids about better ways to handle conflict, and far too many people spend their entire lives not knowing that such techniques even exist. It is our lofty hope that you can help us change that, starting this week, by sharing the valuable insights OSensei has helped us acquire with as many new students as possible. Obviously not all visitors to your special Aiki Peace Week classes will join your dojo and start training regularly, but it is still enormously valuable to plant the seeds of peace everywhere you can, as a single exercise performed for 5 minutes in your dojo might be enough to stop a fight in a bar from getting started, or an exasperated parent from yelling at their child.
Cele mai multe scoli nu ii invata pe copii despre cele mai bune cai de a gestiona conflictele si prea multi oameni isi petrec intregile lor vieti nestiind ca asemenea tehnici exista. Este speranta noastra generoasa ca voi puteti sa ne ajutati sa schimbam asta, sa incepem aceasta saptamana, prin impartasirea valoroaselor ganduri pe care O Sensei ne-a ajutat sa le dobandim, la cat mai multi elevi posibil. In mod evident, nu toti vizitatorii de la orele voastre speciale Aiki Peace Week, vor intra in dojo-ul vostru si nu vor incepe practica regulata, dar este oricum de un enorm ajutor sa plantati semintele pacii oriunde puteti, pentru ca un singur exercitiu practicat timp de 5 minute in dojo-ul vostru poate fi indeajuns pentru a opri inceperea unei batai intr-un bar sau pentru a preveni ca un parinte exasperat sa tipe la propriul copil.
Kenshin dojo takes part in this action and all keiko's will be dedicated to peace.
Kenshin dojo participa la aceasta actiune si toate practicile vor fi dedicate pacii.
Today’s hopefully inspiring message comes from Paul Linden Sensei, a 6th Dan who teaches Aikido, Feldenkrais®, and what he calls “mindbody education" in Columbus, Ohio. Paul is the author of several books, was a founding member of Aiki Extensions 12 years ago, and most importantly was one of the people who came up with the idea for Aiki Peace Week nine months ago (the other, Bertram Wohak Sensei of Germany, will be featured tomorrow). Here is his message:
An Aiki Moment
In my Aikido classes, from day one, in addition to teaching waza, I emphasize learning how to replace physical feelings of stress, fear, and anger with calm alertness and compassionate power. One of my students, who had been practicing about a month, told me about his aiki moment:
I went to Wal-Mart, me and my wife. I was coming out, and I noticed this lady driving down the lane. She wasn’t stopping, and I pulled my wife back. The lady almost hit my wife, and just went by, didn’t even look our way. I shouted out, “You jerk!” I didn’t mean to say that, but I did. Her son was standing behind us, and he said “ That’s my mother you’re calling a jerk, (insert here an incendiary racial epithet I’m unwilling to print).” I thought about what he said, and I thought about Paul and the classes I’m taking, and I kept my control. By that time the lady drove back, and I said to her “I apologize for what I said,” and we kept right on walking. The guy looked at me kind of puzzled. The lady even looked at me puzzled. We got in our car, went on home, nobody went to jail, nobody went to the hospital. My wife even gave me a high five, saying “I never saw you do that before, I’m very proud of you.”
My student gained control of himself and the situation. That certainly counts as successful Aikido. Even more, it may have planted the seeds of nonviolence in the driver and her son. That is a living example of what the IAPW seeks to bring into people’s awareness.
I’d like to end with a request. I would like to write a book titled Accidental Perfection: Moments when Aikido Training Works. It would be a compilation of experiences in which Aikido training clicks into place and allows one to function with unaccustomed ease and effectiveness in some area of life. I would appreciate it if people could send me one or two page descriptions of their Aiki experiences. (I can read German and French, but English is much easier.) PaulLinden@aol.com
=================
The other part of each day’s Aiki Peace Week message is a short profile of one of the programs we offer. Today seems the right day to introduce you to MAP - the Mideast Aikido Project, a program run by Jamie Zimron Sensei, a 5th Dan and LPGA golf teaching pro who has been doing Aikido-based peace work for more than 15 years:
THE MIDEAST AIKIDO PROJECT
Ongoing events in the Middle East continue to intensify conflict and suffering, making peace between Jews and Palestinians seem a distant dream. Dual forces of occupation and terrorism feed cycles of violence, leaving a legacy of death, destruction, hatred and fear plaguing the Holy Land.
At the same time, the longing and need for peace stands out more clearly than ever. And Aikido stands out in offering both a compelling new paradigm of “peaceful power,” and a practical form of “embodied peace education” capable of transforming the mindset and hearts of adults and young people alike.
In 2004 Aiki Extensions launched the Middle East Aikido Project (MAP) to:
a) help bring Arabs and Jews together, first on and then off the mat
b) develop Aikido in the West Bank
c) see what O’Sensei’s Art of Peace might be able to contribute to nurturing
non-violence and peaceful cooperation in the region.
Through the shared practice of Aikido across national and ideological borders, MAP is working effectively to:
1) Spread the non-violent philosophy and practice of Aikido
2) Establish peaceful contact between Arabs and Jews through martial arts training and joint events rooted in mutual respect and peaceful co-existence
3) Strengthen bi-communal ties and inter-ethnic understanding
4) Build bridges of hope, healing, new friendship and cooperation
5) Create youth and adult “Ambassadors for Peace” and a new generation of Middle Eastern peacemakers.
MAP was born from a “Salaam Shalom Aikido” dream of Jamie Leno Zimron Sensei in 1994, and the visionary Training Across Borders (TAB) work of Aiki Extensions Founder Don Levine Sensei, and Senseis Richard Strozzi Heckler and Philip Emminger. The project continues to expand its influence, and is working collaboratively with such organizations as Budo For Peace, Aikido Without Borders, The PeaceCamp Initiative, Awassa Youth Center and Ethiopian Peace Dojo, Peace Dojos International and the Peres Peace Center.
A solid core group of Palestinian students has been training with Jewish Israelis at Aikido Jerusalem for over 4 years. Miles Kessler Sensei, Chief Instructor of Integral Aikido in Tel Aviv (a Aiki Peace Week participating dojo), attended AE’s inaugural TAB 2005 Cyprus seminar. Since then he has been building Aikido Without Borders, an Israel-based non-profit dedicated to developing high-quality Palestinian Aikido practitioners and teachers. Kessler Sensei is nurturing a strong and growing group just outside of Ramallah, and has helped establish a regular Aikido program for Palestinian children at the SOS Orphanage in Bethlehem.
Opportunities exist to offer Aikido in the northern West Bank, and to establish “Aiki Corps” positions for volunteers to teach in Palestine. In 2009 Zimron Sensei taught students at a PE Teachers College as well as school children in the Palestinian town of Tulkarem. A teacher there wrote:
“The kids were fascinated with finding an inner strength they didn’t know they had, and realizing that what empowers you is not physical strength but cooperating with instead of working againstyour partner. The kids surrounded Jamie like bees on a hive gathering every bit of dripping honey-laden information she could impart to them… We hope that this groundwork will lead to a pathway of empowerment and enlightenment for our youth.”
Aikido is thriving amongst Jews in Israel, with more people in a variety of dojos are becoming aware of and involved in MAP activity. Hanna Jiryis Sensei leads a strong dojo community and MAP activity in the northern Christian Arab town of Kfar Yassif. Another major MAP partner in Israel is Danny Hakim, the founder of Budo For Peace (BFP). Hakim Sensei has formed “sister school” relationships between karate and judo dojos in Arab and Jewish neighborhoods throughout Israel, and created a powerful martial arts peace curriculum with regular joint youth leadership trainings. Danny and Jamie are working closely with Robert Kent Sensei, founder of The PeaceCamp Initiative to send young Christian, Muslim and Jewish “Martial Artists For Peace” from the Middle East to Camp Susquehannock, one of the oldest summer sports camps in America where they forge the bonds of friendship and trust the future leaders will need to take the difficult steps required to create a lasting peace.
Rays of hope shine through the pain, violence, and oppression as perceived enemies venture to meet one another on the mat. Participating in the Aiki path of peaceful power and harmonious relating is profoundly transformative. Resources of funds, equipment and personnel are greatly needed and go a long way in supporting Aiki efforts towards peace and reconciliation in the Middle East.
These words from Nur, a 14-year old Muslim girl who came to PeaceCamp, poignantly express the spirit and purpose of all this work:
“My big idea is to start with the little children … I really wish to happen the peace, to make the children’s future in the right way.”
In 2004 Aiki Extensions launched the Middle East Aikido Project (MAP) to:
a) help bring Arabs and Jews together, first on and then off the mat
b) develop Aikido in the West Bank
c) see what O’Sensei’s Art of Peace might be able to contribute to nurturing
non-violence and peaceful cooperation in the region.
Through the shared practice of Aikido across national and ideological borders, MAP is working effectively to:
1) Spread the non-violent philosophy and practice of Aikido
2) Establish peaceful contact between Arabs and Jews through martial arts training and joint events rooted in mutual respect and peaceful co-existence
3) Strengthen bi-communal ties and inter-ethnic understanding
4) Build bridges of hope, healing, new friendship and cooperation
5) Create youth and adult “Ambassadors for Peace” and a new generation of Middle Eastern peacemakers.
MAP was born from a “Salaam Shalom Aikido” dream of Jamie Leno Zimron Sensei in 1994, and the visionary Training Across Borders (TAB) work of Aiki Extensions Founder Don Levine Sensei, and Senseis Richard Strozzi Heckler and Philip Emminger. The project continues to expand its influence, and is working collaboratively with such organizations as Budo For Peace, Aikido Without Borders, The PeaceCamp Initiative, Awassa Youth Center and Ethiopian Peace Dojo, Peace Dojos International and the Peres Peace Center.
A solid core group of Palestinian students has been training with Jewish Israelis at Aikido Jerusalem for over 4 years. Miles Kessler Sensei, Chief Instructor of Integral Aikido in Tel Aviv (a Aiki Peace Week participating dojo), attended AE’s inaugural TAB 2005 Cyprus seminar. Since then he has been building Aikido Without Borders, an Israel-based non-profit dedicated to developing high-quality Palestinian Aikido practitioners and teachers. Kessler Sensei is nurturing a strong and growing group just outside of Ramallah, and has helped establish a regular Aikido program for Palestinian children at the SOS Orphanage in Bethlehem.
Opportunities exist to offer Aikido in the northern West Bank, and to establish “Aiki Corps” positions for volunteers to teach in Palestine. In 2009 Zimron Sensei taught students at a PE Teachers College as well as school children in the Palestinian town of Tulkarem. A teacher there wrote:
“The kids were fascinated with finding an inner strength they didn’t know they had, and realizing that what empowers you is not physical strength but cooperating with instead of working againstyour partner. The kids surrounded Jamie like bees on a hive gathering every bit of dripping honey-laden information she could impart to them… We hope that this groundwork will lead to a pathway of empowerment and enlightenment for our youth.”
Aikido is thriving amongst Jews in Israel, with more people in a variety of dojos are becoming aware of and involved in MAP activity. Hanna Jiryis Sensei leads a strong dojo community and MAP activity in the northern Christian Arab town of Kfar Yassif. Another major MAP partner in Israel is Danny Hakim, the founder of Budo For Peace (BFP). Hakim Sensei has formed “sister school” relationships between karate and judo dojos in Arab and Jewish neighborhoods throughout Israel, and created a powerful martial arts peace curriculum with regular joint youth leadership trainings. Danny and Jamie are working closely with Robert Kent Sensei, founder of The PeaceCamp Initiative to send young Christian, Muslim and Jewish “Martial Artists For Peace” from the Middle East to Camp Susquehannock, one of the oldest summer sports camps in America where they forge the bonds of friendship and trust the future leaders will need to take the difficult steps required to create a lasting peace.
Rays of hope shine through the pain, violence, and oppression as perceived enemies venture to meet one another on the mat. Participating in the Aiki path of peaceful power and harmonious relating is profoundly transformative. Resources of funds, equipment and personnel are greatly needed and go a long way in supporting Aiki efforts towards peace and reconciliation in the Middle East.
These words from Nur, a 14-year old Muslim girl who came to PeaceCamp, poignantly express the spirit and purpose of all this work:
“My big idea is to start with the little children … I really wish to happen the peace, to make the children’s future in the right way.”
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