Aikido Applications

Ten Stages to Encountering Opposition

  • Lining up to demand/attack (releasing judgment and avoidance)
  • Welcoming attacker (seeing attack as an opportunity)
  • Centering (observing and moving through reactions that come up)
  • Diagnosing the attack
  • Getting out of the way
  • Letting the other have a voice (listening without retaliation)
  • Blending (seeing the attacker from his/her point of view)
  • Use their energy to move them off balance (so they can experience how it isn't working)
  • Leverage their imbalance
  • Promoting peace
  • Teaches attackers through their own experience the futility of their attack
  • Mirrors behavior so they can see their errors
  • De-stigmatizes failure (shows the enemy how falling/failing builds trust and promotes equality in relationships)