Aiki Therapy

Aiki Therapy is the blending of Psychotherapy and Aikido, a Japanese martial art based on transforming conflict into harmony. Aiki Therapy combines cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness therapy, somatic therapy and principles of Aikido to create a treatment for mental and emotional health, relationships, identity/direction of life questions and to assist individuals who are looking to deepen their sense of purpose, competence and meaning in the world.

Aiki Therapy is founded on the idea that we all have a deeply meaningful purpose in life and that when our bodies, minds and spirits are not in harmony with our purpose, suffering and dysfunction result. By bringing our thoughts, emotions, actions and spirits into balance the emotional, mental and spiritual distresses and dysfunction that we are experiencing resolve. Just as traditional talk therapy, for example cognitive behavioral therapy, examines what is not working in the mind, Aiki Therapy seeks to extend the exploration into the body, mind and soul, and to use each aspect that makes us who we are to create change.

A principle of Aikido is that we must be relaxed and centered to respond to adversity. In my therapy practice I have observed that the vast majority of dysfunctional behaviors, emotions and thoughts are the result of people’s ineffective or unsuccessful responses to stress. Regardless of the source of stress, be it a relationship, a life challenge or a violent trauma, when we feel stressed we often revert to fight, flight or fright responses. As children these responses, are often all that is available to us, as children often can not control their environment. Reverting to more primal defense mechanism is a way to survive. For animals these responses are effective, a squirrel can use anxiety to solve most of its problems, a lion can use anger and a possum can deal with stress by playing dead. In the human world anxiety, anger and depression are not so helpful. Avoiding an anxiety provoking situation, “attacking” in response to threat or shutting down and "waiting out" a conflict are all very dysfunctional responses for humans. Furthermore these responses do not lead to happiness, success or deeper meaning in life.

Aiki Therapy uses the practices of Aikido to develop a calm, centered, compassionate and confident response to stress. Allowing us to maintain commitment to our purpose even in challenging and threatening situations. Dysfunctional stress responses are identified and practices created to change them. Challenging situations that arise become learning opportunities to practice skills and purpose, rather than opportunities to reinforce the reactions, thoughts and emotions of being a victim or having to become an aggressor to get needs met.

By exploring our mental, physiological and spiritual reactivity and (often lack of) pro-activity, we can see how we are responsible for the conflicts and challenges in our lives as well as the results. Once we have identified what isn’t working we can begin to build practices to train our thoughts, somatics, emotions and actions to bring them into harmony with what matters most.

As our thoughts, somatics, emotions, actions and sense of purpose come into harmony and unison, our life becomes an expression of our deepest desires, our fullest gifts and our purpose for living. As an additional benefit, the emotional and mental “disorders” become less pronounced in our lives and can fall away completely.