This is an especially reflective time for Ki to the City, as we’re just days away from the first anniversary. (January 15th, if you’re curious)
I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude for all the encouraging and insightful interactions so far. I feel like I’ve grown as a person through this endeavor and I hope it shows…
I sincerely hope to be able to continue and develop this project for a long time to come. Seriously. Thank you!
In the spirit of growth and reflection, please enjoy this illuminating conversation I had with Patrick Cassidy Sensei, an integral bridge-builder between the worlds of martial arts and self development.
Patrick sensei is dedicated to ensuring the modern relevance of Aikido as a profound tool for mastering fear, navigating real-world conflict, and achieving heightened awareness through the body.
He possesses impeccable traditional and somewhat eclectic experience; from his time as an uchi-deshi with the legendary Morihiro Saito Sensei in Iwama, to the self-exploratory, human-potential-movement-tinged, training methods of Robert Nadeau Sensei in California.
(There’s much more nuance to his incredible history, but I want you to listen to the episode, so I won’t give too much away here.)
As the director of the Evolutionary Aikido Community, Patrick Sensei highlights how Aikido practice can serve as a technology for awakening to, and reorganizing of, the entire field of interaction. In this more holistic context, conflict is viewed, not a threat to be avoided, but an evolutionary driver to be transformed.
Seen in this light, the Aikidoka can be described as an “alchemist,” entering directly into conflict itself and transmuting aggression into a higher order of connection and resolution.
At his dojo, Aikido Montreux (in Montreux, Switzerland) Patrick Sensei maintains a dedicated Uchi Deshi program. Carrying the traditional torch he picked up during his formative time in Iwama, this program offers total immersion that also includes yoga, breath work, meditation, cold water misogi in a nearby river, and (the best part) a sauna.
Reach out to him directly here, if that’s something you might be interested in learning more about.
A short little teaser/blurb cannot do this episode justice. I implore you to tune in to hear Patrick Sensei describe how it all comes together…
As we commemorate our first year, I need to humbly ask for your support to help keep this project on the “airwaves”. This podcast is a reader/listener-supported publication, and your contributions allow me to continue.
There are two ways you can help: you can sign up to be a paid subscriber on Substack, or, if you would like to make a one-time contribution, please email me directly at jondiluca@yahoo.com.
As a token of my gratitude, anyone who makes a contribution will receive a copy of Don Dickie Sensei’s deeply reflective volume of poetry, Silent Winds of Aikido.
Don Sensei has graciously donated 125 copies of this book to support this project, and it serves as a magnificent vehicle for active spiritual inquiry and attaining greater awareness. Get ‘em while you can!
Sharing these conversations is my way of contributing to something meaningful, worthwhile, and good in the world and doing my best to honor the world family O-Sensei envisioned. Your support ensures that we can continue to strive to learn from amazing people like Patrick Cassidy and keep our communities thriving.
