New Interview (with Miles Kessler)
Check it out!
Hello everyone,
This weekend in NYC was dreary and gray - punctuated with wailing icy gusts of wind. It was Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary, and I’ve always been a big fan of that show (desperately aspired to be on it for most of my childhood and adolescence) so I ended up watching all of the related specials on TV.
This prolonged nostalgic viewing left me in a state of melancholy. Like I said, I had serious aspirations to be on that show and so passively watching made me a bit jealous. I almost started playing the “should’ve - would’ve - could’ve” game in my psyche.
See, since the day I discovered Aikido (at age 25) I’ve spent nearly all my free time training. There’s been no extra room for comedy - acting - or music. Now I find myself at 49 years old - at a dojo (like most) struggling to grow (and maintain) its membership and I often wonder why I’ve spent more than 10,000 hours of my life studying this rather obscure martial art.
What a stroke of good luck it was to have such an enlightening conversation with Miles Kessler Sensei during this brief little malaise…
It reminded me that the study of Aikido is a noble path. There’s more to life (and death) than achieving material wealth and celluloid fame. After my conversation with Miles sensei, I felt invigorated and inspired. I hope you feel the same.
And here’s a little extra that went a bit deeper into the nature of conflict…
What does it mean to be a spiritual warrior?
Miles Sensei lives and teaches in Tel Aviv, so he has immediate, visceral experience living within the paradigm of conflict. It was fascinating to me, hearing how his many years of Aikido and Buddhist practice have given him the tools to cope with existing in such a hostile environment.
Check out his website. I highly recommend it…
I’m working on a longer post for later in this week or early weekend so please stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, Peace…