THOUGHTS FROM CHINA- November 2015

 

Shenzhen - November 2015.

My first Shenzhen visit was October 1986.  Relatively vacant and flat, it was a fishing town located within the newly decreed so-called "Special Economic Zone."  

 

We landed in Hong Kong a few days earlier and then traveled by bus and crossed a small simple border station building to lunch at a hotel restaurant.  Across the waters more "town" was visible.  Skies were blue.  The air was fresh.  Inside the hotel sat samples from the Terracotta Army displayed for foreigners (us) to admire.  Bicycles and three-wheelers were the norm in those days.

 

Twenty-nine years have passed.  How many China visits and names of all the cities visited?  I can't say.  But as for Shenzhen, in place of the fishing village sits towering offices skyscrapers (mid-range / thirty floors), shopping centers and residential buildings, theaters, sports centers, and banks, banks, banks. Construction is constant.   A million cars and trucks (my guess) replace the bikes and trikes, now rarities.  Eighteen million people (fact) live within this one large spot.  Here ... Shenzhen ... only a part of China, immersed in the largest capitalist and market driven experiment the world has ever known.  It runs day and night, full force countrywide.  

 

Chengdu - January 2014.

Eight hundred thirty three miles north and east of Shenzhen rests Chengdu, home of the giant panda.  Administratively, fourteen million (people not panda) live here tucked against Longmen Mountain and the Qionglai Mountains that rise above central Sichuan province.  My first visit to Chengdu - January 2014.  No prior reference points: only the towers of 2014 attesting to modernity.  Over half of the world's Fortune 500 companies host offices in Chengdu.  Mixed into the swirl of humanity are disenfranchised Tibetans - contained, my description, by the energy of watching eyes: a government that wonders what would happen ... if ... if... if....  Chengdu - the birthplace of the world's first ever widely used paper currency.

 

Wenzhou - 2007.

Two hours forty minutes (current flight standards) due west of Chengdu sits coastal Wenzhou.  My visits: by now a few; with the first being August 2007.  I recall from that time.  Grey.  Industrialized.  Flat.  Hot.  Stale.  During the entire trip I saw only one star (actually, a planet).  One striking '07 memory: a lone woman gawked and laughed as she peddled past me on her bicycle.  Me, a strange-looking foreign outsider.  My experiences of that visit were recorded in a poetic piece "This IS China".

 

"This IS China" began:

This is China.  Yes, so are the other cities I've been to over the past few months - Beijing, Shanghai, Haining, etc.  But this IS China.  Large, urban, constantly moving. Not "getting ready for the Olympics".  Gritty city China.  Right now the sun is a large hot smog-screened ball burning through the haze scorching the skin.  I don't know it, the scorch, but I feel it.

Mid-course it read:

What do I notice?  Old men and women ... maybe not as old as they look ... walking underneath the freeway (I don't think it's called "freeway" here) scavenging wood into pots and bowls.  And I wonder, what will become of the wood?  What will become of them? Probably, the same thing.  What do I notice?  A man peddling a three-wheeled awning covered taxi cab (they are everywhere) and placing his right foot on a break attached to the frame above the front tire.

It ended:

After "star gazing" I went to a teahouse. Taken there by two of the students from the Samurai (Warrior) Game.  Both are business owners.  Wenzhou is a business/manufacturing center in China.  The teahouse was a magnificent and quiet place (and very un-Chinese) filled with valuable artifacts from all over Tibet.  All for sale, and some items priced as high as US$12,000.  The place is owned by a woman and a guy.  He's a devout Buddhist.  See comment above about "Higher Power".  We talked about peace.  I see what I get to see, when I get to see it and enjoyed the moment. An interesting trip.  Too bad it had to end so soon.

 

My last visit Wenzhou, 2013.  Susan Hammond joined me to successfully deliver our aikido-based program, The Art of Practice: an interesting undertaking considering the anti-Japanese sentiment within China.  Wenzhou, 2013, architecturally magnificent, with structures towering above the above, making for a skyline unrecognizable these six years later.  Look here, look there:  Bentley - Porsche- Rolls Royce - Lamborghini.  And then: Mercedes and Audi all so commonplace as to be, well, prosaic.  And then:  Buick, Buick, Buick.

 

Back to today.

From where the now-time Shenzhen and China have come in three decades is both breathtaking and breath taking.  On one hand - inspiring: people magnificently transforming a region in such a short amount of time.  On the other hand - disturbing: a rampant smog here in Shenzhen today is elsewhere, everywhere everyday.  There's always more than one side to every coin.

 

Hard to imagine the "was" of 1986, when our plane landed between the buildings of downtown Hong Kong - entry point to Shenzhen.  Today's Hong Kong airport outclasses most of the worlds.  Yes, Hong Kong retains its decades old Star Ferry, but the buildings and those of Kowloon and the expansive stretch of the "Special Economic Zone" with new cities, e.g. ShaTin, these define the physicality of "transformation".  Today most outsiders (including friends at home) have no experienced "real" clue about this place ... only clothing tags boasting "Made in China", with newsprint and talking heads proclaiming "the world's second largest economy."  Ask an average person on the street in Shenzhen, "Who is Obama?", and you'll get an accurate answer.  Ask an average American on the street, "Who is Xi Jinping?", and you'll probably get the same answer as if you asked, "Who is Ashton Carter?"  Well maybe.  To the latter question, instead of hearing "I don't know", you might catch "Jimmy Carter's brother(?)" - not "Secretary of Defense".

 

What is this China?  Where is it going?  Who knows.  Yes, problems loom, including some with serious health and medical implications that could possibly strain and drain the massive economic machine it's grown to become.  But the answer to the "where" question is: We shall see.

 

One thing for certain, China 2015 is anything but static.

 

© Lance Giroux, November 2015

   

COMING HOME: An Invitation For You

I'm sitting in a railway station.

Got a ticket to my destination.

On a tour of one-night stands my suitcase and guitar in hand

And ev'ry stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band.

Homeward bound,

I wish I was,

Homeward bound.

- Paul Simon & Art Garfunkle

 

It's the last days of October 2015.  Hong Kong and Shenzhen.  Been here a while. Tomorrow I'll head home.  Then back here in two weeks and on to Tokyo, Nakatsugawa and Nagoya.

 

The series of stop-and-go's before (this current round) ended three weeks ago.  Feels like yesterday, but it wasn't; Russia's Moscow and from there on to Italy's Tuscany region.  Wonderful places.  More importantly: wonderful people.  A plus is something I've loved doing ever since I was seven years old and was bit by the "I get to fly in an airplane!" bug:  the watching out of airplane windows at our planet rushing by below.  Three weeks ago were breathtaking views of the Alps standing between Italy's Pisa and Germany's Munich.

 

"Forty one years." This was my response last night.  Someone I had been chatting with here in Hong Kong asked the question, "How long has this journey of yours been?"

 

On almost every trip I can depend on hearing that question multiple times coupled with, "And where do you live?"  Since 1989 my answer to that latter ("where") inquiry has been, "Petaluma. A cute little house in a small farming town in Sonoma County California." 

 

A short while back, though, and I can't remember exactly how long ago that short while was, a hesitation surfaced in my reply. I paused, then smiled and offered up my standard response anyway.  The hesitation, the quiet truth, the whispered voice (loud and clear) inside me, "Oh no you don't live in Petaluma; you live in Mexico City and Beijing, Shanghai and Amsterdam, Chengdu and Shenzhen and Taipei, Oklahoma City and Guadalajara, Toronto and Wenzhou, Valle de Bravo and the Coyoacan and Hong Kong, Rostov-on-Don and Tyumen and Moscow and Togliatti ... and, and ... and now and then you visit Petaluma."

 

That inside voice is important.  It talks to me a lot. Sometimes I don't want to hear it.  Sometimes I need to hear it.  It's in all of us.

 

So ... the time has arrived to begin a long journey back home ... home.  Home where three very old huge oaks stand outside my front door.  Home where a rose garden graces the ground out back.  Home where Velasco's is a short evening walk, where owner Teri chats with her customers as she oversees American-style Mexican tacos ... not the same as Coyoacan tacos, but none-the-less tasty.  Home where Japan's deep undercurrents encounter western world-ers practicing inside Two Rock Aikido dojo ... my refuge and my learning place and where I enjoy friends.  Home where not-so-well-known-to-the-outside world businesses (Dempsey's, DiFalco's, Hallie's and Acre and The Apple Box) deliver their services with spirit as great as anywhere in the world.  Here is the longed for home, a town less populated than two of the high rise apartment buildings adjacent to my Hong Kong hotel.  Home where ... well, you know, where "home" could be.  I'm going home, in the larger sense yes, going home.

 

So here's an invitation ... and if you respond ... it's meant for you.

 

My long homecoming journey ... 41 years in the making ... begins with an offer for you to join me on February 7-11 at "The Ronin Huddle" - a retreat I crafted in 2002, then called "The Leaders' Retreat".  The old name is no longer appropriate.  People mistakenly thought the retreat was reserved for executives or business owners; but that simply wasn't the case.  The retreat - The Huddle - is for anyone who decides to attend to their own wellbeing and engage in thoughtful practices of listening, dialogue, feeling and quiet; practices of integrating physical movement and nature - all for the purpose of serving what's important to their lives and their future. 

 

Though I'll be The Huddle's host and facilitator, I'll also be as much a dedicated student as everyone else.  Our venue: Four Springs Retreat Center - in Middletown, California, an hour from my Northern California front door.  Susan Hammond will also facilitate, bringing her strength and expertise as a Feldenkrais practitioner in service to us all.

 

So at this point it's a wide open invitation - and there's room for only twenty.  Do you want to come?  Will you?   

 

Your fee (request details and information here) will cover your 4-evening stay, your meals, exceptional instruction, rich experiences and the joyfulness of time richly spent with wonderful people.

 

Transportation to and from Four Spring is yours to handle. 

 

Winter is a good time for a respite.  Winter is an important time for the ending of one thing and the beginning of another.  Winter is a great time to begin a journey home.

 

You've been invited.  Call +1-707-364-2900 or emailinfo@LanceGiroux.com

 

My Promise: Four days serving only what matters to your life.

 

Home where my thought's escapin'

Home where my music's playin'

Home where my love lies waitin' silently for me

- Paul Simon & Art Garfunkle

 

©Lance Giroux, 2015

   

Great News About "Mastery"

是好消息

  by Lance Giroux

July 27.  Scottsdale AZ.  Spent the afternoon with Emily Fraim, George Leonard's daughter and Trustee of the Leonard Family Trust.  Surprise!  She handed me two copies of George's book Mastery.  So?  They're written in Chinese.  Wow!  She followed that gift with, "I think it's also now being printed other languages too." Double wow.  (More about that next time.)

Mastery, now in Chinese (simplified); thank you Sterling Lord - George's publishing agent who continues to serve the Trust, owners of the copyrights to all George's written works, including his scripted simulation many readers here have personally encountered: The Samurai Game® (TSG).

While George and Annie, his wife, were alive I pushed them to have Mastery published in languages beyond English and German, especially Chinese.  To me it seemed natural and paramount, having walked neighborhood parks these past years, morning and night throughout PR China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and SE Asia to witness thousands of people engaged in embodied mindfulness practices - tai chi, walking meditations, sword work, breath work, etc.  These practices directly reflect what Mastery brings to the surface and promotes. 

Think "people": 1.35 billion in PR China, add 618 million in SE Asia, plus 24 million in Taiwan, and another 7 million in Honk Kong.  That's a big bunch of folks.  Even if only a small percentage of them were to have the opportunity to gain from this book, that small percentage is significant.  Mastery has never gone out of print and has never been absent from brick and mortar bookstores since it was first published in 1991.  Twenty-three years in continuous publication is an exceptionally long time for a paperback of this nature.

A special smile to Keith Bentz, who, to my knowledge, was the first individual to legally produce The Samurai Game® (TSG) in Hong Kong and Taipei - and with that effort the work of George Leonard was introduced into the greater Asia region.

Legally deliver?  Yes.  Why say this, because illegal TSG knock-offs have sprung up throughout Asia, Mexico, and elsewhere - even in the USA.  Read my blog about shenanigans of this type.  In this regard Mastery in Chinese is again great news; and a definite boon to the legacy of George Leonard.  Those who read Mastery, even if they attended a rip-off, will make the connections for themselves.  People are smart.  They know the difference between what's real and what's fake.  Sad though, given TSG revolves around a code of honor - Bushido in Japansese / Wushitao in Chinese / The Way of the Warriorin English / Camino del Guerrero in Spanish.

Large populations are now being served with TSG, and stand to benefit with Mastery.  Twenty-one of the current sixty-some authorized facilitators live along an arc that stretches from Chengdu, China to Taipei to Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur to Singapore and then continues south to Brisbane, Australia.  Having Mastery available in both English and Chinese allows for a significant impact.  Think "lessons learned and lessons applied".  Who gains?  Families, companies, universities, elementary schools, training organizations.

Mastery. The Samurai Game®.  Yin.  Yang.  Connection.  One body.  It doesn't matter the starting gate; all one needs to do is step on the path.  Read Mastery and you deepen an intellectual understanding of what is expressed through TSG.  Participate in TSG and you vault into action to embody what is articulated through Mastery.  

Mastery has been promoted in every TSG event that I've been involved with throughout Asia and SE Asia over these past eleven years.  People ask, "When can we get it in our language?"  Now they can. 

Same thing is true multiple time zones away.  The word is spreading in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla and on.  The demand continues.  Inquiries for TSG andMastery are now coming from Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina - thanks to diligence and unselfishness of some really good people, e.g. Jenaro Pleigo of Mexico City and the others living in Mexico who have followed his footsteps.

Back to Asia.  Caroline Su wanted to get Masterytranslated to Chinese so bad she began hammering me about it every time I traveled to Taipei.  Likewise, Lyric Chan of PR China.  A few months ago, when he visited Petaluma for facilitator training, what did he grill us for to compliment his work?  Mastery.  Was it Caroline or was it Lyric who lit the final fuse that eventually burned a path to light a fire under some publisher in the region.  We don't yet know, and that doesn't matter.  What matters: it has happened.

Hopefully Sterling Lord's efforts will expand to translations in other languages, and assist the expansion of George's work through TSG now underway in Russia; well launched and spreading thanks to Konstantin Volzhan and Marina Klimova.  Numerous TSG's have been conducted in Tyumen, Moscow, and Rostov-on-Don over the past year.  This November I go to Samara.  A journey continues. 

Knock on a door long enough, it opens.  

A good and important thing, and something worth sharing.

Mastery.  Published in Chinese. 

J  是好消息(This is GREAT news)

© Lance Giroux, August 2014

The Man At The Sliding Wood Door

Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD

Every story starts somewhere - this one starts in the middle.

Before I tell it, I want you to know that this month's article is an overt, straight up call to action. Go to Amazon and order Richard Strozzi-Heckler's newly released book The Art of Somatic Coaching. It doesn't matter what your profession is. Order and read it right away.

This non-fiction journey lays a foundation of purposeful study, understanding, insight and action. With the kind work I've been doing for forty years you know a suggestion like this isn't made lightly. This piece well assists anyone who has ever attended a personal growth course offered by one of the many seminar companies - e.g. est, LifeSpring, PSI, Actualizations, Landmark, Klemmer & Associates, AsiaWorks, WorldWorks, Challenge-U, Top Human, MexWorks, WorldWorks Mexico, LeadMex, Spiral of Success, etc., etc. The Art of Somatic Coaching completes something that some of these companies never attended to or only marginally noted or only recently have begun to study. Richard sent an advance copy at my request. I've taken the time to read the entire work. It is an honor, almost an obligation, to strongly advise you to do likewise.

If you are a coach and have ever coached OR trained someone; OR if you have ever been coached by someone; OR if you have ever used a consultant to forward your business or personal life ... then I say - ORDER and READ THIS BOOK. The same holds true if you have children or have worked with children. Does this endorsement need to be more strongly made?

December's Ronin Post article "Taxi Ride" (about PTSD and Tom Osborn and aikido and what I saw in Russia, etc.) created an unexpected flurry of replies. Good! We need to take action when it comes to attending to the impact (large and small) that past events and social environments have on our lives - at home, at work, in communities and nations. In "Taxi Ride" I related a story of someone who had been invited to attend an advisory meeting of high government officials charged with the responsibility of military actions in Afghanistan.

An earlier Ronin Post article (October 2013) related to a reflection about someone who has contributed greatly to my life. Those who train aikido with me know the "who and where" referred to in those first paragraphs of October Reverie: Surrendering Enough to Commit. As for everyone else, I was content to leave that an unanswered question on purpose.  But some things later require explanation and expansion. That time is now, again on purpose. Both articles, December's and October's, referred to someone without naming him.

The small barn referenced in October's article is a somewhat magical place midst pasture and grape vines, a martial arts school: Two Rock Aikido Dojo. The word "dojo" translates directly to "way place". This is the "way place" where I've regularly studied and trained for the past thirteen years. I often visit other dojos around the US and in foreign countries. No complaints regarding any of them. But there's nothing quite like Two Rock Aikido dojo.

As for the "who" of both articles -- October and December -- the "fellow in charge", the man standing by the sliding wood door, the man who occasionally includes poetry into our aikido practice? The man who was heading off to a meeting with high ranking US officials? This man is Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Ph.D. Richard is "Sensei", dojo cho, i.e. the school's chief instructor. He is my sensei and has been since I first stepped on the mat in 2000. Our affiliation began years long prior to my aikido practice. First he was a colleague. Then he became a confidant; and finally, a treasured friend.

Were it not for Richard, I would not have seriously questioned the path I was on prior to our beginning to know each other. Moreover, I would not have taken bold action to step onto a new path of life, a path that I intend to continue for as long as I live.  

There is more. Most of my friends and acquaintances know how important is the connection I had with George Leonard. But many of them don't know that were it not for Richard I probably would not have encountered George, or if by chance I had, I might not have been ready for the kind of listening and momentum needed to make that encounter take root and flourish - opening a door for thousands of people to benefit in a unique way.

My George Leonard encounter initiated two opportunities. The first was the opportunity to witness a live demonstration of aikido. From this sprung an appreciation for what Richard was up to, and the potential that he and his work could have for the world. By observing George and his co-demonstrator (Charlotte Hatch of Mill Valley, CA) work, it was clear to me that something much larger than a martial art was being played out. The organization I had been part of at that time was largely unaware of and, in my opinion, disinterested in the implications of what was then described as "a mind-body connection." Today, the world well knows of Richard's research and work, its form now being referred to as Somatic Coaching & Training. (Again - a reminder - order and read his book)

The second opportunity that the George Leonard encounter provided: it opened a door for me, a method if you will, of engaging others whereby I could (and still do) travel the world to give, explore and validate for myself what George (and Richard) had set out to communicate and accomplish.  What they were both up to then, and what Richard remains actively and sincerely committed to, was a powerfully peaceful, yet equally energetic, schooling in ways of being and action. This has purpose: accomplish constructive outcomes for individuals, communities, regions, nations and the world.

Viewed collectively, the approach that Richard and George took is vastly distinct and different from the motivational talking heads and quick-fix break-through seminar companies of then and now. Not that I want to fault those companies. After all, in many respects they help open human beings to the possibilities of having better futures.

George Leonard passed away four years ago. To this day his work and Richard's work remain distinct from these companies. Their work was NOT and is NOT about instant anything. Rather, they were and are about honest growth, deep study and prolonged practice for the long haul. Their work truly addresses the concerns and connections of physical, emotional, familial, organizational and global health and wellbeing.

It's now been twenty-nine years since I first met Richard, twenty-two since I first encountered George. The countries I've now traveled number seventeen. The nationalities assembled into meeting spaces I've worked now exceed 125 - people coming from all continents except Antarctica. Many of these people have gone on to work on themselves as well as recommend a sincere study in the work these two men have inspired.

So, for the sake clarity, disclosure and acknowledgement, I thought it wise to explain, give thanks and expand on the October and December articles so you would know.

Here are two requests. The first relates to The Samurai Game®, which I assume you know to be the above referenced vehicle provided me by George Leonard. The second is with respect to the work of Richard Strozzi-Heckler.

1. The Samurai Game®.

As of this month the simulation can now be legally produced and directed by almost 60 people scattered across fourteen countries. These facilitators have been trained and certified in the safe and ethical production of The Samurai Game® performances. My request: let folks know about it. It is available for individuals, teams, organizations and schools. Tell others how to find the information and the names of those persons authorized to produce it by visiting www.SamuraiGame.org. And, if you would like, come participate again. Its performance is always new ... fresh ... alive!

2. Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD., Founder of Strozzi Institute.

He and his organization continue to make a profound and constructive impact in the world - ranging from the individual level to a level that impacts geopolitics and peaceful resolution to real world conflict. Richard's work is soundly researched and grounded. It has withstood the scrutiny of academics and leaders upon whose words and works lives have hung in the balance.

In the world of effectiveness training there are thousands of people who refer to themselves as "trainers", "coaches" and "consultants". Some are sincere and quite good. Some are kind of OK. But many of them, in my opinion, don't deserve even a moment of consideration. Why would I say this? Because a lot of "coaches" have only taken time to memorize a few scripts and from there they have gone on to set up websites and enrollment tools. But they engage in no sincere life-long practice themselves. They do little or no self-integration, and some are not committed to sincere service. At best they could be described as "want-a-be". Sadly, some are world-class charlatans feeding off the needs of others solely for the purpose of satisfying a bank account or fame. Some have ripped off other people's work and called it their own. And, so that you know, some have ripped off George Leonard's simulation The Samurai Game®. The bulk of these folks don't study much. They practice even less. They are a sad and disappointing representation to what could otherwise have been a grand and honorable undertaking.

BUT - If you are interested in "the real deal" - in seeking self exploration and growth, in moving yourself and/or your organization (or in advising others who want to do so) onto a long-term path of practiced embodied learning and effectiveness for action, then at a minimum explore Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Ph.D., and his organization.

Richard is sincere. His standards are high. His work is exemplary.  

When I met him I thought, "What a masterful student of life this guy is!" What I've noticed over the years is that he remains that. And because he remains a masterful student, he has become a masterful teacher and leader.

Begin your research here.

Engage with him and Strozzi Institute here.

Do either and you will find something healthy, something satisfactory.

So - as a minimum - go to Amazon today and order The Art of Somatic Coaching, authored by The Man At The Sliding Wood Door.

© Lance Giroux, January 2014

Taxi Ride

 Three Russian soldier honor guard

Taxi Ride

A child that lives with ridicule learns to be timid.

A child that lives with criticism learns to condemn.

A Child that lives with distrust learns to be deceitful.

A child that lives with affection learns to love.

A child that lives with truth learns justice.

A child that lives with happiness will find love and beauty.

- Ronald Russell (Lessons From Life)

November 10^th and I hop into the back of a Moscow taxi. It's after 7pm, drizzly and cold. I'm exhilarated after a long weekend with sixty-five exuberant folks. I'm also tired.   Beside me sits Petr. He will replace Julia as translator later this week in Rostov-on-Don when I return there to complete this three-week Russian trip.

Petr and I met only a couple of hours ago. Our get together tonight is designed to give us time to acquaint with one another's speech patters enabling translations to go as seamlessly as possible in a few days when we'll serve a corporate group. Petr has been talking nonstop: martial arts; his abilities with sticks as weapons; his dark side street escapades of confrontation. He's curious about aikido as a way to foster peace.

As the cab door closes Petr opens up with an unexpected admission, "We have a real problem here in Russia with violence. Most of it doesn't make the news. We're in denial.   A lot of war veterans are having bad times.   They're into drugs and alcohol and hard violence." I ask, "Afghanistan?" "Yes."He continues, "PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder].   It's the same thing here in Russia as in the USA." An interesting conversation starts to unfold, made even more so given I haven't generated it or mentioned PTSD in any of our discussions. But, PTSD has been on my mind recently.

The three days immediately preceding this trip I attended the annual Aiki-Extensions Conference, this year hosted at Sofia University, Palo Alto, California. Of the many presentations, two grabbed my attention: Body Awareness in Trauma and Peace Making by Paul Linden, PhD, and Janice Taitel, MD; and Aikido as a Component in Holistic Therapy by Tom Osborn.   Both presentations addressed the PTSD needs facing individuals, families and communities. Both addressed the findings and constructive impact that these three practitioners have had integrating aikido into their efforts to address that need.

Paul and Janice outlined the impact that movement has had with their clients and patients, and demonstrated through audience participation how aikido was assisting efforts to un-anchor and reframe experiences held by those suffering from PTSD. Tom, now into his seventies, served with the 101^st Airborne Division. For twenty-four months he was on Special Forces A teams in Viet Nam. He outlined the impact of his work with aikido at Veterans Administration facilities - there to serve vets and staff. On my flight into Russia I read his book, Combat Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Holistic Approach. It is quite compelling.   I urge you to order a copy through Amazon.

The reason these presentations impacted me is because I know first-hand from George Leonard why The Samurai Game® was created - that being to deepen an understanding about the long-term impacts of war without having to actually succumb to the physical injury or death as a result. As a social philosopher George wanted people to consider questions like this, "Why does the human race keep doing war when we individually and collectively know what it always creates?"He wanted us to take this question personally to heart when it comes to our own personal "wars".

These presentations also impacted me because of the thirteen years that aikido has been a major part of my life. I have witnessed people, many of them otherwise and previously combative, transform themselves and their responses to conflict. The impact of the presentation also touched my formative years.

As a kid I lived in a home constantly on guard against what might happen if the wrong thing was said at the wrong time to my dad. I learned how to be hyper-vigilant, and how to anticipate responses in tense situations. In those days I didn't understand why my dad would flinch at the sound of a jet flying overhead. I couldn't understand why certain holidays triggered violent responses in him. But years of experience have deepened my understanding.

Tonight I'm sitting in this taxi and having a chat with Petr. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day back home. I'm a vet. My brother is a vet. My father and his brother were WWII vets. My brother-in-law is a vet. My nephew is a vet. His son, currently serving as a US Marine, just returned from a warzone. I was never in combat. But I know the stuff of PTSD and how it affects a family. PTSD is not limited to persons who have been in a military conflict or navigated their way through a war zone. It's more prevalent in our societies and having a greater impact in our economic policies, politics, and social and business environments than we think or that we want to admit.

Hoping to not be overly simplistic or appear foolish, I would offer many people (including you?) could relate to aspects (and possibly experiences) of PTSD if they will stop, think, feel and get in touch with their bodies.

Have you ever found yourself involved in confrontation or a dangerous situation where you felt your safety severely threatened? Afterwards, were you ever on guard against similar situations and/or physically triggered by environments reflective of the environment surrounding that prior threat? If you can honestly answer "yes", then you know what I mean.

When I was 12 years old and on a hunting trip, the jeep my dad was driving flipped over. It pinned my head to the ground. Luckily, my brother scrambled out in time to lift the jeep's back end off my body. My dad had a quick moment to pull me out before my brother set the jeep back down. Over the next few years whenever we would hunt near that place, I became nauseous and shaky. I would refuse to go on if we got too close to where we'd had the accident.

Tonight I shared with Petr that as America was heading into Afghanistan, a group of friends and I were asked what we might say to people high up in our military and national security apparatus who would have to carry out a Presidential order to undertake combat operations. We were asked to imagine that we would only have only a few seconds to give advice knowing that it wasn't a matter of "if we go in", rather "when we go in." This question came from someone who was about to attend a meeting of top officials actually confronting that situation in reality. I recall saying, "Tell them to talk to the Russians before they go." Why was that my response? Because the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan quite literally broke the USSR's economic back and shattered their national psyche.

The taxi is long gone and so is Petr. He spoke his "спокойной ночи." In a few days he will be with me in Rostov-on-Don to serve as a translator. Back in the hotel I've spent time sending thank you notes to family and buddies back home who have served in the military.   Among them is Al Takata. Like Tom Osborn, Al was with the Special Forces in Viet Nam. He left the Army a highly decorated lieutenant colonel, and carried with him many deep secrets. He's a great guy, and today a man of love and forgiveness.

An email pops into my mailbox as I head to bed. It's from Al, returning thanks for my having served in the Army. In closing he writes these unexpected, yet gracious words, "The Samurai Game brought me back from Viet Nam and was the factor that made me realize that I was suffering from PTSD. Without that awareness I could not begin my healing. Today I am 99% well. Love, Al."

Halfway around the world Al Takata has no knowledge of the specifics I've lived through these days in Russia, or of the Aiki-Extension Conference attended a few weeks ago in Palo Alto, or of the conversation and topic discussed this evening in a taxi with a young man named Petr.

It's past midnight in Moscow. What time is it in America?

You who are on the road

Must have a code that you can live by

And so become yourself

Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,

Their father's hell did slowly go by,

And feed them on your dreams

The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

-        Crosby Stills Nash Young (Teach Your Children)

© Lance Giroux, November 2013

Congratulations

 Congratulations Marina Klimova! 

First Russian citizen certified to produce & direct The Samurai Game®

November 14, 2013. Today I watch autumn's first snow in Moscow. My ride from Hotel Garvor to Paveletskaja (the main metro station) is slow, though not as slow as other ventures taken the last few days around this historic city.

The metro station is the first stop on my way to Rostov. I'm looking forward to being back in Rostov. Not that Moscow hasn't been good; it's been great. Gracious people to be with. Wonderful attitudes reflecting the spirit of growth: inquisitive, challenging, reflective, gracious, sometimes struggling, sometimes surrendering. Almost always dignified.

I arrived here a week ago at the invitation of Irina Pak. Originally from Latvia, Irina has lived in Moscow a number of years. She owns and operates a seminar organization structured like many others that have sprung up around Russia the past two plus decades.

Having worked within such a company myself from the mid-1970's through the mid 1990's I made a vow never to be permanently employed by such again. But serve them I do and will, provided their individual leaders and owners demonstrate sincerity and respect towards students, clients and employees. Sincerity and respect are both evident with Irina.

Seventy-two participants attended our Moscow production of The Samurai Game®.

The week prior was spent in Rostov-on-Don, there to serve Marina Klimova who owns a similar company. She carries a like respect for those she serves and employs. We had sixty-two participants in Rostov. There Konstantin Volzhan joined us. He flew in from Tyumen to observe and study. He, like Irina and Marina, owns a similar company from which he serves the Siberian region. And, along with Marina, he visited Petaluma, California in September for the Facilitator Training Course week.

A collegial spirit exists between Konstantin, Marina and Irina. This is good. Russia is a big country in a big world. There is no reason to hoard, or aggressively compete or play the zero-sum games of one against the other that, unfortunately, have plagued many seminar organizations.

My trip back to Rostov culminates this three-week stint. Marina has arranged for a corporate production coming up this weekend. Last weekend she completed her training requirements and is now certified to direct The Samurai Game® on her own. But I'll support her first "solo" delivery before venturing home.

So --- Congratulations Marina Klimova! As with Moscow's morning snow, you are "a first"; but not for a season only; rather for an era. You are the first Russian citizen certified to produce and direct this grand creation of George Leonard's.

Congratulations Konstantin and Irina! You were and are key to Marina's success. I accept your requests and am looking forward to being back in Russia in September 2014 to serve you both again.

©Lance Giroux, November 2013

www.SamuraiGame.org

October Reverie: Surrendering Enough to Commit

 

Fall 2000. A cool evening breeze brushes the hillsides of Two Rock Valley. A familiar mist begins to envelop our little barn, a barn that no longer lodges horses or sheep. Now it's a way place, a meeting space for people, open to anyone who decides to come for the ninety minute classes. Those of us who train here feel special, but for no special reason. None of us would be here had not someone else made an effort to extend an invitation or a suggestion. Some of them, those who did the inviting or suggesting, are no longer with us. We gather, we practice, we engage in a self study of physical movement and metal focus. It is intense, even when the pace is slow. In fact the slower the pace the more intense it becomes.   Quite spiritual for some. This evening we are sixteen. At some point our practice is momentarily suspended. The fellow in charge picks up the piece of paper that's sitting by the sliding wood door. He reads:

The Weighing (Jane Hirshfield)

The heart's reasons

seen clearly,

even the hardest

will carry

its whip-marks and sadness

and must be forgiven.

As the drought-starved

eland forgives

the drought-starved lion

who finally takes her,

enters willingly then

the life she cannot refuse,

and is lion, is fed,

and does not remember the other.

So few grains of happiness

measured against all the dark

and still the scales balance.

The world asks of us

only the strength we have and we give it.

Then it asks more, and we give it.

About this reading no request for speaking is made, at least not alound. The reading simply hangs there - a mirror to serve reflection, a window to serve vision. Whatever messages that exist are ours to discover. They live already within each of us. For some, the internal speaking will influence physical movements for the remaining minutes of class. For others, it will poignantly relate to a day recently lived, or it will welcome or forwarn a waiting night at home or a tomorrow at work. My speaking is about commitment and surrender and relationships. Over the next thirteen years the "fellow in charge" will read this poem aloud many times - and when he does, a new speaking will arise within me.

Summer 1975. A hot day in a parched valley three hours north of San Francisco. I sit inside a swimming pool cabana recently converted into a classroom. Thirty others are with me - all formally dressed and seated at tables. We are classmates for a week. I'm here from Hawaii where I serve as an Amry lieutenant.

The sliding glass door on the cabana's north side opens. A man wearing a dark blue three piece suit and starched white shirt with French cuffs, steps in, settles himself and begins to speak. As best I can, I listen while drifting in and out of a haze of memories. At some point I hear him say, "There can be no joy without commitment."

Then he begins a story.

The 508 men leave their ships and take up oars to row. Feet step ashore. Their home, Spain, thousands of miles to the north and east, awaits their completed mission and their return. But today with Hernando Cortez they, the 508, stand in Mexico. Mexico, like Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Veracruz, Michoacan and Jalisco, remains an unknown yet to be spoke word. These voyagers are in the land of the Aztec, the land of Montezuma, the land that surrounds Tenochititlan.

Cortez issues an order, "Scuttle the ships." Spain remains a possiblity, though not to be achieved by reversing direction. That option, Cortez has ensured, no longer exists. Only by going forward can anything be achieved. That these men will return to Spain or anywhere else is hopeful but not certain. Cortez' action speaks to a yet to be created history. There is no turning back. There is only going forward. Something past must be released in order for something new to be realized. And so, the 508 proceed. Surrendering to what is, they commit themselves.

October 2010. I'm home. My mobile phone buzzes the incoming text from my friend David. "Bad news Lance. We lost Mr. Mac last night."  I freeze. My thoughts, "I was just at Mac's house; we were just talking with each other; this must be some crazy joke." It's not.

A small stone sits on my mantelpiece. On it, drawn in ink, is a mouse.   Fifteen feet away, framed on my office wall is a beaded white eagle feather. The mouse, the feather, both are gifts from Mac Turnipseed.

The eagle feather came my way in 1994. It was Mac's right as a Native American to have it and to give it. It was my honor to receive it. I had just designed and was delivering a two-day communication, service and leadership program for Mac's family, their businesses and employees. As the program began, and in front of the entire assembly, Mac asked me to stand. He then reached out, placed the feather in my hand and offered, "This is yours, brother".

In the years that followed many classes and consulting sessions were requested by Mac, his mother, his sister and his brothers - all for immediate and extended family, employees, and members of the Puyallup Tribe. Along the way I encountered a marvelous book, Seven Arrows, assembled by Hyemeyohsts Storm. One story called Jumping Mouse particularly stuck me. So on a visit to Tacoma to deliver a program I sat with Mac and read him the story. It speaks of possibility and human nature and commitment ... and to being a person of generocity and service - something called a give away person.

As the story opens we meet Little Mouse. As it continues we observe him gaining the courage needed to step beyond his self-imposed limitations and those of other mice to find his medicine, and from there become Jumping Mouse. He then goes on to realize service as his highest calling. The result of which becomes the realization of his dream.

Briefly, it goes like this. Little Mouse decides it would be great to leave the place of mice and venture off to the mountain. The other mice warn that going onto the prairie in search of such a mountain is to be alone and exposed. They warn that the prairie is filled with dangers and that he will become a quick meal for an eagle. But the pull of possibility overwhelms and strengthens Little Mouse. He gathers courage and sets off to discover the truth and find the mountain.

Along the way Little Mouse meets many creatures including Frog, who teaches how to jump up. This gift from Frog gives Little Mouse vision - the ability to see beyond the grass in front of his face. This jumping is Little Mouse's medicine and his name becomes Jumping Mouse. With newfound ability Jumping Mouse moves out onto the prairie where he meets Buffalo. But Buffalo is blind and dying, and sadly informs Jumping Mouse that his only cure, his medicine, is the eye of a mouse. Overwhelmed with the sight of such a manificent creature, Jumping Mouse is filled with the spirit of service and gives Buffalo an eye. Instantly healed and deeply appreciative Buffalo escorts Jumping Mouse across the prairie to a place beyond which it is difficult for Buffalo to proceed.

Arriving at this place Jumping Mouse becomes excited. He finds abundance never imagined - seed and other things, including a great grey Wolf. But, like Buffalo, Wolf is ill. He sits listlessly dim minded. Wolf has no memory of self or purpose. This saddens Jumping Mouse, yet with the sadness a thought occurs. If an eye could help Buffalo then perhaps another eye could likewise serve Wolf. Without hesitation Jumping Mouse gives up the remaining eye. Wolf is healed. His memory returns and he recalls his life's mission: guide others across the prairie to the mountain. Jumping Mouse, now blind, walks with Wolf acoss the remaining stretch of land to the base of the mountain. There Wolf informs Jumping Mouse that he must continue on alone because Wolf's mission compel him to go back and find others to guide.

Filled with gratitude, but blind and fearing he will become lunch for an eagle, Jumping Mouse says goodbye to Wolf, wishing him well with his mission.

Sitting exposed, Jumping Mouse senses Eagle's shadow passing over him. He shivers and braces for the oncoming shock. Eagle hits, takes his lunch, and Jumping Mouse enters a deep sleep. But soon this sleep wanes. He wakes to a blurry light, followed by sharp bright colors. Jumping Mouse realizes that he can see again! Everything is clear and vivid. He turns his head and notices wings. He has become Eagle.

Of course it took me much longer to read the story to Mac that day. All the while he simply sat, listening deeply and saying nothing. The following day began the next program for the Turnipseed's companies. Weeks later a small box arrived at my home, sent by mail. Inside and without a note was a stone and on it, drawn in ink, a small mouse.  

We all have our heart's reasons and individual unique strengths. We have our ships to scuttle, and adventure filled opportunities that could take us anywhere - incuding back home. We have had our times of being mouse people, surrounded by the discouraging voices of other mouse people. We have shivered in tall grass beyond which we cannot see. We have had the times of meeting our Frog people, there to teach us how to jump, and encourage us to strike out across individual prairies. We have had our opportunities to meet and serve our Buffalo, our Wolves and, yes, our Eagles. The question becomes - to what degree do we, did we, and will we surrender to these reasons, these strengths, these times and these people ... and to commit.

© Lance Giroux, October 16, 2013