@misc{Gordon, author = {Gordon, Michael A.}, title = {Aikido as Transformative and Embodied Pedagogy. Teacher as Healer}, series = {Aikido as Transformative and Embodied Pedagogy. Teacher as Healer, Cham (Palgrave Macmillan) 2019, 218 pp. [eBook ISBN 978-3-030-23953-4] [doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23953-4]}, journal = {Aikido as Transformative and Embodied Pedagogy. Teacher as Healer, Cham (Palgrave Macmillan) 2019, 218 pp. [eBook ISBN 978-3-030-23953-4] [doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23953-4]}, abstract = {Drawing on the author's lifelong practice in the non-competitive and defensive Japanese art of Aikido, this book examines education as self-cultivation, from a Japanese philosophy (e.g. Buddhist) perspective. Contemplative practices, such as secular mindfulness meditation, are being increasingly integrated into pedagogical settings to enhance social and emotional learning and well-being and to address stress-induced overwhelm due to increased pressures on the education system and its constituents. The chapters in this book explore the various ways, through the lens of this non-violent relational art of Aikido, that pedagogy is always something being practiced (on the level of psychological, somatic and emotional registers) and thus holding potential for transformation into being more relational, ecological-minded, and reflecting more 'embodied attunement.' Positioning education as a practice, one of self-discovery, the author argues that one can approach personal development as engaging in a spiritual process of integrating mind and body towards full presence of being and existence.}, language = {en} } @article{Gordon, author = {Gordon, Michael A.}, title = {Conclusion: A Holistic Relational Paradigm}, series = {Aikido as Transformative and Embodied Pedagogy. Teacher as Healer, Cham (Palgrave Macmillan) 2019, pp. 163-168. [eBook ISBN 978-3-030-23953-4] [doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23953-4_6]}, journal = {Aikido as Transformative and Embodied Pedagogy. Teacher as Healer, Cham (Palgrave Macmillan) 2019, pp. 163-168. [eBook ISBN 978-3-030-23953-4] [doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23953-4_6]}, abstract = {In the conclusion entitled >A Holistic Relational Paradigm,< the author draws on key themes in the manuscript: attachment, healing, psychosocial development, and an altruistic approach to fostering prosocial behavior. Epstein's (2014) work relates the early trauma of the Buddha's loss of his mother after childbirth to his resultant view of 'suffering.' Epstein explores how this attachment >wound< is mirrored in the Buddhist view that we suffer as the result of not knowing how to integrate the reality of 'impermanence.' The author continues to generalize this universal or psycho-spiritual view (as opposed to one based on our 'personal' pathology or 'narrative') through the core training principles of Ki Aikido, like the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, as ways of laying out a more liberatory path in daily life. Drawing on the work of Erich Fromm, he further expands on the notion of love, specifically as an approach that fosters applied skillfulness in relationships as an antidote to narcissism. Expanding further, he draws on Matthieu Ricard's (2015) work on altruism, based in research on its roots in prosocial behavior rather than as moral idealism or superiority.}, language = {en} } @article{Gordon, author = {Gordon, Michael A.}, title = {Introduction: Practice as Transformative Wholeness}, series = {Aikido as Transformative and Embodied Pedagogy. Teacher as Healer, Cham (Palgrave Macmillan) 2019, pp. 3-56. [eBook ISBN 978-3-030-23953-4] [doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23953-4]}, journal = {Aikido as Transformative and Embodied Pedagogy. Teacher as Healer, Cham (Palgrave Macmillan) 2019, pp. 3-56. [eBook ISBN 978-3-030-23953-4] [doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23953-4]}, abstract = {In this chapter, the author introduces his autobiographical near-death experience of a motorcycle accident as the basis for examining his life and the self-study that forms this book, within a gestalt or whole. Touching on the figure-ground-contact approach of Gestalt Therapy, the author puts this self-study within the context of a lifetime of involvement in the Japanese art of Ki Aikido. In Aikido, one learns to coordinate their mind, body, and life energy (Japanese: ki) to better attune and move in synchronization with the world around them. The ethos of Aikido reflects the broader virtue ethics of traditional Japanese arts - >do<, >michi<, or >way< - and how this approach to education aims for spiritual self-cultivation in daily life, rather than mere acquisition of technical or intellectual knowledge. Through Aikido, Japanese calligraphy or shodo (which the author took up as a comparative/adjunct >way< for his study), and beyond into increased skillful awareness in motorcycling and educational praxis, this chapter draws on Yasuo Yuasa's theory of ki as 'teleological intentionality.' By taking a 'path' approach to learning through this >ki awareness< one thus develops and enhances their embodied presence into what Yuasa calls >transpersonal synchronization.<}, language = {en} }