Sending Warm Holiday Wishes & A Happy New Year

Thank you all for bringing so much joy and peace to the dojo, in 2022 and always. We’ve had such a great year with so many beautiful moments of practicing and researching aikido together. Thankfully, we were able to return to in-person practice in all our levels of adult and children’s classes and restart our in-person seminar schedule, which we hope you’ve all enjoyed.

Wishing everyone a happy holiday season! And looking forward to more wonderful practice as a community in the new year.

Redirect Your Inner Chatter with a Growth Mindset

By Jaime Dunkle, 5th Kyu

Having a growth mindset is the courage to value consistent practice and intentional skill development without succumbing to debilitating self-doubt brought on by the frustrations of learning. A person with a growth mindset relies on an openness to the learning process, including its priceless pitfalls. A person with a fixed mindset assumes that innate talent is the key to progress, and any error indicates impossibility of improvement. This mindset theory was discovered by the psychologist Carol Dweck.

The following interview with Brian Levy Sensei, the chief instructor at NOLA Aikido, explores the growth mindset and how it applies to aikido practice.

This q-and-a has been truncated for brevity.

What’s the difference between the growth mindset and fixed mindset, in your own words?

You see it all the time in Aikido. Like [people say]: I am not good at physical activities. And what I always say is that some of my teachers have taught me that they were not necessarily the ones for whom things came easily. Sometimes there are people for whom there is talent, separate from either the fixed or growth mindset. It doesn’t mean that somebody who has [talent] won’t go further, [but] sometimes people with the most talent get bored quickly and jump on to the next thing.

The dabblers.

The dabblers, which is fine. It’s wonderful to have this talent, to where things just come super easy to you, but, if you have the talent, can you still — Carol Dweck talked about how Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods never stopped practicing.

So, dedication can be more…

Important than talent.

Yeah.

One thing I’ve learned from Charles Colten Sensei is that evidence-based studies show that what’s more important than the frequency of practice is consistency of practice. So, decide what rhythm is for you and stick to it. You have to do what balances with the rest of your life. I think the growth mindset mixed with consistent practice will lead to ongoing progress, including the plateaus. You will plateau, and then you will have these jumps where you will see the progress, and another plateau. Quoting the book Mastery by George Leonard: You have to master the plateau. If you’re not feeling that stuff happening, trust that things are happening under the surface. Keep practicing. Like Jan Nevelius Shihan says: Let practice be the ruler.

How can people new to Aikido, or people new to the soft form of Aikido at our dojo, approach challenges with a growth mindset?

Realize that making mistakes is normal in the growth process. Remember what it’s like when children are learning language. They don’t immediately know how to say [things correctly]. I studied linguistics, and it’s very normal to not catch the nuances right away. You overgeneralize patterns, you miss patterns, but you still get understood. So, in Aikido, too: don’t expect it to be perfect. There is no such thing. Clebert LeBlanc [one of the instructors at the dojo], always quotes Dr. Yang Yang who teaches a Tai Chi lineage: Smile, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Which also reminds me of Anthony Pinchbeck Sensei in England—he subscribes to the school of good enough. Which means … it’s good enough to catch a little bit at a time. You really need to make mistakes. Now how do you get yourself to do that? It takes some courage. You have to be willing to feel awkward.

I remember when I first started in 1994, about a month in, I almost quit. My life would’ve gone a different route. Because I was getting so frustrated with this stage of growth. It’s hard to feel so confused. I think I talked to Bill Staub Sensei, my sensei in Santa Barbra where I started, and he reassured me along the lines of what I’m saying now: Be patient with yourself; it’s OK, we’ve all been there. It’ll get better.

I think the growth mindset is an ability to keep practicing, knowing those voices have no bearing. Progress will happen. And return again and again to the fun, curiosity, and passion [of the practice]. And even on those days you can’t access [those aspects], access your courage, your tenacity, your dedication. That will carry you a long way, I think.

What are some pragmatic steps that you recommend to someone interested in Aikido, in terms of keeping a growth mindset?

Intentional practice. Breaking it down and working on specific things at a time. Such as only posture today, only footwork today, only relaxing completely. Isolate specific things to intentionally practice. Do experiments. Be curious, like Endo Seishiro Shihan [asks]: What happens if I move my shoulder in this way now?

How can practitioners redirect mistakes when they’re practicing on the mat?

The only mistake possible on the mat, honestly, would be hurting yourself or another person. Everything else is just a learning opportunity. We have an amazing example because of Endo Shihan, because of the way he shares what seems like a lot of his own practice dialogue: Now, [in] this moment, this happens—why? Now this time, I do this, and my partner does [that]—why?

How does someone get to that point if they’re just busy trying to figure out the basics? Just try little adjustments?

Yeah, but also reminding yourself that we all are learning all the time. There is only continual research. And hopefully continual improvement over time. Everything is an experiment. It’s really just a matter of what feels better or worse for your body and your partner’s body. What feels easy and what feels difficult. [Also,] communicate what you need. Listen to each other deeply. I want to include, that if we hurt each other, then we have made a mistake.

You have to get past that thought of all the limitations your brain says, the chatter, and ignore it. Let training be the ruler.

I also think that sometimes the chatter isn’t verbal. Sometimes the chatter is confusion. Or a feeling of inability.

In those cases, you have to focus beyond those feelings. You meditate, so you know, you let all of that come and go. Whether it’s a feeling, thought, or sensation: it’s just floating through. You shake it off, and then it’s the next shomen uchi ikkyo. You shake it off and it’s the next katate tori tai no henko. [Tony Robbins, who is referring to research, says:] You can’t feel grateful and afraid at the same time. So, focus on the gratitude that I get to be in this moment of [practice] with you.