The Practice of Freedom: Aikido Principles as a Spiritual Guide [Hardcover]

Wendy Palmer (Author), Jack Kornfield (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2001

Drawing on the poetic wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, American sensei Wendy Palmer translates the powerful teachings of aikido for use in everyday life—all without practicing the vigorous exercises of the martial art, itself. With poignant reflections on her own life, including her Conscious Embodiment work and teaching inmates in a woman's federal prison, she describes how we can lose our sense of freedom, vitality, and integrity when under the duress of life's "attacks." She explores a process that responds to the question How? How do we transform our negativity into budo, or love, and how do we move from reactivity to freedom? The Practice of Freedom is invaluable not only for students of aikido and other movement and martial arts, but also for those who seek to live with confidence and self-reliance, to establish clear and compassionate boundaries, and to deepen their capacities for loving and honest relationships.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Palmer, aikido instructor and author of The Intuitive Body, has constructed a passable if unremarkable synopsis of personal reflections, favorite spiritual authors and principles of this unique martial art. At its best, the book is informed by Palmer's own life experiences, which include teaching aikido principles and mind/body exercises to federal prison inmates inspiring some fine musings on freedom. Unfortunately, Palmer seldom renders her personal story in any detail, often employing an impressionistic and elliptical style that lacks vividness and leaves the reader fumbling to establish a sense of narrative connection. Palmer's intended audience seems to be neither aikido practitioners, who might prefer more specific examples, nor the uninitiated, who will miss the significance of many terms and allusions. The book's most surprising feature is its lack of substantive references to aikido practice, aside from a few quotations from O-Sensei (aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba) and some very general allusions to aikido concepts such as blending and centeredness. Instead of focusing on a psychological-spiritual explication of aikido itself, as found in Richard Heckler (In Search of the Warrior Spirit) or C. M. Shifflett (Ki in Aikido), most of the book's material is a generic pastiche of Taoist, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and New Age teachings on suffering, compassion and freedom. This content is solid enough, and Palmer's dedication and love for her students and her art is obvious. But given the existing breadth of books on spirituality and aikido, there is little here that makes a distinctive contribution.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

". . . a thoughtful and very engaging meditation on the pursuit of authenticity and aliveness." -- Yoga Journal, April 2002

". . . not just for students of aikido, but also for those who seek to live with confidence . . ." -- Foreword, Mid-Winter 2002

"I liked Palmer's conversational style--the result of her writing candidly about her own suffering and loss." -- Aikido Today Magazine, March 2002

Palmer focuses . . . on how [aikido] principles can inform anyone, regardless of . . . where we stand in the world at any moment. -- IONS: Noetics Sciences Review, June-August 2002

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Rodmell Press (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193048500X
• ISBN-13: 978-1930485006
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,385,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An elegant book grounded in an elegant martial art., January 10, 2002

By 

Richard H. Talbott (Mill Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Practice of Freedom: Aikido Principles as a Spiritual Guide (Hardcover)

This is an elegant book, both in the rigorous mathematical sense, in that it accomplishes its purpose with not an ounce of extra baggage, and in the aesthetic sense, in that its rich insights and clear language, like poetry, inspire realizations and insights in the reader.

For me, the book is about growing up. Using her practice of aikido as a guiding path, the author suggests a clear progression of levels of consiousness that invites and draws the reader from chaos, through seemly and effective behavior, to wisdom. As in aikido, the day-to-day techniques can be deceptively simple, and may occasionally seem counterintuitive. An example is the idea of engaging and transforming aggressive behavior with relaxed, confident awareness, rather than perpetuating it by fending it off with raised hackles and barriers. This relaxed, confident awareness can actually be achieved by normal people, with practice that includes such simple tricks as maintaining good posture and remembering to breath. The practicality of what might seem to be a "new age" or video game pipe dream can be demonstrated by the author with an effortless turning of her hips that sends an attacker twice her weight flying through the air, or painlessly to the mat.

In a culture that harangues for greater speed and complexity, Ms Palmer shows us that it is in the compassionate and persistent reversal of that cultural pull, that stillness, clarity and confidence, is achieved, and true growth is realized. This book should be required reading for high school boys.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Know what it feels like in your body to be centered., July 6, 2002

By 

Neil Fiore (Albany, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Practice of Freedom: Aikido Principles as a Spiritual Guide (Hardcover)

Wendy Palmer has captured what it feels like in your body to be off center and to get re-centered. She has transformed Aikido into much more than a maritial art - a way of being in relationship to others without losing yourself. This is a great book for couples as well as those who too often find themselves thrown by strong emotions and reactions. It will give you a physical sense, rather than just intellectual or analytic, of what it means to hold your own space in the world and in relation to others

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an open letter to the author, April 10, 2002

By 

John Bach (Santa Clarita, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Practice of Freedom: Aikido Principles as a Spiritual Guide (Hardcover)

I am prompted to drop you a note thanking you for your new book, "The Practice of Freedom"; it struck a strong, resonant chord in me. I, too, attempt to follow the Tao (for many years)
and practice aikido (for four years). Many of your thoughtful insights are ones I have felt but have been unable to articulate to friends and family regarding the value of aikido to my life.

Recently, I was challenged by the deaths of my parents; my father's 15 year long decline from heart disease and Altsheimer's and my mother's 1 year battle with a horrific brain disease, both dying within 3 months of each other. The aikido principles of entering and blending helped me not only summon up the courage to engage death but also to "dance" with it, to make peace with it, thus enabling my latent compassion and deep love for my parents and, hopefully, giving them a measure of comfort and peace as their lives wound down. I then felt I was able to be the loving caregiver my father never had (which made me rethink Wordworth's line, "The child is father to the man").

By "surrendering" to what was being offered (as you note in your book), I feel my true self, my soul if you will, benefited greatly; I was able to be emotionally and spiritually engaged with my parents during that ultimate transition. Paradoxically, through this engaged experience with death, I now better appreciate my life and my close relationships and have attained a level of serenity.

As you elegantly mention in your book, I see us all as fellow travelers; each a separate universe, yet united in a larger continuum. You acknowledge Mitsugi Saotome in your book and I must mention that when I was researching aikido, before I started practicing, I was fortunate to read "The Principles of Aikido" and "Aikido and the Harmony of Nature" as my theoretical introduction to aikido. Both books, like yours, struck a deep chord. Some day I hope to attend one of his seminars when he comes into my area (Los Angeles).

Thank you again for articulating and validating important themes of spiritual growth that can mean so much to so many people.