“In this turbulent world, find what is true.” Sensei Linda Holiday 6th dan and author of Journey to the Heart of Aikido: The Teachings of Motomichi Anno Sensei (2014).
In 1982, Linda Holiday founded Aikido of Santa Cruz, in California. She is the Executive Director and Chief Instructor of this nonprofit educational organization and dojo.
Linda began practicing of Aikido in California over forty years ago. In 1973 she moved to Japan living there for several years and receiving instruction from Japanese Aikido teachers who had studied directly with the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba.
While there she met Motomichi Anno Sensei and began to studied with him.
Motomich Anno Sensei & Linda Holiday Sensei
Linda translated into English the teachings of Anno Sensei into “Journey to the Heart of Aikido”. She takes the reader on their own journey into the world of training in a martial art that is non competitive, yet fiercely defensive and while at the same time teaching kindness and compassion.
Listen as Sensei Linda Holiday speaks about finding a practice that sustains one in turbulent times, helping to hone the skill of self awareness, breath and center.
“It is crucial to have a practice that you can go back to, daily or weekly, that continues to move you in a good direction and cultivate really constructive habits…Aikido is really great for that.”
I certainly hope you can take Linda up on the invitation in this podcast to stop in at Aikido of Santa Cruz and watch a class or take a class. And if that is not an option there are Aikido dojos around the globe. You can use your favoirte search engine to search for Aikido – spelled Aikido.
My tip would be to make sure that as you enter the door of a dojo for the first time you see and feel joy. Teachers of Aikido like myself and Linda are humans and as such not supreme beings. So make sure you choose wisely.
Short of that and Most importantly – seek a practice, as Linda says “that you can go back to, daily or weekly, that continues to move you in a good direction and cultivate really constructive habits.”
If you are interested in honing a very basic yet critical skill for centering when chaos comes knocking on your front door. Look to Episode 2 of this podcast titled: The #1 Leading Chaos Techniques We All Do Daily –- there I spoke in length about the value of breathing specifically the power of our Exhale.
And while on the here on leadingchaospodcast.com website your are welcome to sign up and receive the weekly newsletter on this podcast guest and topics.
There you find information about my conflict management model: Response Training Programs LLC – a crisis intervention curriculum model that at it roots integrates the philosophy of no opponent in every intervention. And a link to my book Leading Chaos; An Essential Guide to Conflict Management.
Links for Linda Holiday
Get the book: Journey to the Heart of Aikido
Facebook for Aikido of Santa Cruz
YouTube
There are many clips of Linda Holiday on YouTube. Below is one to get you started.