Lokahi Ki Society

. . . When our mind and body are unified and calm, our Reiseishin manifests itself completely. Once this happens all suffering and wicked desires fall away. And the Universal Mind of love and protection for all things appears in us. Let us strive to realize Reiseishin.

                                                                                    ~Ki Saying #17 – Koichi Tohei

. . .  If you open your Heart and Mind, if you don’t let the fear of the unknown limit you, the world expands. Love your neighbor and God will love you.

~Author Unknown.

. . . The fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Long Suffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control. Against such there is no law.  If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Then we won’t need to look for honors and popularity, provoking one another, envying one another, which leads to hard feelings.

~Gal. 5:22, 23, 25, 26

Many, many, many years ago I was going through some tribulations and trials overwhelmed by but enduring what seemed to be life-changing crises immobilized in a place of darkness. Everything seemed to be falling apart. Spiritually, mentally, and emotionally I was devastated.  I was a black belt, a star (some people say, A Big Star), and I was despondent. Night after night I performed with my fellow cohorts, and heard the applause of thousands of people a year. I appeared enthralling and captivating, yet that sense of emptiness kept gnawing at my insides.

Then I decided to have a talk with one of my mentors. There’s a clue. Many times we think we can work out our dark moments by ourselves. I thought that, too. This is what I found out—I need a mentor. I’ve had five mentors through the years, three of them are still living. I encourage you to find a mentor. So, I met with my mentor. After revealing and exposing the absolute truth of my story she compassionately with assertiveness, shared a simple, yet powerful, life-changing message that has stayed with me through the years and continues to and add value to my life.

She said, Clay, get out of you head. It’s full of stuff! Fear! Go to where it’s empty of fear. Go to your “Na’au”—the core of your being—where Aloha resides.

Let go of your fear.
It will destroy you.
Nurture your seed of Aloha.
It will restore you.

Auntie Alice passed on over 25 years ago, and her message lives on. So, from Auntie Alice, through me, to you. She says, “Eh, you! Get out of your head. It’s full of you know what—fear! Go to where there is no fear. Go to your Na’au—to the core of your being—where Aloha resides.

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About The Author

For over fifty years now I have been a student of Master Koichi Tohei. A founding member of Lokahi Ki Society, I now serve as Senior Advisor and currently hold the rank of 6th Dan Black Belt in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido. For over five decades, throughout the USA, I have dedicated myself to creating programs for people to experience the spiritual power they naturally have through the unification of Mind and Body. I hope to support you in putting the power you naturally possess into action so you may experience an expansion of harmony, joy, and Love in your daily life, to give you an opportunity to create a better world and contribute to the lives of others.

The Leadership of Possibility

“….If we unify our mind and body, become one with the universe, and practice its principles, others will follow us gladly….”
~Koichi Tohei, Ki saying #10

“But we will not boast of authority we do not have. Our goal is to measure up to God’s plan for us, and this plan includes our working there with you.”
~2 Corinthians 10:13

“Leadership has less to do with position than it does with disposition.”
~author unknown

There are two common threads intertwined as one that weaves through and connects the above quotations (“others will follow us gladly…..this plan includes our working with you….leadership has less to do with position than it does with disposition.”) The two intertwined threads are “relationship” and “disposition”. One cannot exist without the other. They are joined at the hip. A happy disposition, a happy relationship = a leader of possibilities. A selfish disposition, an unhappy relationship = a leadership that’s doomed to crash.

Leadership is a possibility to grow and live into. It all begins with gratitude which expands to being humble versus being boastful. Humility expands to being compassionate which in turn expands to being understanding, which expands to being respectful, which expands to being willing to get off of one’s position and stand in another’s place and perform with confidence. This is leadership at its highest level.

Earlier I alluded to the disposition of being boastful—a disposition driven by a need to hold on to one’s position to survive. The need to look good or not to look bad is a need driven by fear. Fear will destroy all possibilities. Fear will destroy a leader. The need to survive adds to the momentum of a downward spiral of one’s leadership.

Love is the driving force that propels a leader from the grips of survival to upward mobility to the realm of possibilities. Love restores! A restored leader realizes out of his own evaluated experience that fear and scarcity promotes dissention between people. A restored leader calls upon people’s passions rather their fears. A restored leader empowers people to step out of their confining jackets of survival and grow into an expanding jacket of what’s possible: a life of security, success, and significance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
~Albert Einstein

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About The Author

For over fifty years now I have been a student of Master Koichi Tohei. A founding member of Lokahi Ki Society, I now serve as Senior Advisor and currently hold the rank of 6th Dan Black Belt in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido. For over five decades, throughout the USA, I have dedicated myself to creating programs for people to experience the spiritual power they naturally have through the unification of Mind and Body. I hope to support you in putting the power you naturally possess into action so you may experience an expansion of harmony, joy, and Love in your daily life, to give you an opportunity to create a better world and contribute to the lives of others.

 The Value of Our Existence

“Our lives are born of the Ki of the universe. Let us give thanks for being born not as plants and animals, but as human beings blessed with a universal mind.  Let us pledge to fulfill our missions by helping to guide the development and creation of the universe.”
~Koichi Tohei, Ki saying #2

“In a race everyone runs but only one person gets first prize.  So run your race to win.  To win the contest you must deny yourself many things that would keep you from doing your best.  An athlete goes through all the struggle just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup.  But we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears.  So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step.  I fight to win.  I’m not just shadow-boxing or playing around.  Like an athlete I punish my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, not what it wants to.  Otherwise, I fear that after enlisting others for the race, I myself might be declared unfit and ordered to step aside.”
~1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“Personal development is the belief that you are worth the effort, time, and energy needed to develop yourself.”
~Denis Waitley

One word came to mind as I read the above quotes.  The word?  Self-discipline.

Life is a race.  Life began in a race.  A race where no self-discipline was needed.  A race where our animal instincts ruled.  A race to survive.  Think of it!  We were one of millions of minute spermatozoon frantically swimming upstream as if our lives depended on it.  Imagine what the race to survive looked like.  Millions of little sperms swimming madly; pushing, shoving, kicking each other in order to survive long enough to fertilize one egg.  There could only be one winner and you won!  I won!  We won!  And we brought with us a strong instinct to survive.  Our protective mechanism in a form of a permanent habit will show up unconsciously when needed whether our experience of fear is real or not.  It is alive and well.

Now that we won and are sitting at survival, the lowest level on the totem pole, it’s time to rise up, nurture our self-discipline, take responsibility for our own personal growth and run the race to win over our fears, doubts, and unbelief.  Our faith will be tested.  Our courage will be challenged.  There will be hurdles to clear, barriers to overcome, raging rivers to forge, and mountains to conquer.  We may feel the need to push, shove, kick, even scream in anguish as we fall.  The urge to quit may thunder in our mind. When this happens, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and press forward.

Then comes the time when we discover that the whole process (yes, all of it) was necessary for our own personal growth.  We discover that the result of extreme irritation is a pearl.  The result of extreme pressure is a diamond.  At that point of discovery, we make a shift from fear, doubt, and unbelief to a spirit of gratitude, joy, love, harmony, peace and prosperity.  Together we learn and grow and blossom into something magnificent—living a blessed life. A life full of possibilities!

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About The Author

For over fifty years now I have been a student of Master Koichi Tohei. A founding member of Lokahi Ki Society, I now serve as Senior Advisor and currently hold the rank of 6th Dan Black Belt in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido. For over five decades, throughout the USA, I have dedicated myself to creating programs for people to experience the spiritual power they naturally have through the unification of Mind and Body. I hope to support you in putting the power you naturally possess into action so you may experience an expansion of harmony, joy, and Love in your daily life, to give you an opportunity to create a better world and contribute to the lives of others.

Dear Clayton & Gloria,

I am writing to thank you both for the fascinating demonstration of Ki in increasing muscular resistance through focusing one’s mind on the task. More than that I enjoyed simply meeting, splitting a sandwich, and talking with Clayton before Gloria’s planned “demonstration” of whatever I had no inkling. I am positive that if I lived in Hawaii I would value Clayton’s friendship and learning Aikido with him.

As I told Clayton, in my youth I was National Prep School Wrestling Champion in my weight class three years running and later earned a wrestling scholarship at Syracuse University where I continued wrestling. Lately I have organized a group of  former, still interested wrestling students to get exercise and refresh them on wrestling techniques I taught them 30 or so years ago when they competed.

Ever since meeting you, Clayton, and briefly experiencing the mysterious power of Ki at your demonstration, I have been wondering how in the fast moving and un-smooth, combat sport of amateur wrestling Ki could be applied. I’d be interested on your comments here.

In closing, I hope we meet again, Clayton, and that we will be able to maintain a long distance friendship and continuing conversation.

With Warmest Regards,

Sincerely,
R Chappell

Hello R,

So nice to hear from you. I, too, had a great time interacting with you before, during, and after the Ki demonstration!

Being a champion wrestler and having spent time with you, it sounds like you were and still are already practicing some of the Ki principles. As you know, and being an athlete myself, calmness is crucial. This is something I learned from my Dad.

I played football, basketball and tennis and because of the state of calmness I was in while performing at a high level I could see things clearly and had a sense of what was about to happen before it happened. Some people call it “court sense” or peripheral vision. So I was able to respond more often than react. As you know, when one “reacts” it’s often too late. I’m not talking about anticipating. I’m
talking about responding as the situation or circumstance arises.

I believe you were a champion in wrestling and now in life because you respond calmly when necessary. So this may give you an idea of how Ki principles can be applied in wrestling because “living calmness” is a Ki principle.

Aloha,
Clay

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About The Author

For over fifty years now I have been a student of Master Koichi Tohei. A founding member of Lokahi Ki Society, I now serve as Senior Advisor and currently hold the rank of 6th Dan Black Belt in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido. For over five decades, throughout the USA, I have dedicated myself to creating programs for people to experience the spiritual power they naturally have through the unification of Mind and Body. On a personal note, I am married, and I’ve been blessed with 5 children, 14 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren. I’ve also been blessed with a successful business career. For 23 of those years I sang and entertained with the famous musical group, “The Surfers.” I hope to support you in putting the power you naturally possess into action so you may experience an expansion of harmony, joy, and Love in your daily life, to give you an opportunity to create a better world and contribute to the lives of others.