Here’s Part II of my recent interview with Chris Thorsen Sensei, distinguished senior student of Richard Moon Sensei and board member at Aiki Extensions.
If you heard Part I, you’ll surely already be in awe of his remarkable life—an inspiring journey he describes as a series of “intuitive jumps off cliffs.”
If you haven’t heard it yet, don’t delay! Here it is: Part I
In this newest episode, Thorsen Sensei continues to share powerful examples from his consulting career, including turnaround work at Kaiser Permanente’s IT team and a critical intervention at Intel, demonstrating the systemic and strategic application of Aikido principles in the pressure-packed world of high-stakes corporate operations.
Most impressive/inspiring to me is the conflict-resolution project that he and Richard Moon Sensei undertook with Cypriot leaders. Their work in Cyprus stands (to me, at least) as one of the most profound examples of the application of Aikido principles to real-world conflict resolution.
As many of you may already know, Cyprus has been deeply divided since the 1960s, after a crisis still resonating palpable resentment, marked by the presence of the “Green Line,” a United Nations-controlled neutral zone that literally separates the Turkish Cypriot north and the Greek Cypriot south.
The strategy employed by the two trailblazing Sensei was to focus on multi-track diplomacy, engaging with community leaders, heads of companies, media organizations, and nonprofits—the high leaders of culture below the political level. The methodology used was the core combination of Aikido and dialogue.
Workshops brought together mixed groups of Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, teaching them the non-competitive, cooperative aspects of Aikido.
The physical practice of centering, blending, and getting off the line was successfully integrated as a method for navigating conflict in the verbal realm.
This groundbreaking project showed how an Aiki-dialogue methodology could enable players entrenched in deep, systemic conflict to cohere, generating new possibilities for resolution and transformation (even post-war), by providing a method to physically and verbally step into a field of cooperation rather than competition.
In this episode, you’ll also hear about the related program Chris Sensei, in conjunction with Aiki Extensions, has recently established. This exciting initiative focuses on assisting Aikido dojo leaders in taking their practice off the mat and into their local communities.
Anyone interested in applying Aikido principles to community betterment should follow up with Aiki Extensions (here) for more information.
And, in case you haven’t heard, Aiki Extensions also generously offers seed grants (up to $1,000) for projects that are focused on moving Aikido off the mat and into engagement in the world in non-martial ways.
I’m sure there are some great ideas out there that could use some funding to get off the ground.
To further explore the rich history of Thorsen Sensei’s work from 1985 to 2005, you can visit quantumedge.org.
And for a deeper understanding of the current iteration of his crucial work in embodiment and systemic change, please visit inquiryintoconsciousness.com.
Now, let’s pick up where we left off….
