Miles Kessler – A martial artist making a difference

Il testo è pubblicato grazie alla gentile concessione del suo autore Paul Rest amico e Aikidoka americano.
Il link da cui è tratto l'articolo è:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-5948-SF-Martial-Arts-Examiner~y2010m1d13-Miles-Kessler--A-martial-artist-making-a-difference

Miles Kessler visited the Bay Area last week when he taught a class at Aikido of Berkeley. Miles, a 5th dan in Aikido, teaches in Israel and on the West Bank. He also teaches workshops and seminars here in the United States and throughout the world.

Miles is connected to many in the Bay Area Aikido community through his work with Aiki Extensions (AE), Training Across Borders (TAB), Aikido Without Borders and the Middle East Aikido Project. Robert Kent, Jamie Zimron and David Lukoff, all of whom have been profiled here earlier, work closely with Miles in this critical work defusing tensions and bringing understanding to the various national, religious and ethnic divisions in the Middle East.

At the event last Tuesday, Miles spoke after class about the Aikido classes being held in West Bank locations. He said that there was genuine excitement that this art was being offered. And that it was a way of connecting Palestinians and Israelis. Miles, who is an American, has worked to make his own dojo in Israel open to everyone.

One of the important aspects of Miles’ teaching is an on-going questioning about not only breaking down barriers between cultures but within ourselves. How can we challenge and confront what we have built within ourselves? To demonstrate this, the class he taught Tuesday night included a very unusual high fall.

Falls in Aikido can best be described as launching yourself through time and space but knowing where you are going to land. The high fall Miles demonstrated with an able uki from Kayla Feder Sensei’s dojo was one where one was falling over an extended knee. Rather than look where the landing was to take place (always a good course of action), this was literarily a backwards fall based on trust—trust of the person throwing you (or in this case, allowing and helping you fall) and that the body knew what to do. The eyes were kept forward and in one motion the body let itself go and draped over the extended knee.

Everyone in the class had to ask: “Am I willing to take this fall? Do I trust myself, my body that much?” Leaps of faith occurred on the mat as those at the class worked together, trying to master this new fall. Miles explained over and over, “Trust your body. It knows what it is doing.”

Miles' pioneering work with his teaching is about extending beyond, moving beyond barriers and boundaries. The Bay Area is fortunate when Miles visits and shares his vision of how Aikido can be a powerful transformative force for good in places that have been in conflict for thousands of years.

When Miles returns, I’ll update his profile with information on where he will teach classes in the Bay Area.

In addition to his Aikido, Miles is a student and practioner of Vipassana Meditation. He is part of the iEvolve Gobal Practice Community is the Founder and Chief Instructor of Integralaikido in Tel Aviv.

Mils Kessler is indeed, a martial artist who is making a difference! Keep up the good work, Miles!

You can contact Miles on Facebook or directly at info@integralaikido.org

The top two photos are from Mile Kessler's web site. His training partner in the second photo is Ola Karasik. The bottom photograph was taken by this writer